Historical Engravings of the Statue of a God

1704
The earliest known illustration of the statue, this engraving shows the figure restored as Alexander the Great. Artist Robert van Audenaerde depicted the statue from a slightly different angle than the artists of the later drawings did, and he placed its plinth on a high pedestal.

1733
This view of the statue was created for a book documenting the antiquities collection of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, who bought the statue in 1728. The engraver added a fig leaf over the groin and added a tip to the staff in the statue's left hand, making it a spear. The statue is still identified as Alexander the Great.

1804
This engraving shows that, by the early 1800s, both the restored right arm and the staff had been removed. The helmeted head representing Alexander, however, remains. Despite this erroneous restoration, in the text accompanying this illustration the author correctly identifies the statue as the wine god Bacchus.

Statue of a God Restored as Alexander the Great / van Audenaerde Statue of a God Restored as Alexander the Great / after Werner Statue of a God Restored as Alexander the Great / after Schubert