Living Poets

Image: Rome, Musei Capitolini, Stanza dei Filosofi, no. 40.

Object description: Marble portrait bust of Homer. Roman emulation of Greek portrait (second-century B.C.). The most famous sculptural type of Homer, reproduced by Rembrandt, Ingres and Korzhev, among others.

Object archaeology: Unknown.

Dimensions: height 50.5cm.

Inscriptions: None.

Restorations: Nose.

Examples in major collections (after Richter 1965 with updates):

• Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, no. 04.13.
• Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, I.N. 2818.
• Florence, Museo Archeologico, inv. 1646.
• Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 10341 (half sized and possibly modern).
• London, British Museum, no. 1805,0703.85.
• Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, E00076.
• Mantua, Palazzo Ducale, no. 75.
• Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 6023.
• Paris, Louvre, no. Ma 440.
• Potsdam, Sanssouci.
• Princeton, University Art Museum, no. 62.134.
• Rome, Musei Capitolini, Stanza dei Filosofi, no. 39.
• Rome, Musei Capitolini, Stanza dei Filosofi, no. 40.
• Rome, Musei Capitolini, Stanza dei Filosofi, no. 41.
• Rome, Musei Vaticani, Galleria Geografica, inv. 2890.
• Rome, Villa Albani, inv. 721.
• Schwerin, Staatliches Museum, Schwerin, inv. 1900.
• Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare, Salone Capitolare.
• Wiltshire, Wilton House.

Bibliography

• Boehringer, R. B. and Boehringer, E. 1939. Homer Bildnisse und Nachweise. Breslau. 73-103.
• Dillon, S. 2006. Ancient Greek Portrait Sculpture : Contexts, Subjects, and Styles. Cambridge. 116, 125.
• Richter, G. M. A. 1965. The Portraits of the Greeks, vol. 1. London. 50-53.
• Richter, G. M. A. and Smith, R. R. R. 1984. The Portraits of the Greeks. 147.
• Schefold, K. and Bayard, A.-C. 1997. Die Bildnisse der Antiken Dichter, Redner und Denker. Basel. 272-73.
• Zanker, P. 1995. The Mask of Socrates : The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity (Shapiro, A., trans.). Berkeley. 166-71.

Relevant guides	Homer: A Guide to Sculptural Types