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DEACESSIONED October 8, 2020
Portrait of a man; perhaps the Emperor Maximianus Herculius
Roman
Late Imperial Period
late 3rd–early 4th century
Medium/Technique
Marble
Dimensions
Height: 24.7 cm (9 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Samuel Putnam Avery Fund
Accession Number61.1136
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 378; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 116 (additional published references).
DescriptionThe identification as the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus (titled Herculius after his patron god or hero) is based on coins struck in the mints of Rome and the western empire from about AD 296 to 308. The cubistic, linear style seen on these coins was a short-lived artistic innovation of the Tetrarchy, which passed out of circulation with the Augustan classical revival of Constantine the Great after his victory over Maxentius (son of Maximianus) at the Mulvian Bridge in AD 312. Like all innovative styles, this cubism in coin-portraiture and a few freestanding imperial portraits in porphyry or marble left a permanent mark in the arts, becoming ultimately part of the proto-Byzantine conceptualism of imperial portraiture in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.
This head is of the type which could have surmounted a statue, in cuirass or in civic garb, designed to be set in the niche of a triumphal monument, of the type perhaps of the Arch of Galerius at Salonika. A rectangular hole in the back would have been for fixing the statue into a niche, such as those on the upper part of the Arch of Galerius, intended for statues of the four Tetrarchs or for the two eastern Tetrarchs and their patron divinities. The statue for which this head of Maximianus Herculius was designed could have been a contemporary creation or it could have been an older statue to which this "cubistic" head and its neck were fitted.
This stubble-bearded head with a demonically intense expression is rendered in a rough and abbreviated technique. Several other heads found in central Italy display a similar approach. The style is apparently derived from that of works carved in Egypt out of purple porphyry stone, which was extremely hard and difficult to work. A few such colorful but abbreviated porphyry sculptures were imported to Rome in the early fourth century AD, where they evidently created a powerful impression.
The head, which is over life-size, does not seem to have individualized physiognomy. It has been re-cut from an earlier portrait. The earlier portrait had fuller hair which has been taken down roughly. A chisel has been used to denote the current hairstyle; it is used more carefully and in smaller strokes around the brow. The ears are disproportionately large, and the upper right ear, which originally had hair touching it, has been rounded out but remains awkwardly thick. The eyebrows and cheeks have been given hair by cutting into the extant surface of the original portrait with a flat chisel. A circular iris has been engraved into the eyeball. A deep furrow has been added across the brow.
The head is preserved in two fragments; (1) the back left portion with the left side of the brow and left ear and (2) the face and back right side of the head. The nose, most of the mouth, the chin, and lower left cheek are missing. The surfaces, albeit battered, have a fine yellow patina.
Scientific Analysis: problematic because of two differing isotopic tests:
Harvard Lab No. HI1527: Isotope ratios - delta13C +3.01 / delta18O -3.47,
Istituto di Struttura della Materia - CNR Lab No. 8 (January 30, 2012): maximum grain size: 0.5mm; electron paramagnetic resonance: intensity 9.0%, line width 49.5%; 242 ppm.
Attribution - Mt. Hymettos, near Athens. Justification - C and O isotopes (based on HI1527), fine grain, low EPR intensity
University of South Florida Lab No. 8443: Isotope ratios - delta13C +5.3 / delta18O -3.0 ,
Attribution - Paros 1 (Marathi: Lyknites). Justification - C and O isotopes (based on USF 8443)
This head is of the type which could have surmounted a statue, in cuirass or in civic garb, designed to be set in the niche of a triumphal monument, of the type perhaps of the Arch of Galerius at Salonika. A rectangular hole in the back would have been for fixing the statue into a niche, such as those on the upper part of the Arch of Galerius, intended for statues of the four Tetrarchs or for the two eastern Tetrarchs and their patron divinities. The statue for which this head of Maximianus Herculius was designed could have been a contemporary creation or it could have been an older statue to which this "cubistic" head and its neck were fitted.
This stubble-bearded head with a demonically intense expression is rendered in a rough and abbreviated technique. Several other heads found in central Italy display a similar approach. The style is apparently derived from that of works carved in Egypt out of purple porphyry stone, which was extremely hard and difficult to work. A few such colorful but abbreviated porphyry sculptures were imported to Rome in the early fourth century AD, where they evidently created a powerful impression.
