Antinous as Dionysus
The Met sculpture of Antinous depicts the young man as a Dionysus figure, common to about 80% of portraits of Antinous.
The Met Antinous is remarkably well-maintained, and his face and hair still appear similarly to what the Romans would have seen. The paint that was likely on the statue has worn off, and Roman viewers would have seen a man with purple grapes and green grape leaves in his hair, but we must simply imagine Antinous in his prime.
The look on Antinous’ face is different from any other Greek or Roman statue. There are other statues of young men who look sad yet beautiful, but none have the same troubled expression as the Antinous. The “sweet sorrows” of youth, knowing that youth will soon be over, are not present in the Antinous; instead, the image is of “an almost sullen despair,” which can be painful for the onlooker to see (Perry 662). The Antinous at the Met possesses the tilted head and symbols of Dionysus as many other sculptures of Antinous. His young face, flowing hair, and the grapes and leaves crowning his head all point to the other versions of Antinous created throughout the Empire.