CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Until the 18th Century, English collections of antiquities had consisted mainly of small, easily portable objects such as coins, intaglios and bronzes. Only a few very wealthy and powerful patrons, most notably Charles I and Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey (1585–1646), were able to acquire ancient sculpture. This was to change dramatically by the second half of the 18th Century. As the craze for classical art and sculpture swept over Britain and the rest of Europe, Rome established itself as the center to which English milordi flocked in pursuit of culture and souvenirs. Adolf Michaelis, the renowned German historian of ancient art, called this period the ‘Golden Age of Classic Dilettantism,’ remarking: “In an unintermitting stream the ancient marbles of Rome poured into the palaces of the aristocracy in Britain whose wealth in some cases afforded the means of gratifying real artistic taste by these rare possessions, and in others enabled them at any rate to fall into the new fashion of dilettantism, the ‘furore’ for ancient art”. The market was largely controlled by a number of Britons residing in Rome who acted as agents between Italian families and Cardinals who wished to sell to the predominantly English clientele. These agents also undertook their own speculative excavations, which yielded vast quantities of treasures. The most enterprising and successful explorer of the day was the Scottish painter Gavin Hamilton (1730–97). In 1771, the statesman William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, visited Italy and conceived the idea of adorning his own London residence in Berkeley Square with a collection of sculpture. In so doing, Lord Shelburne was to become one of the great 18th century collectors of ancient sculpture. He was one of the many new collectors of this period inspired by the Grand Tour who were able to acquire sculptures discovered in these excavations carried out in and around Rome. In order to execute his plans, Lord Shelburne secured the help of Hamilton, who, along with Thomas Jenkins, controlled most of the supply of antiquities from Rome sold to English patrons. According to an article by A. H. Smith in the Burlington Magazine in 1905, “The method employed was curious. Gavin Hamilton, the Scottish painter, antiquary, and excavator, who was then settled in Rome, undertook to furnish the gallery by contract. The proposed terms were that he should supply sixteen fine antique statues, twelve antique busts, twelve antique basso-relievos, eleven large historical pictures, four landscapes with figures relative to the Trojan war. The whole collection was to be delivered in four years at a cost of £6,050”. Unsurprisingly, this contract was not adhered to and many more pieces were negotiated; the majority of the Roman marbles in Lansdowne House were acquired by the agency of Hamilton between the years 1771–1777. During this time he was in active correspondence with Lord Shelburne, and the letters which are extant give a vivid idea of the process of forming the collection.

THE LANSDOWNE HEAD OF AN ATHLETE

The head, carved in pentelic marble, depicts a handsome, clean-shaven young man with unruly hair, falling in distinct curls that form smaller tufts at the front and loosen towards the side of the head. His eyes are small and deeply-set, and his eyebrows gently continue into the wide bridge of a well-formed straight nose. The youth has a slightly open mouth modelled in a Cupid's bow shape, with a dimpled chin. The natural physiognomy of the head betrays a virtuous temperament.

As E. Angelicoussis (op. cit. p. 135.) notes, although the idealized, near-flawless features with the muscular neck might suggest that the head depicts a youthful god such as Herakles (cf. "Herakles", LIMC V, 1990, nos. 360 and 364), the distinctive, individual features and the confident demeanor indicate a particular young man, possibly an athlete. The thick modelling of curls in multiple layers share close parallels with another head of an athlete or youth at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Palestrina, Inv. no 568, and a bronze sculpture of an athlete salvaged from the sea near Antikythera, dating to circa 350-340 B.C., cf. Inv. No. 13396 in the National Museum, Athens.

The head embodies the works of earlier Greek 4th century B.C. sculptors. The fame of these illustrious Greek artists and their work was well-known by Roman sculptors of the Imperial period, particularly those in Greece and Asia Minor. These sculptors were adept at incorporating the Classical and Hellenistic styles and often integrated the hallmarks of these sculptural styles into one work. The sculptor Lysippus transformed this earlier classical tradition and his influence also lasted well into the Hellenistic period and beyond. Figures of athletes were among his specialties and this Roman marble head incorporates aspects of the Lysippan style. The expression of the face is comparable to that of his figure of Agias, a statue of a victorious Thessalian athlete, a copy of which was set up at Delphi, Inv. no. 1827 at the Archaeological Museum of Delphi. The effect of the Lysippan style, evident in the dreamy expression and soft but realistic modeling of the face, was utilized by the anonymous Roman sculptor of this head.

As was common practice at the time, after the head was found it was set on the torso of a diadoumenos and restored as a boxer, see E. Angelicoussis (op. cit. no. 3 p. 45). This was carried out by the celebrated sculptor and restorer, Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799) and reflected the popularity of combat sport in 18th-century England. Cavaceppi's reinterpretation and restoration of the sculpture demonstrates how commercial interests and collecting tastes took precedent over academic considerations. The overall work was awkward-looking and incoherent: the altered position of the arms on the softly-modelled Polykleitan torso were in contrast with the serene gaze of the head and did not follow a prescribed boxing stance. The head was subsequently separated from the torso sometime after the 1966 Sotheby's sale.