Head of a Man

early 1st century CE

Roman

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About the Artwork

The Etruscans emphasized realism, an element important to them in the representation of dead ancestors and honored living contemporaries. Roman portraiture of the Republican period is a remarkably successful integration of Greek and Etruscan influences. Greek artists understood anatomy and the naturalistic rendering of living forms. This head of an old man may have been a funerary portrait and is striking in its uncompromising realism. The bald head with blood vessels visible under the skin, the sunken eyes and sagging skin produce a harsh portrayal of old age. The abstract design created by the lines across the brow, at the outer edges of the eyes, and on the neck reflect another indigenous influence: the love of surface pattern. The Romans of the Republic were a tough, puritanical, pragmatic people who found super-realism entirely congenial for representations of revered dead ancestors, as well as for portraits of the living.

Title Head of a Man

Artwork Date early 1st century CE

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Roman

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Marble

Dimensions Overall: 15 3/4 × 8 1/4 × 8 1/4 inches (40 × 21 × 21 cm) Including base: 20 1/4 × 15 3/4 × 14 3/4 inches (51.4 × 40 × 37.5 cm) Mount: 4 1/2 × 7 1/2 × 6 1/2 inches (11.4 × 19.1 × 16.5 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Greco-Roman and Ancient European

Credit City of Detroit Purchase

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 27.211

Markings

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Provenance

(Alfredo Barsanti, Rome, Italy)

1927-present, purchased by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

H[eil], W[alter]. "Four Roman Portrait Heads," Bulletin of the DIA 9, no. 3 (December 1927): pp. 28–30, p. 28 (ill.).

Schweitzer, Bernhard. Die Bildniskunst der Römischen Republik. Leipzig, 1948, p. 114, no. H10.

Cummings, Frederick J. and Charles H. Elam, eds. The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 37 (ill.).

Vermeule, Cornelius C. Greek and Roman sculpture in America: Masterpieces in Public Collections in the United States and Canada. Berkeley, 1981, p. 275, no 232.

De Puma, Richard Daniel. Roman Portraits. Exh. cat., The University of Iowa Museum of Art. Iowa City, 1988, pp. 38–39, no. 12 (ill.).

Henshaw, Julia, ed. A Visitor's Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 114 (ill.).

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