Bust of a laurel-crowned youth

This bust belongs to a group of eight sculptures that constitute the greatest enterprise of an artist among the most refined of the Renaissance, the Mantuan Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (1460-1528)known as L'Antico for his ability to make bronzes in the style of classical civilization. He created masterpieces for Isabella d'Este and other Gonzaga; these busts were made for Ludovico, bishop of Mantua from 1483 to 1511, who placed them in his private residence in Gazzuolo, from where they passed to the official residence of the bishops, the current diocesan seminary. They are composed of four marble heads of Roman age (I-II century) and four bronze heads of invention of the Ancient.

Among the eight busts, this is one of the four whose heads are in Roman marble (I-II century) reused from the Ancient. The faces are placed on terracotta busts of golden origin, supported by elegant shelves obtained from ancient Corinthian capitals. The set offers an illuminating example of portraiture in the Roman age when in the face of idealized figures of Greek inspiration (as for this young man with a laurel wreath) continued to prevail tradition, marked by a realism.