DiscussionPortrait head for insertion of Tetrarch (Berlin-Copenhagen type), Constantius I? From Italy. Late third to early fourth century. DESCRIPTION (Object)Over life-size head, separately worked. H: 44 cm. White marble. The head was worked separately with its neck and a small area of adjacent chest. There is more chest on the proper right side than on the left, and there are traces of drapery at the back of the neck. The head was probably made for a toga statue. The underside of the tenon is roughly picked. The tip of the nose, an area at the hairline over the centre of the brow, and the rims of the ears are broken. The hair of the head and the beard is rendered with a fine chisel. The eyes are marked with large circular hollows. The portrait has been re-cut from earlier one. The hair at the back of the head has been taken down, and a pronounced indentation has been made to indicate the juncture of the base of the skull and neck. Johansen suggests that the original head may have been capite velato. I would expect to see traces of removed marble along the side of the neck if this were the case. PROVENANCE The head was purchased from an art dealer, Penna, in Rome in 1893. DESCRIPTION (Subject) The head depicts a man with short hair and beard and a distinctive physiognomy which is known in at least one replica (LSA-855). The head turns vigorously to its left. The hair is cut close to the skull and has real volume only over the brow where its short ends terminate in separate, curving locks. The moustache and beard are lightly indicated with chisel marks of different lengths. The beard continues on the neck along the junction of the jaw-line and neck. The brow is short and traversed by two creases. The nose has a deeply indented root from which it projects out in a large hook. The nostrils are tucked tightly back into the cheeks and thus create curving naso-labial folds. The mouth has upturned corners which create creases. The lips are full and the upper one is asymmetrical. The jaw line is square, and the chin large, deep, and projecting. IDENTIFICATION AND DATE The head is known in one replica(LSA-855), and two other heads may be versions of the same type (LSA-880and LSA-1055). This indicates that the honorand was probably an Emperor. The fashion style, the short-cropped hair and stubble beard, belong to the period of the Tetrarchy. The hooked nose is a characteristic of Constantius Chlorus and Constantine. Thus, the head is usually identified as Constantius Chlorus since the physiognomy is not that of Constantine. NOTE It is interesting to note that this head and its replica were both purchased on the art market in Rome within fifteen years, between 1893 and 1909. Main ReferenceJohansen, F. , Catalogue of the Roman Portraits III; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, (Copenhagen 1995), 168-9, no. 73Discussion ReferencesMeischner, J., Bildnisse der Spätantike : 193-500 : Problemfelder : die Privatporträts , Berlin 2001, 69 (under 293-305) , fig. 203 Stutzinger, D. (ed.), Spätantike und frühes Christentum. Ausstellung im Liebieghaus, Museum alter Plastik, Frankfurt am Main. 16. Dezember bis 11. März 1984, Frankfurt a.M. (1983), 407-408, no. 27 (Constantius I) |
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