The head, which is over life-size, does not seem to have individualized physiognomy. It has been re-cut from an earlier portrait. The earlier portrait had fuller hair which has been taken down roughly. A chisel has been used to denote the current hairstyle; it is used more carefully and in smaller strokes around the brow. The ears are disproportionately large, and the upper right ear, which originally had hair touching it, has been rounded out but remains awkwardly thick. The eyebrows and cheeks have been given hair by cutting into the extant surface of the original portrait with a flat chisel. A circular iris has been engraved into the eyeball. A deep furrow has been added across the brow.
The head is preserved in two fragments; (1) the back left portion with the left side of the brow and left ear and (2) the face and back right side of the head. The nose, most of the mouth, the chin, and lower left cheek are missing. The surfaces, albeit battered, have a fine yellow patina.
Scientific Analysis: problematic because of two differing isotopic tests:
Harvard Lab No. HI1527: Isotope ratios - delta13C +3.01 / delta18O -3.47,
Istituto di Struttura della Materia - CNR Lab No. 8 (January 30, 2012): maximum grain size: 0.5mm; electron paramagnetic resonance: intensity 9.0%, line width 49.5%; 242 ppm.
Attribution - Mt. Hymettos, near Athens. Justification - C and O isotopes (based on HI1527), fine grain, low EPR intensity
University of South Florida Lab No. 8443: Isotope ratios - delta13C +5.3 / delta18O -3.0 ,
Attribution - Paros 1 (Marathi: Lyknites). Justification - C and O isotopes (based on USF 8443)
ProvenanceDecember, 1931, excavated along the Via Appia in Minturno (ancient Minturnae), Italy [see note 1]; put into storage and, about 1943/1944, probably looted from Minturno [see note 2]. 1961, sold by Münzen und Medaillen, A.G., Basel to the MFA for $750 [see note 3]; 2020, deaccessioned by the MFA for restitution to the Republic of Italy [see note 4]. (Accession Date: November 8, 1961; Deaccession Date: October 8, 2020)
NOTES:
[1] A. Adriani, Notizie degli scavi di antichità 16 (1938): cat. no. 77, fig. 43, provisional inventory no. 2409. The excavations were done under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania and the Soprintendenza in Naples.
[2] On the excavations at Minturno and the looting, primarily by German forces, that took place there during World War II, see S. Aurigemma and A. De Santis, Gaeta – Formia – Minturno (Rome, 1955), pp. 53-54; Rodolfo Siviero, L’Arte e il Nazismo (Florence, 1984), pp. 43-44; and Treasures Untraced: An Inventory of the Italian Art Treasures Lost During the Second World War (Rome, 1995), p. 301. Specific losses have been discussed by Erika B. Harnett, “Some Lost Sculptures from Minturnae,” in Stephanos: Studies in Honor of Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway (Philadelphia, 1998), pp. 101-104.
[3] At the time of acquisition, the head was said to come from Rome.
[4] In July 2019, the MFA was notified by Dr. Irene Bald Romano that this head had gone missing from Minturno during World War II. Curatorial research confirmed that the sculpture had been excavated at Minturno and very probably was looted or otherwise taken during the upheaval of the war. In September 2019 the MFA contacted the Italian Ministry of Culture to initiate discussions about its return. The head was deaccessioned by the MFA in September, 2020 and returned to Italy in the spring of 2022.
NOTES:
[1] A. Adriani, Notizie degli scavi di antichità 16 (1938): cat. no. 77, fig. 43, provisional inventory no. 2409. The excavations were done under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania and the Soprintendenza in Naples.
[2] On the excavations at Minturno and the looting, primarily by German forces, that took place there during World War II, see S. Aurigemma and A. De Santis, Gaeta – Formia – Minturno (Rome, 1955), pp. 53-54; Rodolfo Siviero, L’Arte e il Nazismo (Florence, 1984), pp. 43-44; and Treasures Untraced: An Inventory of the Italian Art Treasures Lost During the Second World War (Rome, 1995), p. 301. Specific losses have been discussed by Erika B. Harnett, “Some Lost Sculptures from Minturnae,” in Stephanos: Studies in Honor of Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway (Philadelphia, 1998), pp. 101-104.
[3] At the time of acquisition, the head was said to come from Rome.
[4] In July 2019, the MFA was notified by Dr. Irene Bald Romano that this head had gone missing from Minturno during World War II. Curatorial research confirmed that the sculpture had been excavated at Minturno and very probably was looted or otherwise taken during the upheaval of the war. In September 2019 the MFA contacted the Italian Ministry of Culture to initiate discussions about its return. The head was deaccessioned by the MFA in September, 2020 and returned to Italy in the spring of 2022.