Statue of a Togate Man with a (not original) Head of Zeus, restored as a portrait

Roman art

This sculpture is not mentioned in the inventories or in the documentation regarding Galleria Borghese’s collection of antique sculptures. In the 1979 catalogue, Moreno underlines its poor state of conservation and the extensive interventions.

This figure of a man is wearing a sleeved tunic under a toga elegantly arranged in an ample sinus on the right hip and on the abdomen in a thick bundle of pleats, or umbo. It is lacking part of the right arm and hand, while in the left it is holding a scroll. The careful execution of the drapery, carved with a great plastic sense of volume, is reminiscent of works that were in fashion in the first century CE.

The head, not original, portrays a mature man with a tired, melancholy expression. According to Moreno, this is a depiction of Zeus inspired by the iconographic models of the fourth century BCE and datable to the second century CE from the treatment of the hair.

Object details

Commentary

An archival document mentioned by Petrucci in 2014 refers to the rearrangement of the façade of the the Palazzina Borghese in in 1837 after the ruinous Napoleonic acquisition. This text, compiled by the architect Luigi Canina, describes the interventions carried out on the sculptures before their installation and allows us to reconstruct their placement. In particular, in one of the two large niches decorating the façade, ‘a marble figure depicting Asclepius’ (Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, Archivio Borghese, b. 4188: Petrucci 2014, p. 194, note 29).

This sculpture does not appear in the documents and inventories of the Borghese collection of antiques, barring the catalogue entry compiled by Moreno in 1979, in which the author described its poor state of conservation, mostly owing to its being exposed to the elements, and observed the extensive restorations that compromised its original appearance.

This figure of a man is wearing a sleeved tunic under a toga. The cloth adheres to his chest in fairly linear folds that descend from the right shoulder and are flared around the elbow, meeting at the centre to form a sort of ‘V’ shape. The ample drapery of the toga forms a broad sinus on the right hip nearly reaching down to the knee, its cadence repeated in the deep umbo, a puffball of cloth gathered on the abdomen and forming a wealth of soft folds.

He is standing on his right leg, while the left is slightly bent and to the side. His left hand is extended clutching a scroll. The arms are bent at the elbow and the left hand is missing. On his feet he is wearing calcei patricii, high shoes composed of four straps tied in a knot.

The only antique element of this sculpture is the bust, along with a portion of the left arm and of the right shoulder, ascribable to the Julio-Claudian period based on the obvious richness of the toga, with the deep folds of the sinus, and the custom of letting the shape of the body be seen through the clothing. This dating is further confirmed by the comparison with a statue present in the Entrance Hall of the Galleria on which is placed a non-original head of Menander (inv. IVL) and with another two preserved at the Museo Nazionale Romano that present analogous features (Nista 1981, pp. 236–237; de Lachenal 1986, pp. 169–170).

The head is antique but not original to this statue and depicts a man of an advanced age. The features are gaunt, a thick beard arranged in voluminous curls covering the thin cheeks. The melancholic expression is enhanced by the slightly downturned eyebrows, by the depth of the eye sockets and by the deep circles under the eyes. To this we must add a considerable furrow across the forehead and the slightly open, downturned mouth. The head is crowned in a mass of hair arranged around the face in locks stemming from a single tuft at the top of the forehead and descending to cover the ears and the summit of the neck.

Moreno believes this to be a depiction of Zeus based on the observation of the hair style that draws upon the iconographic models of the fourth century BCE and likely adapted by the sculptor so as to render it a portrait.

An interesting similarity may be observed in a head placed on a statue of Asclepius preserved at the Museo Nazionale Romano at Palazzo Altemps (De Angelis 2011, p. 145). Lippold ascribed the portrait to the iconographic type of the politician Solon (1912, p. 71, note 2).

In its present condition it is difficult to offer an accurate interpretation of this sculpture, which can be tentatively dated to the second century CE.  

Giulia Ciccarello