Institute
of America

A NEW HEAD OF THE SO-CALLED SCIPIO TYPE: AN ATTEMPT AT ITS IDENTIFICATION

[PLATE I]

In April of 1902 an unpublished head1 of the type commonly known as Scipio was presented to Oberlin College by Mrs. Joseph Cook of Boston (PLate I). It was purchased by Dr. Joseph Cook of an antiquarian in Rome in 1881. The head only is antique, the line of juncture with the modern bust being plainly visible. The head is smoothly shaven, and on the right side just above the brow appears the distinguishing mark. The nose is restored, as also a portion of the lobe of the left ear. Otherwise, with the exception of a few bruises on the face, the whole is unusually well preserved and forms one of the best examples of the series to which it belongs. From the point of view of artistic style and the manner of treating the eyes, the pupils not being indicated, the portrait is as early at least as the first century of our era. The following is a list of the extant heads of this type: 2

1 Its existence was announced in the School Review, XI, 1903, p. 407, and in this Journal, VIII, 1904, p. 77.

2 Only the most recent literature is cited. A full list will be found in Bernoulli, Röm. Ikon. I, pp. 32–60, and Helbig, Führer2, no. 491. In brackets are indicated the numbers of Bernoulli's list. The following copies, mentioned by Bernoulli, I have been unable to see either in the original or in reproductions: no. 6, Rome, Palazzo Sciarra (collection sold), white marble head, Matz-Duhn, Ant. Bildw. zu Rom, no. 1844 (same head that Winckelmann, Werke, VI, 2, p. 266, Mon. Ined. II, p. 231, mentions as existing in the Palazzo Barberini ?) : no. 7, Rome, Palazzo Sciarra (collection sold), dark, basalt-like stone, MatzDuhn, Ant. Bildw. zu Rom, no. 1844 ; no. 8, Rome, Palazzo Giustiniani (collection sold), head on alien statue, modern inscription, SCIPIO AFRICANVS, on plinth, has the characteristic mark, Matz-Duhn, no. 1218; no. 13, Rome, American Journal of Archaeology, Second Series. Journal of the 11 Archaeological Institute of America, Vol. IX (1905), No. 1.

1. Oberlin. White marble head on modern bust. Purchased in Rome in 1881. Published herewith PLATE I. The characteristic mark on the right side. Pupils of eyes not indicated.

2 [1]. Rome, Capitoline Museum. White marble bust. Helbig, Führer 2, no. 491; Brunn-Bruckmann-Arndt, Griech.

Villa Albani (inaccessible); no. 14, Rome, Magazzino della Commissione archaeologica municipale (not in the Antiquarium or Tabularium), according to Helbig found on the Esquiline in 1875, has the mark, Hemans, Academy, VII, p. 48; no. 25, Warwick Castle, "good workmanship," Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, p. 329; no. 26, Castle Howard, "perished in the fire of 1871," Michaelis, op. cit. p. 664; p. 41, n. 2, Paris, Magazine of the Louvre, Clarac, Mus. de Sculpture, 1113?.

The head in Madrid (Bernoulli, no. 23) presumably bears no mark;

at any rate, Hübner, who examined it with special care, says nothing about such a distinguishing sign (Die Ant. Bildw. zu Madrid, no. 190).

In a private letter Dr. Watzinger, Assistant Director of the Royal Museum at Berlin, informs me that the marble head in Berlin (Bernoulli, no. 31) does not bear the characteristic mark.

No. 16, Frascati, Villa Aldobrandini, is still in a niche in the façade of the semicircular building, but too high up to examine.

Commendatore Gatti called my attention to a small shaven head in a medallion frame attached to the north exterior wall of the Palazzo dei Senatori, but it is too high to examine in detail. The head was placed there by Franciscus

Gualdus of Ariminum in 1651.

The two heads represented in Sculture della Villa Borghese detta Pinciana,

und Röm. Porträts, nos. 191, 192; Bernoulli, Röm. Ikon. I, Taf. I. Mark on the left side, having the form . Pupils "Jedenfalls deutet der physiognomische

of eyes indicated.

Typus wie der Styl des Kopfes auf eine

Persönlichkeit aus republicanischer Zeit"

(Helbig); "Die

Arbeit fällt nach

Büstenform

wie

Augenbehandlung

nicht vor das Ende des 2. Jahrh. n. Chr." (Arndt). (Fig. 1.)

3. Rome, Museo delle Terme. White marble head, much restored. Found in the Tiber. Helbig, Führer2, no. 1137. Mark on the right side. Traces of indication of the pupils.

scher Zeit" (Helbig).

4 [5]. Rome, Vati

can, Museo Chiaramonti. bust of white marble.

the Vatican, Museo Chiaramonti. (From a photograph.)

Head of nero antico on an alien Amelung, Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, I, no. 232, Taf. 47. Mark on the right

vol. I (Bernoulli, p. 41, n. 2) are still in the collection of the Villa Borghese (recently purchased by the Italian government).

No. 34, Hanover, has a "leichten Halsbart," and therefore does not belong in this list. The head of basalt on a porphyry bust in the Museo Torlonia (Bernoulli, no. 9), Visconti, Cat. del Mus. Torlonia, Rome, 1883, no. 346, also is not shaven, Museo Torlonia reprodotto in fototipia, no. 346.

An expert examination of all heads of this series would probably reveal modern copies. A list of modern or suspected heads is given below, p. 17.