DiscussionPortrait head of Valentinian I (or Valens) in Conservatori-Copenhagen-Uffizi type. From Italy. 364-392. DESCRIPTION (Object)Life-size head on modern bust. H (of bust): 39; H (of ancient part): 21 cm. Italian marble. The head has been inserted into a small modern bust which is set on a modern support with CONSTANTINUS M inscribed on its tabula. The nose, the right half of the upper lip, the ears, and part of the chin are restored in plaster. There is a crack underneath the chin that crosses the proper right side of the neck and reaches the top of the head. The hair is rendered with a flat chisel. The irises are not indicated but the pupils are deeply drilled C-shapes. PROVENANCE In the Uffizi Gallery in 1704 according to G. Bencivenni già Pelli, 'Saggio istorico sulla reale Galleria di Firenze' in 1779. An Archivo della Galleria degli Uffizi of 1786 refers to 'una testa d'Imperatore col diadema in testa e panno alle spalle' which entered the collection after a condensing of the material from the villas of Antimino and Pratolino. There are no traces of damage from the fire in 1762. DESCRIPTION (Subject) The head shows a clean-shaven mature Emperor who wears a diadem. The diadem consists of two rolls of circular stones, pearls, between which are alternating rectangular and diamond-shaped gems. At the centre of the diadem the pearls cease, and there is a large framed rectangular stone. The hair is full and slightly wavy. It is long at the back, has sideburns, and falls over the brow in a thick arching fringe of C-shaped locks which turn inwards. The locks over the brow converge over the inner corner of the left eye. The face is long and rectangular. It has fine flaring eyebrows which create two vertical lines of contraction at the centre of the brow; large eyes with wrinkles at their outer corners; a broad mouth; a projecting chin, the upper edge of which is distinctly defined; and a roll of skin below the chin (a double chin). HONORAND The diadem indicates that this is the portrait of an Emperor. Two other portraits from Rome are clearly based on the same model, LSA-578 and LSA-597. Another portrait now in Tivoli LSA-581shows stylistic similarities but seems to represent a different (younger?) man. DATE The contraction of the brow does not appear on portraits identified with the Constantinian dynasty nor to those assigned to the Theodosian dynasty. The hairstyle also seems to belong between that of the Constantinian dynasty and the Theodosian one. The portrait is therefore traditionally ascribed to the Valentinian family. It is generally thought to represent either Valentinian or Valens. Main ReferenceMansuelli, G. A. , Galleria degli Uffizi : le sculture, II, Rome 1961, 129-30, no. 168, fig. 169Delbrueck, R., Spätantike Kaiserporträts. Von Constantinus Magnus bis zum Ende des Westreichs , Leipzig 1933, 184,pls. 82-4 Discussion ReferencesFittschen, K. and P. Zanker, Katalog der Porträts in den Capitolischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom, Band I, Mainz 1985, 158, under no. 126 no. 2, Beilage 95a,c, and d. 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, 139 (under Usurpers but expresses no personal opinion) Stichel, R. H. W., Die römische Kaiserstatue am Ende der Antike, Roma 1982, 41 |
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