Details
A ROMAN MARBLE HEAD OF ANTINOUS, with sensitively carved features, fine eyebrows and sensuous lips, the eyes unarticulated, a broad headdress band over the forehead, circa 130-138 A.D., wearing an Eighteenth Century nemes headdress
23 5/8in. (60cm.) high
Condition: some facial restoration in the Eighteenth Century, including tip of nose, upper lip and part of ears; dowel hole in crown of head
23 5/8in. (60cm.) high
Condition: some facial restoration in the Eighteenth Century, including tip of nose, upper lip and part of ears; dowel hole in crown of head
Provenance
Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, excavated by Gavin Hamilton in 1769
Acquired from Hamilton by William, second Earl of Shelburne and 1st Marquess of Lansdowne in 1771 for ¨75 (letter from Hamilton, 15 December 1771)
Thence by descent at Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square and Bowood, Wiltshire
LITERATURE:
J. Dallaway, Anecdotes of the Arts in England, London, 1800, p. 368; A. Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, Cambridge, 1882, pp. 446-7, no. 38; A. H. Smith (ed.), A Catalogue of the Ancient Marbles at Lansdowne House, London, 1889, p. 22, no. 38; P. Marconi, "Antinoo. Saggio sull'arte dell'età adrianea", Monumenti Antichi, 29, 1923, p. 192, no. 81; G. Lippold, Photographische Einzelaufnahmen antiker Sculpturen, Munich, Series XI, no. 3057; Christie's, The Lansdowne Collection of Ancient Marbles, London, 5 March 1930, p. 66, no. 101; C. C. Vermeule, "Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain", American Journal of Archaeology, 59, 1955, p. 131; C. W. Clairmont, Die Bildnisse des Antinous, Schweizeriches Institut in Rom, 1966, p. 16, no. 8; A. v. Heintze, Gnomon, 43, 1971, p. 394; A. Roullet, "The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Rome", Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, Leiden, 20, 1972, p. 85ff., no. 96; J. Raeder, Die statuarische Ausstattung der Villa Hadriana bei Tivoli, Frankfurt am Main, 1983, p. 42, no. I15; and H. Meyer, Antinoos, 1991
The Lansdowne Antinous admirably reflects the late Eighteenth Century taste for embellishing ancient sculpture with sympathetic restorations. In this case, the ancient Roman head of Antinous dates to circa 130-138 A.D., after the death of Antinous and before the death of Hadrian, while the Egyptian headdress or nemes was probably worked in Rome prior to the completed bust being dispatched to Lord Shelburne in 1772.
On the Lansdowne Antinous, the band over the forehead is original and ties in closely with other Egyptianizing statues of Antinous wearing the nemes headdress which were commissioned by the Emperor Hadrian. Antinous, a Bithynian youth, is well-known for becoming Hadrian's favourite but whose life was cut short when he drowned in the Nile during the Emperor's visit to Egypt in 130 A.D. After Antinous' death, Hadrian founded a city named after him, Antinoopolis, which was colonized by Greeks from Egyptian towns and was the site of one of the graves of Antinous, in whose honour games called Antinoeia were held. Hadrian also had Antinous deified and established temples for his cult most notably, as here, associated with the great Egyptian regenerative god, Osiris, who had been murdered by his brother, Seth, by being drowned in the Nile. Statues and busts have survived of Antinous in various guises, both as Antinous-Osiris and as the Greek god Dionysos, in particular.
