Tragic mask, his hair bobbed with the locks forming ringlets, his eyes are empty, his mouth wide open, as if he wanted to let out a cry It is probably an ornamental sculpture located at the level of a stage front of a theater Roman

Roman art from the 2nd to the 3rd century AD

Marble

Height : 38 cm

Thespis, creator of the Attic tragedy (534 BC). ), first smeared his face with wine lees or white lead before definitively introducing the use of the mask. The latter, made of perishable material (wood, wax, bark, leather, etc.), persisted throughout the history of Greek theatre. Even very far from the orchestra, the spectators could immediately recognize a character. It seems that the roles were quickly established but that their expressions multiplied over time. In the 2nd century AD, Julius Pollux (Onomasticon) compiles a list of masks corresponding to 76 characters (44 models of comedy, 28 models of tragedy and 4 models of satyr drama). In many cases, the polychromy gave indications of the age and social origin of the character. Because of its frequent disappearance on terracotta works (which are only reproductions of theater props), it is now difficult to identify the characters. Dedicated as ex-voto in sanctuaries or deposited in tombs, they were also used as decorative elements.