Bust of a Man

This bust achieves a lifelike portrayal of a Black man through skillful, expressive carving and the use of different colored marbles. His costume, which includes an open jacket with tassled buttons, suggests he was not enslaved, as scholars had previously believed. Instead, he appears as a free citizen, likely in Venice; people of many ethnicities and races coexisted in the cosmopolitan, maritime republic. This sculpture was previously attributed to Melchior Barthel based on a signature on its side. However, scholars have recently proven that the signature does not match Barthel’s and was added later.