DALLAS, TEXAS — The Dallas Museum of Art acquired a marble head of Herakles, the Greek hero the Romans called Hercules, at Sotheby’s New York auction of Egyptian, classical and western Asiatic antiquities in June. The marble head is from the late First Century AD and is set upon an unrelated bust from the mid-Second century AD. This ensemble was composed by the Eighteenth Century French sculptor Lambert-Sigisbert Adam (1700–59), who created sculptures for King Louis XV of France and Frederick the Great of Prussia.

Head of Herakles, Italy, circa First Century AD, marble. Dallas Museum of Art, gift of David T. Owsley in memory of Professor Alan R. Bromberg, via the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foun-dation, Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund, and Wendover Fund.

The acquisition is a gift of David T. Owsley through the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundation, and strengthens the museum’s collection of ancient art of the Mediterranean, of which a selection is on view in the museum’s Level 2 Classical galleries. The head and attached bust are now on view accompanied by a Second Century AD bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius from a local private collection. Both serve as evocative examples of Roman imperial art and complement other Roman portraits currently on view from the DMA’s collection.