DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37251#0075
SALA DEI TRIONFI
1. MALE PORTRAIT HEAD (pi. do).
H. (head only) .32 m., (with bust) -6g m. Bronze. Unrestored. Inserted into
a sixteenth-century bust.
A middle-aged man, with thin hair in pointed locks, and eyebrows,
beard, and moustache in slight relief. The brows are bushy, the eyes
encrusted with enamel, the iris being brown, the ball white. The cheeks
are sunken, the lips closed. The ears are large and coarse. The expres-
sion is serious, but earnest rather than severe.
The head was long thought to be that of Lucius Junius Brutus, and
bears a certain resemblance to his portrait on the denarius struck by
Marcus Brutus (Bernoulli, Ao'M. Awz. i, i, nos. 8, 9), and on
a gold coin of Lucius Pedanius Costa (ibid. no. 10), but not so decisively
as fully to confirm the identification. There is, however, no reason to
doubt that ideal portraits of Roman worthies were produced, and served
as models for the die-sinker, and the present example (which, from the
features, and especially the formation of the ears, clearly represents a
Roman, and, as the beard shows, a Roman of the Early Republic) may
well be one of these. The nearest stylistic parallel to the head is furnished
by that inscribed IIoa-t§dvt.os at Naples (Arndt-Bruckmann, 239, 240),
which, if the inscription is genuine, must be a work of the first century
B. c., while the treatment of the hair resembles that found in the Augustan
period.
Left to the city of Rome by Cardinal Ridolfo de' Carpi in 1564
(A. A. C., Cred. i. 22, f. 71?, 86 ; 37, f. 179 : Forcella, i. 34, cf. Lanciani,
-SArzh, ii, p. 80); it stood in the AV/a Zz<^<3 from 1627 onwards. It
was conveyed to Paris in i7p7 (C<2^. Crz/., p. 399), and on its return was
replaced in the &z/<3 &A2 Zzz/rz (Tofanelli (1818), ii, p. 37, no. 4).
Aldrovandi, 209; Visconti, Awz. AU772. (1817), i. pi. 2 ; Righetti, ii. 148; Mon-
tagnani-Mirabili, iii, pp. 179 if., pis. 90, 90 a ; Bouillon, AA/rAf ii, Bustes,
pi. 8; E. Braun, AzzzzzgTZ ?z. AAz^zz (1834), p. 126, no. 9; Bernoulli, AAzzz.ZAvz.
(1882), i, pp. 19, 20, ftg. 1 ; Baumeister, i, p. 360; E. Petersen, H7772 a/Azz A<wz, 4,
pp. 163, 164, fig. 132; Baumgarten-Poland-Wagner, AA<VA7zz'AzjrA-?w7ZZ.SYAg AWAz?*
(1908),fig. 232 ; Amdt-Bruckmann, 443,446 ; Brunn-Bruckmann, AfzzzAzzzjyaA (1912),
p. 178, pi. 37; A. Hekler, (Aw/% <27z</ Acaazaza AcrAaz'A, 128; HelbigS, 933.
Alin. 6030; And. 1537; B. 16633; M. 746.
2. BRONZE FIGURE OF BOY EXTRACTING THORN FROM
HIS FOOT (pi. 60).
H. (excl. plinth) .73 m. Restored (in bronze) : upper part of chest (clumsily
done in modem times) and a strip at back of neck, remarkably well executed and
generally held to have been done in antiquity. The head was separately cast and
dxed in, as was likewise the r. arm. The figure is cast with very few daws, which
are covered with irregularly-shaped patches. The eyes, now hollow, were inserted
in a different material, the ball probably of silver and the pupils of some dark paste.
The dark green yAz'zza is finely preserved, but the surface of stomach, arms, and legs
has suffered considerable damage. The recessed surface of the lips was intended for
a thin covering of gold leaf.
A boy about twelve years old is shown sitting on a rock and care-
fully examining the sole of his 1. foot, from which it is generally supposed
that he is extracting a thorn (which is not represented). He holds the
foot on his r. knee with his 1. hand, the torso is twisted towards the r.
