Portrait of a Boy, on a non-ancient bust
The surface of this portrait of a boy, inserted in a non-ancient bust, is heavily abraded. The figure has large, deep-set, protruding eyes, with slightly incised pupils and framed by heavy eyelids. The slightly open mouth is small and has thin lips. The cheeks are round and plump. The forehead is hidden by a fringe of thick full locks that radiate out from the top of the head, becoming more voluminous over the forehead, temples and nape. The volumetric and chiaroscuro rendering of the boy’s thick, unruly hair dates the Borghese sculpture, which might have had a funerary function, to the early Antonine period.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Medium
Dimensions
height with bust 43 cm; head height 25 cm
Provenance
Borghese Collection, cited for the first time in 1820; Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, 1833, C, p. 44, no. 50 (Room I). Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 1820 - Felice Festa
- 1996/97 - Consorzio Capitolino
Commentary
This portrait of a boy, inserted in a non-ancient bust, is of unknown provenance. In 1820, it was restored by Felice Festa, who also worked on other busts earmarked for display in Room I in niches high up on the walls, as part of the ambitious installation of the new collection in the Casino of Villa Pinciana.
The surface of the portrait is heavily abraded. The figure has large, deep-set, protruding eyes, with slightly incised pupils and framed by heavy eyelids and thin eyebrows. The slightly open mouth is small and has thin lips. The cheeks are round and plump. The forehead is completely hidden by a fringe of thick full locks that radiate out from the top of the head, becoming more voluminous over the forehead, temples and nape. The long, soft, full hair, carved mainly with a chisel, was given movement with a running drill on the forehead and at the temples. The volumetric and chiaroscuro rendering of the boy’s thick, unruly hair, a trend documented between the Hadrianic period and the early Severan period, dates the Borghese sculpture to the same cultural climate as the splendid portrait in the Capitoline Museum (Sala degli Imperatori, inv, S414; Perrella 2011), the pupils of which are similar to those of the Borghese head, and the portrait from the Polignac Collection and now in Berlin (Staatliche Museen, Antikensammlung, Sk407 (R63), Caporossi 2012), both of which are also private portraits from the early Antonine period and might have had a funerary function.
Jessica Clementi
Bibliography
- Indicazione delle opere antiche di scultura esistenti nel primo piano della Villa Borghese, Roma 1840, p. 10.
- A. Nibby, Roma nell’anno 1838, Roma 1841, p. 913.
- Indicazione delle opere antiche di scultura esistenti nel primo piano della Villa Borghese, Roma 1854 (1873), p. 12.
- A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 21.
- G. Giusti, La Galerie Borghèse et la Ville Humbert Premier à Rome, Roma 1904, p. 20.
- P. Della Pergola, La Galleria Borghese in Roma, Roma 1954, p. 8.
- R. Calza, Catalogo del Gabinetto fotografico Nazionale, Galleria Borghese, Collezione degli oggetti antichi, Roma 1957, p. 15, n. 151.
- P. Moreno, Museo e Galleria Borghese, La collezione archeologica, Roma 1980, p. 12.
- P. Moreno, S. Staccioli, Le collezioni della Galleria Borghese, Milano 1981, p. 101.
- P. Moreno, C. Sforzini, I ministri del principe Camillo: cronaca della collezione Borghese di antichità dal 1807 al 1832, in “Scienze dell’Antichità, Storia, Archeologia, Antropologia”, I, 1987, pp. 339-371, in part. p. 348.
- P. Moreno, L’antico nella stanza, in Venere vincitrice: La Sala di Paolina Bonaparte alla Galleria Borghese, Roma 1997, pp. 73-117, in part. p. 92.
- P. Moreno, C. Stefani, Galleria Borghese, Milano 2000, p. 79, n. 21.
- P. Moreno, A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese, Roma 2003, p. 162, n. 131.
- R. Perella, Ritratto maschile, in Ritratti. Le tante facce del potere, a cura di E. La Rocca, C. Parisi Presicce, Catalogo mostra Roma 2011, Roma 2011, p. 297, n. 4.40.
- S. Caporossi, Ritratto di Giovane, in L'età dell'equilibrio 98-180 d. C.: Traiano, Adriano, Antonino Pio, Marco Aurelio, catalogo della mostra, Roma, Musei Capitolini, 4 ottobre 2012-5 maggio 2013, Roma 2012, p. 278, n, I.29.
- Scheda di catalogo 12/99000448, G. Ciccarello 2021
