Ancient Roman statuary at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: BRONZE STATUE (Rogers Fund, 1914)

Speranza

Bronze statue
Period: Augustan
Date: 27 B.C.–A.D. 14
Culture: Roman
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: H. 52 1/8 in. (132.4 cm) length of face 5 1/8 in. (13 cm)
Classification: Bronzes
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1914
Accession Number: 1914.130.1
This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 162

This life-sized statue was found on the eastern Mediterranean island of Rhodes, whose ancient Greek cities were wealthy, flourishing centers ofcommerce and culture under the Romans.

With his broad face and short hair, the boy resembles young princes in the family of Augusto, the first Roman emperor, but he may have been the son of an important Roman official stationed on Rhodes or the son of a wealthy Greek.

As Roman influence spread throughout the Mediterranean world, there was interchange of fashion, customs, and culture. Romans had great admiration for Greek culture; the island of Rhodes was famous for its schools of philosophy and rhetoric, and this boy even wears a Greek himation (cloak) instead of the traditional Roman toga.

Provenance

Said to be from Rhodes (MMA 1938, fig. 24).

Acquired November 12, 1914, purchased from Theochares through E.P. Triantaphyllos.

References
Richter, Gisela M.A. 1915. "Bronze Statue of a Boy." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 10(1): pp. 1, 3-5.

Richter, G. M. A. 1915. "A Bronze Statue in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." American Journal of Archaeology 19 (April-June): 121-28, pls. I-VI.

Richter, G. M. A. 1915. Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 149-52, no. 333.

Howe, Winnifred, E. 1916. "The Children's Bulletin." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 11(1) Supplement, pp. 1-4.

Swift, E. H. 1921. "A Group of Roman Imperial Portraits at Corinth." American Journal of Archaeology 25: 357-58, no. 4.

Reinach, S. 1924. Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine. Vol. 5. Paris: E. Leroux, vol. 2, p. 319, no. 1.

Richter, Gisela M.A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 296-7, fig. 209.

West, R. 1933. Römische Porträt-Plastik. Vol. 1. Munich: F. Bruckmann, pp. 136ff., pl. XXXIV, fig. 147.

Curtius, L. 1935. "Ikonographische Beiträge zum Porträt der Römischen Republik und der julisch-claudischen Familie." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts, Roemische Abteilung 50: 300ff., fig. 22.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1938. Augustan Art: An Exhibition Commemorating the Bimillennium of the Birth of Augustus. New York, p. 10, fig. 24.

Hill, D. K. 1939. "A Cache of Bronze Portraits of the Julio-Claudians." American Journal of Archaeology 43: 406.

Richter, G. M. A. 1948. Roman Portraits. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 29.

Hafner, G. 1954. Späthellenistische Bildnisplastik. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, pp. 17ff., 27, pl. 4.

Bieber, M. 1977. Ancient Copies: Contributions to the History of Greek and Roman Art. New York: New York University Press, pp. 43, 52, n. 22, 190-91, figs. 783-85.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 73, pp. 100-1.

Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. 2000. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 15, pp. 35, 205.

Hemingway, Seán, Elizabether J. Milleker, and R. Stone. 2002. "The Early Imperial Bronze Statue of a Boy in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Technical and Stylistic Analysis." In I bronzi antichi: Produzione e tecnologia, edited by A. Giumlia-Mair. Montagnac: Monique Mergoil, pp. 200-207, figs. 1-9.

Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 405, pp. 351, 485.