Hadrian "turned to Greek sculptors to perpetuate the melancholy beauty, diffident manner, and lithe and sensuous frame of his boyfriend Antinous," creating in the process what has been described as "the last independent creation of Greco-Roman art". It is traditionally assumed that they were all produced between Antinous's death in 130 and that of Hadrian in 138, on the questionable grounds that no-one else would be interested in commissioning them. The assumption is that official models were sent out to provincial workshops all over the empire to be copied, with local variations permitted. It has been asserted that many of these sculptures "share distinctive features – a broad, swelling chest, a head of tousled curls, a downcast gaze – that allow them to be instantly recognized".