- Museum number
- 1805,0703.95
- Description
-
Marble bust of the emperor Hadrian wearing military dress.
- Production date
- 125-130 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 83 centimetres
-
Weight: 83 kilograms
-
Width: 64.50 centimetres
-
Depth: 35 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Type Chiaramonti 392
C. Evers considered this bust the main replica of workshop 'C' in her typology of Hadrian's portraits.
Very similar is the fragmentary portrait now in the Shelby-White collection in New York (formerly in the eighteenth-century British collection of Thomas Mansel-Talbot), also from Hadrian's villa.
Cf. C. Evers, Les portraits d'Hadrien: Typologie et ateliers (Brussels 1994), 126-127 no. 59; 319-324 figs. 51-52.
-
Opper 2008
Wegner (1956), pp. 27, 57, 69, 101; Raeder (1983), pp. 40-1; Fittschen & Zanker (1983), pp. 46-8; Wegner (1984), p. 122; Evers (1994), no. 59.
-
Cook 2013, nr. 36:
Townley's description; ‘A Bust of Hadrian with the Paludamentum over the military cuiras, found with many other valuable marbles in the grounds belonging to the Cavaliere Lolli, who retained it in his possession till his death, which happened in 1767. His grounds adjoined to those of the Conte de Fede, and occupy part of the site of that Emperor’s magnificent Villa near Tivoli’ (Towneley Hall Catalogue, in Townley’s own hand on a slip of paper pasted over the previous text, which was presumably a verbatim copy of the shorter version in the ‘L’ Catalogue (TY 12/3); Chambers, dining room 26).
Found about 1740 (TY 10/3, which adds that Lolli was the father of Domenico de Angelis).
Bought from Jenkins in 1768 for £70 (TY 10/2; TY 10/3, fo. 20; TY 10/5-7; TY 12/1). The bust is listed in TY 10/1, but the price in Scudi is not stated. It was omitted from the list of objects bought from Jenkins in the 'Union Catalogue', presumably by an oversight.
Drawings:
* Townley drawing 2010,5006.131, attributed ‘very probably’ to Metz [I. D. Jenkins].
* Nollekens: B. F. Cook, `The Townley Marbles in Westminster and Bloomsbury', The British Museum Yearbook, 2 (1977), 45, figs. 26-27, no. 16.
* Chambers: B. F. Cook, `The Townley Marbles in Westminster and Bloomsbury', The British Museum Yearbook, 2 (1977), 42-43, figs. 24-25, no. 21. * There is also a drawing in the Society of Antiquaries.
Bibliography:
- Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum (1808) VI.29.
- Ancient Marbles of the British Museum, X, pl. 8.
- A Guide to the Graeco-Roman Sculptures in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum) (2 vols., London 1874 [2nd ed. 1879] and 1876), I, no. 17.
- Hermann Winnefeld, Die Villa des Hadrien bei Tivoli (JdI Ergänzungsheft III, Berlin 1895), 159.
- A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Vol. III (London 1904), 157-8, no. 1896, pl. 16.1.
- M. Wegner, Hadrian, Plotina, Marciana, Matidia, Sabina (Das römische Herrscherbild, II.3, Berlin 1956), 101.
- B. F. Cook, The Townley Marbles (London 1985), 13, fig. 7.
- Susan Walker, Greek and Roman Portraits (London 1995), 91, fig. 65.
- Location
- On display (Front Hall)
- Exhibition history
-
2008, 24 Jul-26 Aug, London, BM, 'Hadrian: Empire and Conflict'
2009, 29 Jun-11 Aug, Carlisle, Hadrians Wall Pilgrimage
2009 ,11 Aug-5 Oct, Carlisle, Hadrians Wall Pilgrimage
2012, 26 Mar-17 Jul, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Manarat Al Saadiyat, 'Treasures of the British Museum'
2012-2013, Nov-Apr, Bonn, Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, 'Treasures of the World's Cultures'.
2015-2016, 4 Dec-3 July, National Museum of Singapore, ‘Treasures of the World’s Cultures’
2018 23 Feb – 22 Apr, Nashville, Frist Art Museum, 'Rome; City &Empire'
2018-2019 20 Sep-04 Feb, Canberra, National Museum of Australia, 'Rome; City &Empire'
2024 1 Feb-23 June, London, British Museum SEG, 'Legion: life in the Roman army'
2021 13 Feb-15 Aug, Belgium, Tongeren, Gallo-Romeins Museum, 'Rome; City & Empire'
2021-2022 25 Sep – 08 Oct, China, Suzhou Museum, 'Rome: City & Empire'
2024 1 Feb-23 Jun, London, BM, SEG, 'Legion: life in the Roman army'
- Acquisition date
- 1805
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1805,0703.95
