Portrait Bust of Emperor Domitian

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Portrait Bust of Emperor Domitian

Place of OriginLikely Italy (Rome), based on stylistic evidence

Dateabout 90 CE

Dimensions23 7/16 × 16 1/2 × 12 in. (59.5 × 41.9 × 30.5 cm)

MediumParian marble (analyzed 2002)

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey and with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1990.30

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionA larger-than-life-size bust of Domitian, carved from fine-grained, translucent marble. The emperor’s head tilts slightly downward and to the right, with forward-combed curls originating from a pinwheel at the crown. The highly polished skin contrasts with the matte, textured finish of the hair. Drapery, secured by a rosette-shaped fibula on the left shoulder, is meticulously rendered, with a sword strap crossing the chest.

Label TextMuch hated for his self-aggrandizing and cruel leadership, Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus (51–96 CE, ruled 81–96 CE), was nearly wiped out of art history by his successors in the Roman Senate. So despised was the vain ruler that he was officially damned by the Senate and nearly all public statues and inscriptions bearing his name were destroyed. Few likenesses are known to survive. Look closely at where the hair’s curls meet the forehead. Can you tell Domitian is wearing a wig? Roman sculptors often took careful pains to create a frank and accurate description of their subjects, not hiding the fact that the powerful man had a recessed jaw and a receding hairline.Published References"Museum acquisitions," Minerva, vol. 2, no. 4, July/August 1991, p. 35, repr.

"Principales acquisitions des musées en 1991," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 119, no. 1478, Mar. 1992, repr. p. 55.

The Toledo Museum of Art 1989-1990 Annual Report, Toledo, 1990, inside front cover, repr., colver (col.).

Rowland, Ingrid D., "Feast of Pliny," a review of The Villas of Pliny from Antiquity to Posterity, by Pierre de la Ruffinière du Prey, Chicago, 1995, New York Review of Books, May 11, 1995, p. 20, fn. 9.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 46, repr. (col.).

Southern, Pat, Domitian, tragic tyrant, London, 1997, p. VIII, pl. 11.

Berkowitz, Roger M., "Selected acquisitions made by the Toledo Museum of Art, 1990-2001," Burlington, vol. 143, no. 1177, April 2001, p. 258, fig. III (col.).

"Roman art and architecture 750 B.C. - 476 A.D.," Art-A-Fact, vol. 5, no. 3, Dec. 2001/Jan. 2002, repr. p. 3 (col.).

Knudsen, Sandra E., Craine, Clifford, and Tykot, Robert H., “Analysis of Classical Marble Sculptures in the Toledo Museum of Art,” in Herrmann, John J. Jr., Herz, Norman, and Newman, Richard, eds., ASMOSIA 5: Interdisciplinary Studies on Ancient Stone, (London: Archetype Publications, 2002), p. 232, 237, 238, 239, n. 9, fig. 10.

Varner, Eric R., Mutilation and transformation: Damnation Memoriae and Roman imperial portaiture, Leiden, Brill, 2004, p. 130, fig. 135.

Vermule, Cornelius, "Roman Imperial persons in North America," The Celator, vol. 17, no. 12, Dec. 2003, p. 30.

Vermeule, Cornelius, "Faces of Empire (Julius Caesar to Justinian) pt. 111," The Celator, vol. 19, no. 11, Nov. 2005, p. 24, fig. 9.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 84, repr. (col.). Zanker, Paul, Roman Portraits: Sculptures in Stone and Bronze in the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York, Metropolitan Musuem of Art, 2016, pp. 58, 63.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Bird, H.M. (trans), Suetonius Lives of the Twelve Caesars, New York, 1930, pp. 369-388.

See also Cook, S.A., F.E. Adcock and M.P. Charlesworth, eds., The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. XI, The Imperial Peace A.D. 70-192, Cambridge, 1928, pp. 22-45, pp. 408-417, pp. 780-781, and p. 790.

See also Daltrop, Georg, Die Flavier, Berlin, 1966.

See also FIttschen, K. and P. Zanker, Katalogue der romischen Portrats in dem Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom, Mainz, 1985, pp. 35-37, nos. 23, 33, pls. 36, 37.