Living Poets

Image: Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. no 5616

Object Description: Bronze bust of an elderly man with a short beard, and vivid expression. The head has inlaid bone eyes, and an iris of inlaid stone survives in the left eye (Mattusch and Lie 2005: 249-253).

Object Archaeology: Discovered in Karl Weber’s subterranean excavations of the Villa dei Papyri, near Herculaneum. Weber marked this head’s find-spot in the south-west corner of the garden of the large peristyle (Mattusch and Lie 2005: 249-253).

Inscriptions: None.

Restorations: Mounting, and a small hole in neck (Mattusch and Lie 2005: 249-253).

Dimensions: Height from chin to crown: 24cm (Mattusch and Lie 2005: 249).

Examples in major collections (after Richter 1965):

1. Rome, Musei Vaticani, Galleria delle Statue, inv. 566. Head on foreign statue.
2. Rome, Musei Capitolini, Stanza dei Filosofi, no. 9. Head on modern herm.
3. Rome, Museo Nazionale delle Terme, inv. 58706. Small head. Found near the Convent of San Pio, Genazzano, Rome.
4. Rome, Museo Nazionale delle Terme, inv. 612. Head with an ivy wreath.
5. Rome, Museo Nazionale delle Terme, inv. 31. Head. Known since 11th century.
6. Rome, Villa Albani, Casino, no. 67. Part of a double herm with the portrait of Menander.
7. Rome, Villa Albani, Caffeaus, no. 618. Head on modern herm.
8. Rome, Galleria Borghese, Sala VIII, no. 230. Head on modern herm.
9. Rome, Accademia dei Lincei, Palazzo Corsini. Head on modern bust.
10. Rome, Deutsche Akademie Rom, Villa Massimo garden. Head.
11. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 5616. Bronze bust from Villa dei Papiri near Herculaneum.
12. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 6185. Head on modern bust.
13. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 6186. Bust.
14. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 6187. Bust.
15. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 111389. Small head.
16. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 110873. Small herm.
17. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Head. From Castellammare di Stabia.
18. Terracina, Museo Civico “Pio Capponi”. Head.
19. Siena, Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Head.
20. Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna. Head on modern bust.
21. Turin, Museo di Antichità, inv. 185. Green-black stone bust.
22. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1914, no. 310. Herm.
23. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1914, no. 58. Head on modern bust.
24. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1914, no. 413. Fragmentary head.
25. Tunis, Bardo National Museum, inv. 958. Head. Possibly found in Carthage, in either Roman theatre or in Odeon.
26. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Cabinet des Médailles, no 59. Head.
27. Paris, Louvre, Ma 920. Head on foreign statue. Possibly from Tusculum.
28. Paris, Louvre, Ma 921. Head. Found in Auch (Gers, France).
29. London, British Museum, no 1973,0327.17. Over life-sized bust.
30. Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Skulpturensammlung, Hm 202. Small head.
31. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, I.N. 611. Double herm with unidentified beardless poet (identified by some as Virgil).

Four examples from private collections are recorded by Richter. Several examples are recorded as lost, and two as having been destroyed during the Second World War. There are eleven examples that are considered of doubtful antiquity.

Bibliography

• von Heinze, H. 1983. ‘Pseudo-Seneca : Esiodo o Ennio?’ In D. Mustilli and M. Gigante (eds.), La Villa dei Papiri. Naples: 19-30.
• Mattusch, C. C., and Lie, H. 2005. The Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum: Life and Afterlife of a Sculpture Collection. Los Angeles: 249-253.
• Richter, G. M. A. 1965. The Portraits of the Greeks. London: 58-66.
• Schefold, K. 1997. Die Bildnisse der antiken Dichter, Redner und Denker. Basel: 266-269.
• Strandman, B. 1950. ‘The Pseudo-Seneca Problem.’ Konsthistorisk Tidskrift 19: 53-93.
• Zanker, P. 1995. The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity. Berkeley.