Portrait of a Boy, on a non-ancient bust
This portrait, set on a richly draped non-ancient bust, depicts a boy of about eight or ten years old with a plump face, full, slightly open mouth with a protruding lower lip and large eyes with thick eyelids. The rendering of the eyes, with thick, well-defined eyelids, and the treatment of the hair, are typical of Julio-Claudian portraiture, in particular the fringe of long locks parted in the middle with a fork found in a few portraits of Nero and private citizens dating to the Claudian-Neronian period. Many private portraits of children were made during the Claudian period that drew on images of the emperor’s children, Octavia Claudia and Britannicus or, later, Nero, who was adopted by Claudius after he married Agrippina the Younger.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Medium
Dimensions
height with bust 43 cm; head 26 cm
Provenance
Borghese Collection, cited for the first time by Nibby in 1832 (p. 14, Portico); Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, 1833, C, p. 41, no. 3. Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 1990/91 - Istituto Centrale del Restauro
- 2008 - Consorzio Capitolino
Commentary
Installed after 1830 on one of the ‘Egyptian lumachelle’ columns flanking the niches, this portrait, of unknown provenance and set on a richly draped non-ancient bust, depicts a boy of about eight or ten years old with a plump face, full, slightly open mouth with a protruding lower lip and large eyes with thick eyelids. A fringe of long wavy locks radiates out from the top of the head on two overlapping levels, covering most of the forehead, while thick curls, held by a band, come down over the ears and neck. The rendering of the eyes, with thick, well-defined eyelids, and the treatment of the hair, are typical of Julio-Claudian portraiture, in particular the fringe of long locks parted in the middle with a fork found in a few portraits of Nero and private citizens dating to the Claudian-Neronian period.
A child’s head from the same period that was once in the Campana Collection and is now in the Louvre (inv. ma 1145; Backe-Dahmen 2006, p. 170, no. F20) is dated to the Claudian-Neronian period for the colouristic treatment of the face and naturalism of the locks of hair, carved with moderate use of the drill. Similarly, a portrait of a girl in the Galleria Borghese with thick comma-like locks framing her plump face is dated, in part also for her facial features, to between the Claudian and Neronian periods (inv. CVC).
Many private portraits of children were made during the Claudian period that drew on images of the emperor’s children, Octavia Claudia and Britannicus or, later, Nero, who was adopted by Claudius after he married Agrippina the Younger in 50 CE and immediately depicted in official portraits (see the statue from the Galleria Borghese now in the Louvre, inv. MR 337, Roger 2019, no. 155).
Jessica Clementi
Bibliography
- A. Nibby, Monumenti scelti della Villa Borghese, Roma 1832, p. 14.
- A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 9.
- P. Moreno, Museo e Galleria Borghese, La collezione archeologica, Roma 1980, p. 6.
- P. Moreno, S. Staccioli, Le collezioni della Galleria Borghese, Milano 1981, p. 101.
- P. Moreno, A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese, Roma 2003, p. 67, n. 13.
- A. Backe-Dahmen, Innocentissima aetas: Römische Kindheit im Spiegel literarischer, rechtlicher und archäologischer Quellen des 1. bis 4. Jahrhunderts n. Chr, Mainz 2006, p. 170, n. F20.
- D. Roger, Statua di Nerone giovane, in C. Parisi Presicce, L. Spagnuolo (a cura di), Claudio Imperatore. Messalina, Agrippina e le ombre di una dinastia, catalogo della mostra, Museo dell'Ara Pacis 6 aprile - 27 ottobre 2019, 2019, p. 289, n. 155.
- Scheda di catalogo 12/99000429, G. Ciccarello 2021.
