The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 1, 2023

Portrait Bust of a Man

27 BC-AD 14

Italy, Roman, Augustan period

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

Fun Fact

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.

Citations
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
Exhibition history

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).

Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).

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).

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