Head of Venus

Place of OriginTurkey (reportedly)

Datelate 2nd or early 3rd century CE (Antonine or Severan)

Dimensions16 1/2 × 10 × 13 1/8 in. (41.9 × 25.4 × 33.3 cm)

MediumDokimeion marble (analyzed)

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1976.21

On View

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

Descriptionover-life-size marble head from a statue.

Label TextIn the cities of the Roman Empire, statues of private citizens, emperors, heroes, and gods crowded public spaces. This head of Venus (1976.21), goddess of love and the mythological ancestor of the first dynasty of emperors, is reported to have been found with Toledo’s portrait of Lucius Verus (1976.20). When acquired, it was identified as Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus Aurelius who married Verus in 164 CE, but Lucilla’s portraits all show elaborate hair—not the casual topknot of Venus. The two heads are, however, carved from precisely the same type of marble, suggesting they may have originated from the same site. They may have formed part of a statue group of the imperial family mingling with gods. Provenance research into the origins and history of these works is ongoing.Published References"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 19, nos. 2, 3, 1976, p. 51, repr.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 89, no. 1298, March 1977, repr. p. 39, no. 161.

Gazda, Elaine K., Roman Portraiture: Ancient and Modern Revivals, Ann Arbor, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, 1977, p. 24, Nr. 8.

Gazda, Elaine K., "Venus and a Roman Emperor," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 20, no. 2, 1978, pp. 43-55, repr. fig. 2, 6, 7, 13, cover (col.).

Wegner, Max, and Unger, Reinhard, “Verzeichnis der Kaiserbildnisse von Antoninus Pius bis Commodus II,” Boreas: Münstersche Beiträge zur Archäologie, vol. 3, 1980, pp. 34, 74.

Vermeule, Cornelius C., Greek and Roman Sculpture in America: Masterpieces in Public Collections in the United States and Canada, Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum; Berkeley, University of California Press, 1981, p. 334, Nr. 286.

Brilliant, Richard, “Hairiness: A Matter of Style and Substance in Roman Portraits,” Studies in the History of Art, vol. 43, 1993, pp. 306, 309, 310, fig. 7, p. 307.

Brilliant, Richard, Commentaries on Roman art: selected studies, London, 1994, pp. 89-90, no. 10, fig. 7.

Quenemoen, Caroline Kerrigan, Claudia in the classroom, New Haven, 1997, p. 22, fig. 27.

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, 235, 237, 239, n. 5, fig. 6.

Exhibition HistoryAnn Arbor, Michigan, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Roman portraiture; ancient and modern revivals, 1977, no. 8, p. 24, repr.

New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery; San Antonio Museum of Art; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, I Clavdia: Women in ancient Rome, 1996-1997, no. 28, p. 73-74, repr.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Inan, Jane and Elizabeth Rosenbaum, Roman and Early Byzantine Portait Sculpture, London, 1966, pp. 80-82, cat. nos. 52, 53, 54, pls. XXXIII, XXXIV, 1-2, and XXXIV, 3-4.

cf. Blümel, Carl, Römische Bildnisse, Berlin, Staatliche Museen, 1933, p. 34, cat. no. R81, taf. 52.

cf. Poulsen, Vagn, Les Portraits Romains, vol. II, De Vespasien à la Basse-Antiquité. Publications de la Glyptothèque Ny Carlsberg, No. 8, Copenhagen, 1974, p. 106-108, nos. 93, pl. CLVI-CLVII, and 94, pl. CLVIII.

Wegner, Max, Die Herrscherbildnisse in antoninischer Zeit. Das Romische Herrscherbild II, Abteilung Band 4, Archaeologisches Institut des Deutschen Reiches, Berlin, Verlag Gebr, Mann, 1939, pp. 74-78, tafel 47.

cf. Vermeule, Cornelius C., Roman Imperial Art in Greece and Asia Minor, Cambridge, 1968, p. 288.