Herm of Aphrodite, Sappho type

Roman art

This female head, which is slightly turned to the left and set on a non-ancient, three-quarter herm, is one of more than twenty known replicas of the Sappho type, usually identified as Aphrodite. This type has at least three variants, based on hairstyle, arrangement of the bands and pose of the head, which can be either frontal, turned to the right (most are in this category) or turned to the left, as in the present case. The definition of the archetype is far from conclusive, but scholars agree that the model would have come from the circle of Phidias.

Discovered by Giuseppe Spagna in April 1830 during the excavation of the Molara estate at Tuscolo, owned by the Borghese family, the head was initially displayed in Room I, after which it was moved, in 1893, to Room II.

Object details

Commentary

This head of a woman was discovered during the excavation headed by Giuseppe Spagna on the Molara estate at Tuscolo, which was owned by the Borghese family from 1613 until the eighteenth century. Unearthed on 1 April 1830, it was immediately sent to Pietro Spagna in Rome, in via del Babuino, and then entered the collection of Villa Pinciana, where it was listed in the Fidecommissario Borghese of 1833 in Room I of the Galleria, on cipollino rock. While the ‘head thought to be Sappho found in Tuscolo’ was described in Room I in the guide published by Antonio Nibby in 1841, it was not mentioned in 1854. A document dated 1859 notes that it was moved to the basement, where it was recorded in 1875 (Inventario, no. 212 ‘Bust of Sappho with head smaller than life size). In 1893, Venturi described it back in Room II, as it is today.

The female head, with an oval face, has delicate, regular features with a strong nose, elongated eyes and a full, slightly open mouth. The figure’s hair is gathered at the nape by a band that covers the part and wraps around the forehead. The temples are covered with thick curls. The head, which is slightly turned to the left and set on a non-ancient, three-quarter herm, is one of more than known twenty replicas of the Sappho type, usually identified as Aphrodite. This type has at least three variants, based on hairstyle, arrangement of the bands and pose of the head, which can be either frontal, turned to the right (most are in this category) or turned to the left, as in the present case. The existence of examples turned the opposite direction (like the Ricciardi sculpture; Ciatti 2000, pp. 112–116, no. 39) is proof that the iconography of the head spread separately from that of the statue and was determined by the mainly decorative use of replicas of the head, especially the ones in the form of a herm, which were often displayed in pendant. There is also an example of the variant turned to the right in the Borghese Collection (Room V, inv. LXXXV) and, based on archival documentation, there seems to have been a third bust, installed in Room III after 1833, which might have been the ‘head of a Greek woman’ that was sold at auction in 1893 (Moreno, Viacava 2003, p. 170).

The definition of the archetype is far from conclusive, although it has benefited from the discovery of new replicas (Gasparri 2000; Delivorrias 2005; Cullen Davison, Lundgreen, Waywell 2009, pp. 509–539). It is generally agreed that the model came from the circle of Phidias, as confirmed by the structure of the face and the arrangement of the hair in front of the ears. Among proposed possibilities, we should note the Aphrodite en kepois (of the gardens), a cult statue created, according to Pausanias, by Alkamenes for the Athenian sanctuary of the Illisso (now identified as an Aphrodite standing with her left arm resting on a pillar) or the Aphrodite Kallias sculpted by Kalamis for the sanctuary at the southern foot of the Athenian Acropolis (Delivorrias et al 1984, p. 90) or even the seated Aphrodite by Phidias, a statue of eximiae pulchritudinis that Pliny later reported in Rome, displayed in the Portico of Octavia (Naturalis Historia 36.15), or, lastly, a classicist creation of late Hellenism.

None of the known replicas was found with the body, which some scholars have identified as the seated torso of the Olympia or Agrippina type (Delivorrias et al 1984, p. 90; Gasparri 2000; Ciatti 2008) and passed down in two variants, with and without a dog, the presence of which is due to the funerary use favoured in the Roman world, along with the iconic honorary one.

The scant use of the drill and the un-incised eyes, together with the shape of the eyelids, date the Borghese head to the Trajanic period.

Jessica Clementi