The importance of the Lansdowne head lies in the fact that it was part of the Emperor Hadrian's own collection of statues of his acolyte which was housed in his Villa at Tivoli (see introduction) and that the provenance is direct and documented. Many sculptures of Antinous were originally sold to collectors as coming from Tivoli, although the majority were not found on the actual site of the Villa. For a full discussion of the surviving sculptures, cf. Clairmont (op. cit.) and Meyer (op. cit.); for a colossal Egyptianizing statue of Antinous from Tivoli and now in the Vatican Museum, cf. A. Roullet, EPRO, 20, 1972, p. 87, fig. 118; and for a similar, though unprovenanced, Egyptianizing bust of Antinous-Osiris from the collection of Thomas Hope, cf. G. B. Waywell, The Lever and Hope Sculptures, Berlin, 1986, p. 95, no. 52, fig 24
Acquired from Hamilton by William, second Earl of Shelburne and 1st Marquess of Lansdowne in 1771 for ¨75 (letter from Hamilton, 15 December 1771)
Thence by descent at Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square and Bowood, Wiltshire
LITERATURE:
J. Dallaway, Anecdotes of the Arts in England, London, 1800, p. 368; A. Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, Cambridge, 1882, pp. 446-7, no. 38; A. H. Smith (ed.), A Catalogue of the Ancient Marbles at Lansdowne House, London, 1889, p. 22, no. 38; P. Marconi, "Antinoo. Saggio sull'arte dell'età adrianea", Monumenti Antichi, 29, 1923, p. 192, no. 81; G. Lippold, Photographische Einzelaufnahmen antiker Sculpturen, Munich, Series XI, no. 3057; Christie's, The Lansdowne Collection of Ancient Marbles, London, 5 March 1930, p. 66, no. 101; C. C. Vermeule, "Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain", American Journal of Archaeology, 59, 1955, p. 131; C. W. Clairmont, Die Bildnisse des Antinous, Schweizeriches Institut in Rom, 1966, p. 16, no. 8; A. v. Heintze, Gnomon, 43, 1971, p. 394; A. Roullet, "The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Rome", Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, Leiden, 20, 1972, p. 85ff., no. 96; J. Raeder, Die statuarische Ausstattung der Villa Hadriana bei Tivoli, Frankfurt am Main, 1983, p. 42, no. I15; and H. Meyer, Antinoos, 1991
The Lansdowne Antinous admirably reflects the late Eighteenth Century taste for embellishing ancient sculpture with sympathetic restorations. In this case, the ancient Roman head of Antinous dates to circa 130-138 A.D., after the death of Antinous and before the death of Hadrian, while the Egyptian headdress or nemes was probably worked in Rome prior to the completed bust being dispatched to Lord Shelburne in 1772.
On the Lansdowne Antinous, the band over the forehead is original and ties in closely with other Egyptianizing statues of Antinous wearing the nemes headdress which were commissioned by the Emperor Hadrian. Antinous, a Bithynian youth, is well-known for becoming Hadrian's favourite but whose life was cut short when he drowned in the Nile during the Emperor's visit to Egypt in 130 A.D. After Antinous' death, Hadrian founded a city named after him, Antinoopolis, which was colonized by Greeks from Egyptian towns and was the site of one of the graves of Antinous, in whose honour games called Antinoeia were held. Hadrian also had Antinous deified and established temples for his cult most notably, as here, associated with the great Egyptian regenerative god, Osiris, who had been murdered by his brother, Seth, by being drowned in the Nile. Statues and busts have survived of Antinous in various guises, both as Antinous-Osiris and as the Greek god Dionysos, in particular.
The importance of the Lansdowne head lies in the fact that it was part of the Emperor Hadrian's own collection of statues of his acolyte which was housed in his Villa at Tivoli (see introduction) and that the provenance is direct and documented. Many sculptures of Antinous were originally sold to collectors as coming from Tivoli, although the majority were not found on the actual site of the Villa. For a full discussion of the surviving sculptures, cf. Clairmont (op. cit.) and Meyer (op. cit.); for a colossal Egyptianizing statue of Antinous from Tivoli and now in the Vatican Museum, cf. A. Roullet, EPRO, 20, 1972, p. 87, fig. 118; and for a similar, though unprovenanced, Egyptianizing bust of Antinous-Osiris from the collection of Thomas Hope, cf. G. B. Waywell, The Lever and Hope Sculptures, Berlin, 1986, p. 95, no. 52, fig 24
Further details
END OF MORNING SESSION