The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2025

Portrait Bust of a Man

27 BCE–14 CE
bronze
Overall: 38.1 x 21.6 cm (15 x 8 1/2 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1928.860
Location: 103 Roman

Did You Know?

This portrait originally had inlaid eyes, probably in stone, glass, or ivory.

Description

The realistic features of this fine life-sized portrait include wrinkles in the forehead and beside each eye, and very naturalistic ears, protruding but not quite symmetrical. The stylized hair is neatly arranged and suggests a date in the Augustan period, although some scholars have seen it as late Republican. Likely once topping a shaft as a herm bust, the portrait’s subject—now unknown—would have been identified by an inscription.
  • Howard, Rossiter. "Roman Portrait Head." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 7 (1928): 147-53. www.jstor.org
    Magoffin, R. V. D. Magic Spades ; the Romance of Archaeology. New York: Henry Holt, 1929. P. 148.
    Bieber, Margarete. “Roman Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum.” Art in America 32 (April 1944): 65–83. Pp. 70-71, fig. 4.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 39 archive.org
    Carter, Martha L. Classical Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned: p. 16; reproduced: back cover archive.org
    Worcester Art Museum, and Michael Milkovich. Roman Portraits: [a Loan Exhibition of Roman Sculpture and Coins from the First Century B.C. Through the Fourth Century A.D., by Michael Milkovich, April 6-May 14, 1961]. [Worchester, Mass.]: [Worchester Art Museum], 1961. P. 18, cat. 5.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 24 archive.org
    Mitten, David Gordon, and Suzannah F. Doeringer. Master Bronzes from the Classical World. [Mainz on Rhine, W. Ger.]: [Printed by P. von Zabern], 1967. Pp. 234-235, cat. 228.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 24 archive.org
    William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, and T. Robert S. Broughton. Ancient Portraits: A Show of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Sculptured Portraits in Honor of the Seventieth Birthday of T.R.S. Broughton : Ackland Art Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, April 5-May 17, 1970. [Chapel Hill, N.C.]: [The Center], 1970. Cat. 15.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 28 archive.org
    Balty, Jean Ch. "M. Junius Brutus: Stoicisme et révolte dans le portrait romain de la fin de la République," Bulletin de la classe de beaux-arts LXI (1979): 194-220. Pll. 4, 6.
    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. Pp. 284-285, cat. 241.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 12 archive.org
    Mattusch, Carol C. The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996. Pp. 322-325, cat. 47.
    Lahusen, Götz, and Edilberto Formigli. Römische Bildnisse aus Bronze: Kunst und Technik. München: Nirmer Verlag, 2001. Pp. 110-111, cat. 56.
    Franklin, David. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012. Reproduced: p. 16 - 17
    Daehner, Jens, and Kenneth D. S. Lapatin. Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World. Firenze : Giunti, 2015. Mentioned: p. 181, note 43
  • The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections. Harvard Art Museums (organizer) (April 20-August 11, 1996); The Toledo Museum of Art (October 13, 1996-January 5, 1997); Tampa Museum of Art (February 2-April 13, 1997).
    Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    Master Bronzes from the Classical World. Fogg Art Museum/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (organizer) (December 4, 1967-January 23, 1968); Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (March 1-April 13, 1968); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (May 8-June 30, 1968).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait Bust of a Man|url=false|author=|year=27 BCE–14 CE|access-date=22 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1928.860