The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 23, 2022

Portrait Head of Emperor Vespasian, Recut from Head of Nero

AD 64-79

This object has related works. See Togatus Figure

Italy, Roman

Marble

Overall: 40 x 21.6 x 24.9 cm (15 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 9 13/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1929.998

Location

103 Roman

Fun Fact

Originally a portrait of Emperor Nero, this head was recarved after his <em>damnatio memoriae</em> (condemnation of memory).

Description

Although this portrait head was designed to fit into a statue of a body, it did not originally belong with the togate body that held it when purchased by the museum in 1929. In 1973, the two were separated, and the body is now in storage. The head itself was recarved in antiquity, from a likeness of Nero to one of Vespasian, following the damnatio memoriae (condemnation of memory) of the former. A line at the back of head shows clearly where the long hair of Nero has been shortened, while other Neronian features, such as a receding lower lip, remain.

Provenance
?-1928
Piero Tozzi Gallery, Florence, Italy, sold to Brummer Gallery
1928-1929
Brummer Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1929-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
"Cleveland Gets Roman Statue" ARTnews. [New York, etc.] (October 19, 1929). pp. 1, 13
R. H. "The Portrait of a Roman Statesman." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 8 (1929): 139-41. www.jstor.org
"Roman Honesty" Art Digest. [New York] (Mid October 1929). p. 19
Bieber, Margaret. 1944. “Roman Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Art in America 32: 65-83. Reproduced in Fig. 11 (then attached to the togate statue 1929.439).
Bieber, Margarete. "Roman Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art," Art in America (April 1944). pp. 77, fig. 11
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 40 (then attached to the togate statue 1929.439). archive.org
Carter, Martha L. Classical Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced; p. 11-12; Plate 18 archive.org
Pollini, John. "Damnatio Memoriae in Stone: Two Portraits of Nero Recut to Vespasian in American Museums." American Journal of Archaeology 88, no. 4 (1984): 547-55. www.jstor.org
Varner, Eric R., and Sheramy D. Bundrick. From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny & Transformation in Roman Portraiture. Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2000. Pp. 136-139 (Cat. 27).
Varner, Eric R. Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture. Leiden: Brill, 2004. Pp. 53, 241, Fig. 49a-e (Cat. 2.17).
Merchán García, María José. Écija: (Provincia de Sevilla, Hispania Ulterior Baetica). Thesis (Revised). Sevilla: Editorial Universidad de Sevilla; Tarragona: ICAC, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, 2015. p. 107 Mentioned: p. 107
Prusac, Marina. From Face to Face: Recarving of Roman Portraits and the Late-Antique Portrait Arts. Second, revised edition. Monumenta Graeca et Romana, Volume 18. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2016. P. 134, cat. 67.
Exhibition history

Atlanta, GA: (9/16/00-1/7/01) Michael C. Carolos Museum, Emory University and New Haven, CT: (1/31-3/25/01) Yale University Art Gallery "From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny & Transformation in Roman Portraiture" exh. cat. no. 27, pp 136-139.

From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny and Transformation in Roman Portraiture. Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta, GA (organizer) (September 16, 2000-January 7, 2001); Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (January 30-March 25, 2001).

Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.998