1. MALE PORTRAIT HEAD (pi. do).
H. (head only) .32 m., (with bust) -6g m. Bronze. Unrestored. Inserted into
a sixteenth-century bust.
A middle-aged man, with thin hair in pointed locks, and eyebrows,
beard, and moustache in slight relief. The brows are bushy, the eyes
encrusted with enamel, the iris being brown, the ball white. The cheeks
are sunken, the lips closed. The ears are large and coarse. The expres-
sion is serious, but earnest rather than severe.
The head was long thought to be that of Lucius Junius Brutus, and
bears a certain resemblance to his portrait on the denarius struck by
Marcus Brutus (Bernoulli, Ao'M. Awz. i, i, nos. 8, 9), and on
a gold coin of Lucius Pedanius Costa (ibid. no. 10), but not so decisively
as fully to confirm the identification. There is, however, no reason to
doubt that ideal portraits of Roman worthies were produced, and served
as models for the die-sinker, and the present example (which, from the
features, and especially the formation of the ears, clearly represents a
Roman, and, as the beard shows, a Roman of the Early Republic) may
well be one of these. The nearest stylistic parallel to the head is furnished
by that inscribed IIoa-t§dvt.os at Naples (Arndt-Bruckmann, 239, 240),
which, if the inscription is genuine, must be a work of the first century
B. c., while the treatment of the hair resembles that found in the Augustan
period.
Left to the city of Rome by Cardinal Ridolfo de' Carpi in 1564
(A. A. C., Cred. i. 22, f. 71?, 86 ; 37, f. 179 : Forcella, i. 34, cf. Lanciani,
-SArzh, ii, p. 80); it stood in the AV/a Zz<^<3 from 1627 onwards. It
was conveyed to Paris in i7p7 (C<2^. Crz/., p. 399), and on its return was
replaced in the &z/<3 &A2 Zzz/rz (Tofanelli (1818), ii, p. 37, no. 4).
Aldrovandi, 209; Visconti, Awz. AU772. (1817), i. pi. 2 ; Righetti, ii. 148; Mon-
tagnani-Mirabili, iii, pp. 179 if., pis. 90, 90 a ; Bouillon, AA/rAf ii, Bustes,
pi. 8; E. Braun, AzzzzzgTZ ?z. AAz^zz (1834), p. 126, no. 9; Bernoulli, AAzzz.ZAvz.
(1882), i, pp. 19, 20, ftg. 1 ; Baumeister, i, p. 360; E. Petersen, H7772 a/Azz A<wz, 4,
pp. 163, 164, fig. 132; Baumgarten-Poland-Wagner, AA<VA7zz'AzjrA-?w7ZZ.SYAg AWAz?*
(1908),fig. 232 ; Amdt-Bruckmann, 443,446 ; Brunn-Bruckmann, AfzzzAzzzjyaA (1912),
p. 178, pi. 37; A. Hekler, (Aw/% <27z</ Acaazaza AcrAaz'A, 128; HelbigS, 933.
Alin. 6030; And. 1537; B. 16633; M. 746.
2. BRONZE FIGURE OF BOY EXTRACTING THORN FROM
HIS FOOT (pi. 60).
H. (excl. plinth) .73 m. Restored (in bronze) : upper part of chest (clumsily
done in modem times) and a strip at back of neck, remarkably well executed and
generally held to have been done in antiquity. The head was separately cast and
dxed in, as was likewise the r. arm. The figure is cast with very few daws, which
are covered with irregularly-shaped patches. The eyes, now hollow, were inserted
in a different material, the ball probably of silver and the pupils of some dark paste.
The dark green yAz'zza is finely preserved, but the surface of stomach, arms, and legs
has suffered considerable damage. The recessed surface of the lips was intended for
a thin covering of gold leaf.
A boy about twelve years old is shown sitting on a rock and care-
fully examining the sole of his 1. foot, from which it is generally supposed
that he is extracting a thorn (which is not represented). He holds the
foot on his r. knee with his 1. hand, the torso is twisted towards the r.