Bust of Poseidon
- Title:
- Bust of Poseidon
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Leopoldo Malpiere Formatore Roma (reproduction)
Unknown (Roman copy)
possibly Lysippos (Greek original) (original)
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
2nd c. CE (Roman copy)
fourth quarter of the 4th c. BCE (Greek original)
- Site:
- Rome, Italy (reproduction)
Ostia, Italy (discovery site, 1824) (original) - Location:
- Lincoln Hall (Room 316), Cornell University
Rome, Italy (reproduction)
Ostia, Italy (discovery site, 1824) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0795
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 205
label on pedestal reads "205"
734 - File Name:
- CCC_0795.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 216 (H) cm (complete statue)
- Culture:
- Roman, after Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman Imperial, after Greek Early Hellenistic
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Poseidon (Greek deity)
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 59.9 (without pedestal) x 73.5 (with pedestal) x 46 x 28.5 (centimeters, height x height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a well-preserved cast of a bust of a heavily restored marble statue of Poseidon in the Vatican Museum. Poseidon turns his head slightly to his right and gazes ahead with a look of calm concern. His thick-lidded eyes slope subtly downward and his lips are parted and turned down. Poseidon's hair is longish, wavy with some curls, and tousled. His beard is curly and full. Many curls of the hair and beard are detailed with a drill. The cast includes the upper chest and very tops of the shoulders of the statue from which the bust was made. The left shoulder is raised. Much of the original statue has been restored, including most of the nose, parts of the hair, the arms below the shoulders, the lower legs and feet, and part of the right thigh. The statue was once restored as Zeus but later as Poseidon with the addition of a trident in the god's raised left hand, a dolphin at the base, and the ship's prow on which he rests his right foot. This bust preserves restorations to the head and face. This statue is the namesake of a type known as the 'Lateran Poseidon', seen in small bronzes and marbles and on the coins of Demetrios Poliorketes. It has been identified as a 2nd c. CE Roman copy of a late 4th c. BCE work, possibly the bronze Poseidon by Lysippos at Corinth. A bronze label affixed to the back of the cast reads "Leopoldo Malpiere Formatore Roma"
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
(Gregoriano Profano no. 10315); formerly Lateran no. 661 - Bibliography:
- Elizabeth Bartman, Ancient Sculptural Copies in Miniature (Leiden: Brill, 1992), 102-146
Wolfgang Helbig, Findlay and James F. Muirhead, trans., Guide to the Public Collections of Classical Antiquities in Rome, vol. I (Leipzig: Baedeker, 1895-1896), 134
Andrew Stewart, Greek Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 201, 292
Paolo Moreno, Lisippo, L'Arte e la Fortuna (Milan: Fabbri Editori, 1995), 220-223
see "Lateran Poseidon" at http://arachne.uni-koeln.de - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Rome, Vatican Museums (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.