This paper discusses the discovery, in 1924-1925, of an ancient marble head at the bottom of the Hudson river in New York. The event had significant media coverage thanks to the interest of the editorial board of The New York Times. Among the hypotheses taken into account to explain the bizarre location of its discovery, prof. Bruno Roselli (1887- 1970) suggested that the Roman portrait may have been picked up from Lepcis Magna and accidentally swallowed up by the New York bay at the beginning of the 19th century from the US Navy schooner commanded by Captain David Porter. Another hypothesis linked the marble head to John C. King Van Rensselaer who bought it in New York and lost it when a ferry boat caught on fire in the Hudson around 1830. The second part of the paper deals with the dating and a possible interpretation of the portrait, currently housed at the Millesgården Museum, in Lidingö (Stockholm). A replica in the Vatican Museums, Chiaramonti Museum, probably belonging to a cuirassed statue, and may be another one, although idealized, in the Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Senatorio, together with its formal analysis and comparisons, suggest that the portrait type could belong to an eminent Roman personality (imperator?) who lived between the second triumvirate and the early Augustan age. The portrait is indeed distinguished by individual traits and by a hairstyle influenced by those of Octavian’s portraits, particularly the ‘Prima Porta type’, even if characterized with the distinctive detail of long hair strands on the neck. The Fasti Triumphales provide a list of names that could be take into account, however, it is not possible to hypothesize a specific identification. Both replicas of the ‘Chiaramonti-Millesgården type’ can be associated with an urban production. Moreover, the proposed date of the Millesgården portrait to early Augustan age (27-20 BC) seems to be too early for an honorary statue to be displayed in a public space at Lepcis Magna. This date precedes the Punic town becoming a typical ‘Roman’ city in its public appearance, the transformation of which occurred only between the end of the first century BC and the beginning of the following one.

Da New York a Stoccolma: un ritratto di imperator (?) tra il secondo triumvirato e la prima età augustea, in A. Zocchi, L. Buccino, Lo strano caso della testa marmorea rinvenuta nel fiume Hudson: Leptis Magna sulle pagine de The New York Times negli anni Venti del Novecento / Laura Buccino. - In: QUADERNI DI ARCHEOLOGIA DELLA LIBIA. - ISSN 0079-8258. - STAMPA. - 22, n.s. II:(2019), pp. 103-130.

Da New York a Stoccolma: un ritratto di imperator (?) tra il secondo triumvirato e la prima età augustea, in A. Zocchi, L. Buccino, Lo strano caso della testa marmorea rinvenuta nel fiume Hudson: Leptis Magna sulle pagine de The New York Times negli anni Venti del Novecento

Laura Buccino
2019

Abstract

This paper discusses the discovery, in 1924-1925, of an ancient marble head at the bottom of the Hudson river in New York. The event had significant media coverage thanks to the interest of the editorial board of The New York Times. Among the hypotheses taken into account to explain the bizarre location of its discovery, prof. Bruno Roselli (1887- 1970) suggested that the Roman portrait may have been picked up from Lepcis Magna and accidentally swallowed up by the New York bay at the beginning of the 19th century from the US Navy schooner commanded by Captain David Porter. Another hypothesis linked the marble head to John C. King Van Rensselaer who bought it in New York and lost it when a ferry boat caught on fire in the Hudson around 1830. The second part of the paper deals with the dating and a possible interpretation of the portrait, currently housed at the Millesgården Museum, in Lidingö (Stockholm). A replica in the Vatican Museums, Chiaramonti Museum, probably belonging to a cuirassed statue, and may be another one, although idealized, in the Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Senatorio, together with its formal analysis and comparisons, suggest that the portrait type could belong to an eminent Roman personality (imperator?) who lived between the second triumvirate and the early Augustan age. The portrait is indeed distinguished by individual traits and by a hairstyle influenced by those of Octavian’s portraits, particularly the ‘Prima Porta type’, even if characterized with the distinctive detail of long hair strands on the neck. The Fasti Triumphales provide a list of names that could be take into account, however, it is not possible to hypothesize a specific identification. Both replicas of the ‘Chiaramonti-Millesgården type’ can be associated with an urban production. Moreover, the proposed date of the Millesgården portrait to early Augustan age (27-20 BC) seems to be too early for an honorary statue to be displayed in a public space at Lepcis Magna. This date precedes the Punic town becoming a typical ‘Roman’ city in its public appearance, the transformation of which occurred only between the end of the first century BC and the beginning of the following one.
2019
22, n.s. II
103
130
Goal 4: Quality education
Laura Buccino
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1202135
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