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Lot Essay
The fine over life-size bust depicts the Emperor as supreme commander of the Roman Empire and chief protector of the Pax Romana. The head turned to his left, sporting a short moustache and beard, and deep set eyes beneath a gently furrowed brow. His forehead is recognizably framed by the remains of a row of spiraling curls, together with his undulating hairstyle. The costume comprises a fringed tunic and a cuirass bearing an apotropaic gorgoneion aegis, with a paludamentum fastened with a brooch on the subject’s left shoulder.
Championed by Machiavelli as one of the ‘Five Good Emperors’, Hadrian’s reign from 117 to 138 A.D. was celebrated in ancient literature as a prolonged period of security and prosperity. While building upon the success of his predecessors Nerva and the optimus princeps Trajan, Hadrian also laid the foundation for continued Roman supremacy under Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. Rather than embarking on entirely new campaigns to expand the empire, Hadrian’s imperial mission can be characterized as one of consolidation and fortification. The first year of his reign saw the quelling of Jewish revolts led by Simon Bar Kokhba, which began during the Parthian campaigns of his predecessor. By 122 A.D., Hadrian had ordered the construction of a vast frontier wall in northern Britannia, some 80 miles long, to ‘separate the barbarians from the Romans’ (Historia Augusta, Hadrian xi.2). Hadrian spent much of his reign touring the empire in Africa, Parthia, Anatolia, Greece, and Egypt, funding lavish temples and monuments while suppressing any local rebellions.
In addition to his construction projects across the empire, Hadrian also commisioned a significant building programme within Rome itself. His reign saw the completion of the Pantheon in 125 A.D., a temple first conceived by Marcus Agrippa in 29 B.C. and subsequently rebuilt by Domitian and later Trajan. Other monumental projects included a temple dedicated to the deified Trajan, and a towering mausoleum, later renamed the 'Castel Sant'Angelo' and reappropriated as a papal fortress and prison by Pope Nicholas III (r. 1277-1280) and his successors until 1901.
Imperial portraits of Hadrian are among the most numerous of any Roman emperor. The plentiful canon of portraiture is compounded by their proliferation throughout the Roman Empire at its zenith. With over 160 extant examples of heads or busts, the prominence of Hadrian’s official portrait in his lifetime was bested only by the Emperor Augustus. Hadrian came to power at the age of forty-one, and as a result his imperial portrait depicts him as a middle-aged man, rather than a more youthful representation.
The present type, with its military garb and iconic cloak, is almost certainly of the Typus Panzer-Paludamentumbuste Baiae, an image defined by Max Wegner in his seminal 1956 publication on ancient portraiture (cf. p. 17 & pl. 19b in M. Wegner, Das Romische Herrscherbild, part II, volume III). Named after a comparable bust discovered in the coastal Roman town of Baiae, this type is a fascinating departure from the idealized depictions: the emperor’s jowels appear somewhat heavier, and lines around the mouth and eyes reveal signs of aging that are seldom depicted in official imagery. The same physiognomic details can also be seen on obverse portraits on aureui minted at Rome in the same year (RIC 193). Such changes possibly suggest an emperor who feels wholly secure in their leadership, his military endeavours (as evidenced by his uniform) justifying imperial authority far more effectively than any romanticized visual representation. The present head and bust certainly belong together, being of the same quality and the same composition of medium-sized crystals within the marble (Jucker, op. cit., pp. 65-67).
The Baiae type has been dated to 125 A.D. at the earliest, perhaps introduced to celebrate the completion of the Pantheon’s construction in Rome (see pp. 52-57 in K. Fittschen & P. Zanker, Katalog der römischen Porträts in den Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom. 1. Kaiser-und Prinzenbildnisse). Hadrianic portrait busts of the Baiae type feature in many of Europe’s most prestigious public museums and collections. Examples can be found at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Inv. No. 6075), the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (Inv. No. 1914.146), the Terme Museum in Rome (Inv. No. 8618), and the Vatican Museums (Inv. No. 2247).
Championed by Machiavelli as one of the ‘Five Good Emperors’, Hadrian’s reign from 117 to 138 A.D. was celebrated in ancient literature as a prolonged period of security and prosperity. While building upon the success of his predecessors Nerva and the optimus princeps Trajan, Hadrian also laid the foundation for continued Roman supremacy under Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. Rather than embarking on entirely new campaigns to expand the empire, Hadrian’s imperial mission can be characterized as one of consolidation and fortification. The first year of his reign saw the quelling of Jewish revolts led by Simon Bar Kokhba, which began during the Parthian campaigns of his predecessor. By 122 A.D., Hadrian had ordered the construction of a vast frontier wall in northern Britannia, some 80 miles long, to ‘separate the barbarians from the Romans’ (Historia Augusta, Hadrian xi.2). Hadrian spent much of his reign touring the empire in Africa, Parthia, Anatolia, Greece, and Egypt, funding lavish temples and monuments while suppressing any local rebellions.
In addition to his construction projects across the empire, Hadrian also commisioned a significant building programme within Rome itself. His reign saw the completion of the Pantheon in 125 A.D., a temple first conceived by Marcus Agrippa in 29 B.C. and subsequently rebuilt by Domitian and later Trajan. Other monumental projects included a temple dedicated to the deified Trajan, and a towering mausoleum, later renamed the 'Castel Sant'Angelo' and reappropriated as a papal fortress and prison by Pope Nicholas III (r. 1277-1280) and his successors until 1901.
Imperial portraits of Hadrian are among the most numerous of any Roman emperor. The plentiful canon of portraiture is compounded by their proliferation throughout the Roman Empire at its zenith. With over 160 extant examples of heads or busts, the prominence of Hadrian’s official portrait in his lifetime was bested only by the Emperor Augustus. Hadrian came to power at the age of forty-one, and as a result his imperial portrait depicts him as a middle-aged man, rather than a more youthful representation.
The present type, with its military garb and iconic cloak, is almost certainly of the Typus Panzer-Paludamentumbuste Baiae, an image defined by Max Wegner in his seminal 1956 publication on ancient portraiture (cf. p. 17 & pl. 19b in M. Wegner, Das Romische Herrscherbild, part II, volume III). Named after a comparable bust discovered in the coastal Roman town of Baiae, this type is a fascinating departure from the idealized depictions: the emperor’s jowels appear somewhat heavier, and lines around the mouth and eyes reveal signs of aging that are seldom depicted in official imagery. The same physiognomic details can also be seen on obverse portraits on aureui minted at Rome in the same year (RIC 193). Such changes possibly suggest an emperor who feels wholly secure in their leadership, his military endeavours (as evidenced by his uniform) justifying imperial authority far more effectively than any romanticized visual representation. The present head and bust certainly belong together, being of the same quality and the same composition of medium-sized crystals within the marble (Jucker, op. cit., pp. 65-67).
The Baiae type has been dated to 125 A.D. at the earliest, perhaps introduced to celebrate the completion of the Pantheon’s construction in Rome (see pp. 52-57 in K. Fittschen & P. Zanker, Katalog der römischen Porträts in den Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom. 1. Kaiser-und Prinzenbildnisse). Hadrianic portrait busts of the Baiae type feature in many of Europe’s most prestigious public museums and collections. Examples can be found at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Inv. No. 6075), the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (Inv. No. 1914.146), the Terme Museum in Rome (Inv. No. 8618), and the Vatican Museums (Inv. No. 2247).