DiscussionPortrait bust of clean-shaven man with lank hair. From Rome. Late fourth to fifth century. DESCRIPTION (Object)Over life-size head for insertion set in bust. H: 47 cm. H (chin to crown): 28 cm. Luna marble with restorations in Greek marble The head and bust are worked separately. The bust is intact. The head features restorations—the nose and the back of the head with the right ear and a small part of the neck. On the top of the head and near the right (according to the MNR catalogue left but according to the Calza photographs it should be right) temple are two holes. These have been interpreted by scholars as indications that the head once wore a diadem or a radiate crown. It seems to this author that they are more likely related to the restoration of the top of the head and left ear. Without proper photographs, however, they are impossible to assess securely. The flat chisel has been used to define the locks of hair. The pupils have been hollowed out in the form of a pelta. The irises are three-quarter circles and are indicated by a fine line of a flat chisel. PROVENANCE Rome. From Villa Carpegna (?). Acquired from Sangiorgi in 1912 (?) DESCRIPTION (Subject) The portrait bust depicts a man with a long, clean-shaven face who wears a single garment with copious flat folds. The bust shape is small. It does not include the outer shoulders and reaches only to the top of the pectorals. The man has lank, long hair that is combed forward onto his brow. There is a significant parting of the locks over the proper left eye and a smaller part over the right eye. The brow is low and the eyes are narrow with large pupils. Below low forehead and eyes, the face seems especially long. The mouth is closed, and the chin strong. DATE The hairstyle, lack of beard, and rendering of the pupils indicate that the head belongs to the fourth or even fifth century (L’Orange). The small re-used bust could easily belong with the portrait of this date. Interestingly von Sydow argues that this a modern fake for stylistic reasons, and the most recent catalogue entry of the Museo Nazionale in no way acknowledges this suggestion. IDENTIFICATION Scholars (Calza) have tended to consider it a member of the Constantinian dynasty (Constantius II) on account of its large size and the holes in the head which were assumed to be for a diadem or the crown of the sun god. Meischner considers it stylistically later and identifies it as Valens. She notes an interesting similarity in form and rendering to the portrait of an Empress, LSA-973. Main ReferenceGiuliano, A. (ed.), Museo Nazionale Romano. Le Sculture I,1. Sali di esposizione, Rome 1979, 304-307, no. 183Discussion ReferencesCalza, R., Iconografia Romana Imperiale. Da Carausio a Giuliano (287-363 d. C.), Rome 1972, 303-304, no. 211, pl. 105,380-81 (Constantius II) Donati, A. and G. Gentili, Costantino il Grande. La civiltà antica al bivio tra Occidente e Oriente, Milan 2005, 215-216, no. 13 (A. Rotondi: Constantius II?) L'Orange, H. P., Das spätantike Herrscherbild von Diokletian bis zu den Konstantin-Söhnen, 284-361 n. Chr. Das Römische Herrscherbild. III. Abteilung ; Bd. 4 , Berlin 1984, 137 (first half of fifth century) Meischner, J. 'Studien zur spätantiken Kaiserikonographie', Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 110, Berlin 1995, 433-6, fig. 1 (Valens) Meischner, J. 'Studien zur spätantiken Kaiserikonographie', Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 110, Berlin 1995, 433-6, fig. 1 (Valens) Von Sydow, W., Zur Kunstgeschichte des spätantike Porträts im 4. Jahrhundert. n. Chr, Bonn 1969, 64 and 66 (fake) |
Last Statues of Antiquity
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