The Marbury Hall Zeus in the Getty Villa, July 2008

Marbury Hall Zeus
Unknown
Roman, Italy, A.D. 1 - 100
Marble
81 1/2 in.
73.AA.32

Portrayed as a mature bearded man, Zeus sits enthroned in his role as king of the gods. Originally he would have held his attributes: a scepter and a thunderbolt. The colossal god towers over his mortal observers.

This Roman statue dates to the first century A.D., but certain stylistic features in the carving, especially in the face and hair, reveal that it reproduces an earlier, Hellenistic Greek statue. Its model was a statue made by a school of sculptors based in the city of Pergamon in the 100s B.C.

Found in the 1770s at Tivoli near Rome, the statue probably once decorated the Villa of the Emperor Hadrian located nearby. It is named for having once been in the collection at Marbury Hall in England.

Text from: www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=8133