Roman Marble Bust of Socrates

What it is

This is a black-and-white glass lantern slide photograph of a Roman marble bust depicting Socrates. The bust itself is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic-era portrait type, now kept in a museum in Rome. The photograph was taken by an unknown photographer sometime between 1839 and 1939 and is held by the Catholic University of Leuven.

Why it matters

No portrait of Socrates was made during his own lifetime from life; all surviving busts are later copies created long after his death. This image shows how Socrates's face was imagined by sculptors in antiquity, and how later scholars used photographs of ancient sculpture to teach art history.

Look closer

• What features of the face — the beard, the eyes, the expression — might sculptors have used to suggest wisdom or philosophy?
• Why might ancient sculptors have created a 'type' image of Socrates rather than a realistic portrait?
• What does the fact that this is a photograph of a photograph (a slide) tell you about how images were studied before modern photography?