The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Relief Portrait Head of the Emperor Balbinus
c. 238 CE
Location: 103 Roman
Did You Know?
Carved in deep relief (not quite in the round), this head comes from a large sarcophagus.Description
Wearing a laurel wreath, this head belongs to the little-known Emperor Balbinus, who ruled the empire together with Pupienus for only 99 days in AD 238, the now infamous Year of the Six Emperors. Following his death at the hands of an angry mob, Balbinus and his wife (whose name remains unknown) nevertheless received a large and impressive marble sarcophagus. The couple recline together on the lid, and appear twice in relief on the front, where this head originally belonged. Remarkably, although the head was purchased in Rome in 1925, two years before the sarcophagus was discovered (in many pieces near the Praetextatus Catacombs in Rome), it was found to fit a gap in the larger sculpture in 1966. Since then, a plaster cast of the Cleveland head has remained in place on the original sarcophagus, now in the Vatican Museums.- Jucker, Hans, and John D. Cooney. "A Portrait Head of the Emperor Balbinus." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 1 (1967): 11-16. 25152134.Kleiner, Diana E. E. Roman Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. Discussed pp. 384-385. Ill. p. 356 (det.), 384 (fig. 356).Vermeule, Cornelius C. Greek and Roman Sculpture in America: Masterpieces in Public Collections in the United States and Canada. Malibu, Calif: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1981. P. 359, cat. 310 (Ill.).Jucker, H. "Die Behauptung des Balbinus," Archäologischer Anzeiger, Heft 4, 1966, pp. 501-514. Ill. Abb. 1-3.Newark Museum, and Dorothy M. Budd. Curator's Choice from the Ancient World. 1968. Ill. and discussed by John D. Cooney on 26th page (unnumbered).Poses Institute of Fine Arts. Art of the Late Antique from American Collections: A Loan Exhibition of the Poses Institute of Fine Arts [Held at] Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, December 18, 1968-February 16, 1969. [Waltham]: [publisher not identified], 1968. P. 47, Pl. III (Cat. 6).The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 26 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 26 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 30 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 14 archive.orgBol, Peter, Carola Reinsberg, Renate Bol, D. Kreikenbom, Hans-Ulrich Cain, Heike Richter, and Britta Özen-Kleine. Plastik der römischen Kaiserzeit vom Regierungsantritt des Antoninus Pius bis zum Ende der Antike. Worms : Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, 2019. Mentoned: p. 110, 141-142 and 172; Reproduced: Abb. 188 (bd.2)
- Art of the Late Antique. The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA (December 17, 1968-February 16, 1969).Curator's Choice from the Ancient World. Newark Museum, Newark, NJ (organizer) (January 30-June 15, 1968).
- {{cite web|title=Relief Portrait Head of the Emperor Balbinus|url=false|author=|year=c. 238 CE|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1925.945