This torso fragment, unearthed during the excavation of the Borghese estate at Mentana between 1832 and 1833, is larger than life size. The figure is wearing a mantle draped over his left shoulder that comes down almost vertically over his left arm, which is extended along his body, wrapping around his hips and covering his legs. The iconography draws on classical draped figures and was especially popular during the Roman period for portraits of emperors and other high-ranking individuals. It probably belonged to a funerary portrait statue and dates to the second century CE.
From the excavation of the Borghese estate at Mentana (1832–33); Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, 1833, C., p. 41, no. 7. Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
This torso fragment was unearthed during the excavation of the Borghese estate at Mentana between 1832 and 1833, near the Cappella del Romitorio. It was described as a ‘torso of a man from an Imperial statue wrapped in a chlamys of truly fine artistry, sculpted from superb marble’ (Archivio di Stato, Rome, Camerlengato II, tit. IV, b. 204, fasc. 1219) and was found with the fragmentary group of Leda and the Swan displayed in the Portico (inv. IV).
The figure, larger than life size, is nude with the exception of a himation that is draped over his left shoulder and comes down almost vertically over his left arm, which is extended along his body, wrapping around his hips and covering his legs. It originally portrayed a man standing with his weight on his left leg and his right leg slightly to the side. The raised right hip is balanced by the opposite movement of the slightly raised left shoulder.
This iconography was especially popular during the Roman period for portraits of emperors and other high-ranking individuals. Classical models of draped figures came back in vogue during the Imperial period. Access to statue types portraying deities was mainly reserved for the imperial family, in public contexts, favouring the formula in which the mantle wraps around the left shoulder before enveloping the hips (known as the Jupiter-Kostüm or the Hüftmantel-typus with Schulterbausch; see for example the statue of the Divine Claudius from the Metroon of Olympia, Mus. Olympia, inv. lambda 125; Cadario 2011). The statue type reached its apex in the Julio-Claudian period, with a strong increase in production especially under Caligula and Claudius.
The Borghese torso, with the fabric draping down from the left shoulder, is particularly close to the Campana Asclepius type in the Hermitage, which is generally dated to the late Hellenistic period and known in versions larger than life size as well as smaller sculptures. The type is named for the colossal statue in Saint Petersburg (Inv. A 385; Holtzmann 1984, p. 884, no. 261; on the type, also see Kranz 1989, pp. 121–124; Vorster 1993, no. 32). According to Heiderich (1966, pp. 7–16), the prototype traces back to the Asclepius of Sicyon, a work linked in the sources to Calamis (Paus., 2.10.3). Other scholars, such as De Miro, instead believe it was the Asclepius paired with Hygeia in the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea, sculpted by Scopas (Paus., 8.47.1; 8.54.5).
The rigidity of the drapery, with just a few deeply carved folds and clear edges that lay heavy and doughy on the body, is similar to that of a replica of the type in Berlin (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Antikensammlung, inv. Sk 90; Heilmeyer, Heres, Maßmann 2004, p. 43) and various statues of togate figures (see Goette 1990, p. 133 no. 56 pl. 19,3; p. 134 no. 65 pl. 20,3) that can be dated in terms of style to the second century CE.
The Borghese torso dates to the same period and probably belonged to an iconic funerary statue, as suggested by the context where it was unearthed.
Jessica Clementi