DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52594#0300
Greek Portraiture.
and in his youth had been a disciple of Socrates. He died
about 370 B. C., about eighty years old. Stylistically the
Glyptotek’s bust must harmonize well with the sepulchral
portraits of the middle of the 4th cent. B. C. and thus date
back to an original of that time, but the fact that the bust
is worked over makes a definite dating impossible.
Billedtavler pl. XXX. Bernoulli: Griech. Ikon. II p. 5 No. 8. Ibid, the other
portraits of A. Cf. A. B. 443-44; Hekler: Bildniskunst pl. 30 a. Collections I
1931 p. 53 fig. 42 (Fr. Poulsen). Fr. Poulsen: Greek and Roman Portraits in
English Country Houses p. 31. A. Hekler: Bildnisse beruhmter Griechen p. 20.
L. Laurenzi: Ritratti greci p. 123 No. 80. Schefold pp. 86 and 206. L. Curtius,
Rom. Mitt. 59, 1944 p. 31.
420. (I. N. 1795). Portrait of Hippocrates (?). Head. M.
Height of head 0.26. Formerly much restored, but all now removed.
The surface badly weathered. Acquired in 1900 via Munich.
The head represents an old man, completely bald, with a
low receding forehead, a short moustache with its curls
converging curiously below the nose. The mouth is evidently
toothless, so that the lower lip is convex and has a separate
patch of beard.
This old gentleman was a famous man, because there are
four other replicas: Naples, Florence (Uffizi), the Vatican,
and from the necropolis at Isola Sacra. The latter, a herm,
was found together with an inscription that makes it probable
that the portrait represents the very father of Greek medi-
cine, Hippocrates. The type is closely related to Chrysippus
(425 a) and may be said to be a step midway between the
portrait of the latter and that of the philosopher Carneades
(A. B. 505-06. Bernouilli: Griech. Ikon. II p. 182). Thus the
original must belong to the close of the 3rd or the beginning
of the 2nd cent. B. C. As Hippocrates lived about 250 years
earlier, this must be one of the usual character portraits.
The style suggests that the creator of the original was an
Attic artist.
Billedtavler pl. XXX. On the type see A. B. 941-46. Hekler: Bildniskunst
115 a-b. Amelung: Vatik. Katalog I pl. 77 No. 598. Bernoulli: Griech. Ikon.
II p. 182. The bust from Ostia was published by the excavator, G. Calza: La
Necropoli del Porto di Roma p. 245 figs. 144-45. The first to suggest Hippo-
crates was Becatti in Rendiconti della Pontif. Accad. Romana di Archeologia
21, 1945-46, p. 133 seqq. Picard has since agreed and and essayed its further
verification: Comptes Rendus 1947 p. 323 seqq.
296
and in his youth had been a disciple of Socrates. He died
about 370 B. C., about eighty years old. Stylistically the
Glyptotek’s bust must harmonize well with the sepulchral
portraits of the middle of the 4th cent. B. C. and thus date
back to an original of that time, but the fact that the bust
is worked over makes a definite dating impossible.
Billedtavler pl. XXX. Bernoulli: Griech. Ikon. II p. 5 No. 8. Ibid, the other
portraits of A. Cf. A. B. 443-44; Hekler: Bildniskunst pl. 30 a. Collections I
1931 p. 53 fig. 42 (Fr. Poulsen). Fr. Poulsen: Greek and Roman Portraits in
English Country Houses p. 31. A. Hekler: Bildnisse beruhmter Griechen p. 20.
L. Laurenzi: Ritratti greci p. 123 No. 80. Schefold pp. 86 and 206. L. Curtius,
Rom. Mitt. 59, 1944 p. 31.
420. (I. N. 1795). Portrait of Hippocrates (?). Head. M.
Height of head 0.26. Formerly much restored, but all now removed.
The surface badly weathered. Acquired in 1900 via Munich.
The head represents an old man, completely bald, with a
low receding forehead, a short moustache with its curls
converging curiously below the nose. The mouth is evidently
toothless, so that the lower lip is convex and has a separate
patch of beard.
This old gentleman was a famous man, because there are
four other replicas: Naples, Florence (Uffizi), the Vatican,
and from the necropolis at Isola Sacra. The latter, a herm,
was found together with an inscription that makes it probable
that the portrait represents the very father of Greek medi-
cine, Hippocrates. The type is closely related to Chrysippus
(425 a) and may be said to be a step midway between the
portrait of the latter and that of the philosopher Carneades
(A. B. 505-06. Bernouilli: Griech. Ikon. II p. 182). Thus the
original must belong to the close of the 3rd or the beginning
of the 2nd cent. B. C. As Hippocrates lived about 250 years
earlier, this must be one of the usual character portraits.
The style suggests that the creator of the original was an
Attic artist.
Billedtavler pl. XXX. On the type see A. B. 941-46. Hekler: Bildniskunst
115 a-b. Amelung: Vatik. Katalog I pl. 77 No. 598. Bernoulli: Griech. Ikon.
II p. 182. The bust from Ostia was published by the excavator, G. Calza: La
Necropoli del Porto di Roma p. 245 figs. 144-45. The first to suggest Hippo-
crates was Becatti in Rendiconti della Pontif. Accad. Romana di Archeologia
21, 1945-46, p. 133 seqq. Picard has since agreed and and essayed its further
verification: Comptes Rendus 1947 p. 323 seqq.
296