Portrait of Vespasian
Shown in a frontal position, Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus is portrayed here with physiognomic and expressive features that make him immediately recognisable: the massive, bald head, the small, close eyes with drooping eyelids, the thin lips and prominent chin, and the expression which is at once benevolent and determined. His bust is wrapped in a broad mantle that covers nearly all of the cuirass beneath, of which only the right shoulder strap is visible.
Together with 15 other busts in porphyry and alabaster, this sculpture formed part of the decorative programme of the Gallery of Mirrors in Palazzo Borghese in Campo Marzio, carried out by Cosimo Fancelli between 1674 and 1676. Dated by critics to the beginning of the 17th century, the work has been in Room 4 of Villa Pinciana since at least 1832.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Period
Medium
porphyry and oriental alabaster
Dimensions
Provenance
Included in decoration of the Gallery of Palazzo Borghese in Campo Marzio between 1674 and 1676 (H. Hibbard, ‘Palazzo Borghese Studies. II, the Galleria’, The Burlington Magazine, 104 (1962), pp. 9-20); Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese 1833, C, p. 49, no. 111. Purchased by Italian state, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 1995/ 1996 C.B.C. Coop. a.r.l.
Commentary
Vespasian was the first emperor of the Flavian dynasty. Here he is portrayed in a frontal position, wrapped in a soft, voluminous paludamentum: the mantle is buttoned with a round fibula on his right shoulder, where the shoulder strap of a cuirass and the sleeve of an undergarment are visible.
The face faithfully reproduces the emperor’s benevolent and determined expression as well as his distinguishing physiognomic features. These are in fact known thanks to the colossal head of Vespasian which came to light in the mid-16th century in the temple dedicated to him in the Roman forum; the work entered into the Farnese collection. Our bust is characterised by a massive bald head with large ears. His forehead shows deep furrows, while his eyes are small and closely set with drooping eyelids. His lips are thin and his chin prominent. These characteristics reflect those of portraits of the Flavian era, which were intended to express a new realist tendency, with the aim of defining the subject as a man of great experience: the ‘crow-foot’ wrinkles indicate familiarity with the world, while the muscle contraction evident on his forehead denotes concentration and determination (Rosso, p. 403). In this bust Vespasian’s facial wrinkles are rendered by grooves carved into the surface of the porphyry, which are highlighted by reflections of light: yet they do not contribute to shaping his face or giving expression to his personality, as in ancient models. The skin folds and tendon reliefs on his neck are rendered two-dimensionally, lacking in volume.
The work forms part of a series of 16 busts in porphyry from Palazzo Borghese in Campo Marzio: they reproduce the Twelve Caesars narrated by Suetonius, with the addition of Nerva and Trajan and second versions of Vitellius and Titus. They were formerly placed in recesses in the gallery and framed by an arrangement of plaster reliefs depicting key episodes in the life of each and personifications of their respective virtues; this decoration was executed by Cosimo Fancelli between 1674 and 1676 (Hibbard 1962). The busts remained here until roughly 1830 (Nibby, p. 360): two years later, they are documented as forming part of the display of Room 4 of Villa Pinciana (Nibby 1832, p. 96). To the series was now added a second bust of Vespasian, sculpted by Tommaso Fedeli in 1619, which had been in the Gladiator Room.
According to documents from the Borghese Archive, the series was composed, as we have seen, of the ‘Twelve Caesars’, with the addition of Nerva and Trajan as well as second versions of Vitellius and Titus (Vatican Secret Archive, AB, b. 5688, no. 15, published in Hibbard 1962, appendix, doc. I, pp. 19-20). In 1830 Nibby saw the series when it was still in Campo Marzio, describing the works as ‘16 busts with heads in porphyry, representing the 12 Caesars and 4 consuls’. Two years later, when they had been moved to Villa Pinciana and displayed along the wall of Room 4, he listed them as Trajan, Galba, Claudius, Otho, Vespasian (two exemplars) Scipio Africanus, Agrippa, Augustus, Vitellius (two exemplars), Titus, Nero, Cicero, Domitian, Vespasian, Caligula and Tiberius; this catalogue was confirmed by the 1833 Inventario Fidecommissario.
Yet if this description (which includes a second Vespasian, executed by Tommaso Fedeli in 1619 and transferred from the Gladiator Room) corresponds to the current state of the series, we are left with several uncertainties: to begin with, we must ask what happened to the busts of Caesar, Titus and Nerva, which were present in 1674-76 but do not form part of the series today; secondly, we must wonder who the fourth consul referred to by Nibby in 1830 could be, given that currently only three are represented (Agrippa, Cicero and Scipio Africanus); and finally, we must inquire where the busts of the consuls came from. It is therefore possible that the sculptures displayed in the gallery, which were already present in Palazzo Borghese, did not correspond to those envisioned for the iconographic programme of the vault: this discrepancy may have indeed complicated the identification of the portraits. This theory is supported by the common date of execution of the busts, which critics believe were all sculpted in the same period during the 17th century (Faldi 1954, pp. 16-17; Della Pergola, 1974; Moreno, C. Stefani, 2000, p. 129; Del Bufalo 2018, p. 116).
Sonja Felici
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