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+--- Thread: Unknown Portrait Bust (/showthread.php?tid=15786)
Unknown Portrait Bust - Nathan Ross - 09-22-2009
Looking around on the net for Roman portrait busts in the Vatican museums, I found the image below. It's not labelled or identified at all, and I don't even know if it's Roman. Possibly the head and upper torso are from different eras. Can anyone identify it, or guess a possible date? The hairstyle looks sort of vaguely Severan/Syrian, perhaps, or even Egyptian...
![[Image: Bust.jpg]](http://www.orionwomentravel.com/-%20Photos/Bust.jpg)
Any ideas?
- Nathan
Re: Unknown Portrait Bust - Ron Andrea - 09-23-2009
No clue.
The material of the head and neck certainly looks different than that of the body. Head swapping was common.
Re: Unknown Portrait Bust - Jona Lendering - 09-23-2009
Quote:The hairstyle looks sort of vaguely Severan/Syrian, perhaps, or even Egyptian...Negroid, I would say.
Re: Unknown Portrait Bust - Nathan Ross - 09-23-2009
Quote:The material of the head and neck certainly looks different than that of the body. Head swapping was common.
Looks that way, doesn't it. I think, though, that different types of stone were often used for the head (which would have been painted anyway) and the shoulders - coloured marbles were sometimes used to do the clothing, and then left unpainted. In this case, the robe is very fine marble, which possibly took a better 'edge' for the sharp folds, while the head is possibly a softer stone, easier to model the contours of the face and details of hair. That still doesn't mean it's an original match - I believe classical busts were sometimes 'renovated' much later - Renaissance/Baroque particularly.
Jona - yeah, the hairstyle does look African - a bit like the Nubians from Egyptian art. The face, though, reminds me of the famous bust of a Flavian woman with the piled-up ringlets. It's certainly a very striking and 'characterful' piece - whether it's genuinely classical or a later restoration/interpretation, it appears to be unique. I'm surprised I've never seen a reproduction of it anywhere before!
- Nathan