Modern portrait bust of "Vitellius"
- Title:
- Modern portrait bust of "Vitellius"
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Gipsformerei (German repository, Berlin, contemporary) (reproduction)
Unknown (original)
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890--1900
probably 17th c. CE
2008 (image)
- Site:
- Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
perhaps France (original) - Location:
- Warehouse
Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
perhaps France (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0171
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 508
639 (carved in cast in the back--Gipsformerei number)
171 - File Name:
- CCC_0171.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 51 (H) cm
- Culture:
- French (?), after Roman
- Style/Period:
- Renaissance, after Roman Imperial
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
busts (sculpture) - Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
dark marble or basalt (head) and bronze (bust) sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Vitellius, Aulus, Emperor of Rome, 15-69
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 57 (with socle) x 38 (centimeters, height x width)
- Description:
- This is a cast of a modern bust of the pseudo-Vitellius type held in Berlin. The head of the original is a dark marble or basalt, the bust is bronze. It is identified as a modern, perhaps French work likely dating to the 17th c., certainly produced before 1742 when it entered the royal collections in Berlin. The figure has a full, fleshy face that sags at the cheeks, jowls, and below the chin. His brow is furrowed and he has wrinkles around his eyes. He turns his head toward his left and casts his gaze vaguely down. The pupils are drilled. The figure's curly, short hair recedes only slightly. The Grimani Vitellius in Venice, a male portrait bust that was known in Rome in the early 16th c., spawned many copies and adaptations such as the one from which this cast derives. Several of these were passed off as ancient and most have since been identified as modern (16th c. and later). The identification of the Grimani Vitellius as a portrait of Vitellius is far from certain, thus the designation of the type as pseudo-Vitellius. A plaster cast of the Grimani Vitellius in Tintoretto's studio attests to the popularity of the work as a model for artists in the 16th c.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 2168 - Bibliography:
- Gipsformerei, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Katalog der Originalabgüsse, Heft 4, Griechenland und Rom: Freiplastik, pl. 111, no. 639
see 211622: Vitellius, Porträtkopf at http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/
Eberhard Paul, "Zum Pseudo-Vitellius," Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Gesellschafts- und Sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe XXXI (1982), 255-257 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Berlin, Staatliche Museen (Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst) (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.