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Three Fragments of Roman Official Statues, from York, Lincoln, and Silchester

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

I. A. Richmond
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Extract

Official statuary of the Roman period in Britain is now so rare as to be almost wholly unexpected. The few well-known examples have long since been published, and only gleanings remain. But these gleanings are valuable, since they offer a fresh clue to the past existence in official surroundings of important Imperial statues on a wider scale than has hitherto been proved.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 24 , Issue 1-2 , April 1944 , pp. 1 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1944

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References

page 1 note 1 The details of discovery appear in Handbook to the Antiquities in the grounds and Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, 8th edn., 1891, p. 68, no. 74, as follows: ‘A laureated head, 18 inches high, found in excavating for a drain in Stonegate. The first Roman sculpture that the Society acquired.—Mr. James Atkinson, 1823.’ Mr. Atkinson was a well-known York surgeon, but it has not proved possible to trace anything further as to the circumstances of the find. It will be noted that 1823 was the date of presentation to the Society, so that there is no exact record of the date of discovery. Best thanks are due to the Keeper, Mr. R. Wagstaffe, for his permission to study and publish this piece: also to Mrs. Chitty for the trouble she has taken in endeavouring to trace local details, and for cleaning the object at my request. Finally, the photographs were taken by Mr. R. P. Wright, to whom particular gratitude is due for the care taken with a difficult subject, and the results achieved.

page 2 note 1 Portrait statues of this period in general are exhaustively treated by L'Orange, , Das spätantike Porträt, Oslo, 1933Google Scholar: cf. also Delbräck, , Spätantike Porträts von Constantinus Magnus Us zum Ende des Westreichs, Berlin, 1933Google Scholar.

page 2 note 2 Cf. Maurice, Numismatique Constantinienne, pls. I–IX, where the transition from beards to beardlessness is well illustrated. Delbrück, op. cit., 12, Taf. 1, 19, shows a slightly bearded Constantine.

page 2 note 3 L'Orange, op. cit. 48, succinctly speaks of ‘die Konstantinische Haartracht und Bartlosigkeit’.

page 3 note 1 L'Orange, op. cit. 57, ‘diese Künstler wollen einen Klassizismus im römischen Sinn und orientieren sich nach der augusteischen Kunst’. Cf. Delbrück (op. cit. 12), ‘Er ist heroisch schön und gleicht den grossen Herrschern der Vergangenheit, dem Reichs-grunder Augustus, etwas auch dem optimus Princeps Traianus’.

page 3 note 2 L'Orange, op. cit. 57, speaking of Constantine's portraits, ‘besonders der Kopf muss mit augusteischen und früh-Claudischen Porträts verglichen werden’. Cf. Delbrück's comment (op. cit. 131) ‘Der Kopf ist zum Augustus umgearbeitet’.

page 3 note 3 Cf. Baynes, Historia Augusta, 53 ff., quoting Mommsen. For literary allusions to the type cf. Panegyricus, vi (vii), c. 4, p. 2036, ‘in fronte gravitas … in oculis et in ore tranquillitas'; or vi(vii), c. 17, p. 214, ‘haec veneranda pariter et grata maiestas praestringit simul et invitat adspectus’.

page 3 note 4 L'Orange, op. cit. 62, ‘auch im Westen wird jetzt die individuelle Form mehr und mehr auf ein ornamentales, linear vereinfachtes Schema zurückgeführt, mehr und mehr setzt sich jetzt auch hier die ikonenhafte Ausprägung des Ausdrucks durch’.

page 3 note 5 Op. cit. 58, ‘aus dieser Verwendung der corona civica ersieht man wiederum das archaistische Bestreben des Künstlers’.

page 3 note 6 Op. cit. 59–60, ‘besonders zu beachten ist der Kopfschmuck; an sämtlichen fünf Kaiserköpfen findet sich als Kopfschmuck der Eichenkranz, in keinem Fall das Diadem…. Neben dem terminus post quern um 317 ist uns also ein terminus ante quern um 325 gesichert’. The oak wreath does not appear on coins, as Delbrück (op. cit. 5 5) notes.

page 3 note 7 Op. cit., figs. 155 and 156, where Constantine I and Constantine II are contrasted side by side.

page 4 note 1 Op. cit., figs. 120–8.

page 4 note 2 In particular, no. 126 closely resembles the York head in proportions and poise. Cf. also the Hermitage Cameo, Leningrad, Delbrück, op. cit. 131, fig. 33. Th e head is later in style, however, than the Vienna bearded head noted by Delbrück (op. cit., Taf. 26, and fig. 29, p. iii), but the resemblance is striking especially in the trimming of the hair in relation to the ears.

page 4 note 3 Op. cit., fig. 155: for coins see Delbrück, op. cit., Taf. 1, 8, 9 of A.D. 315 and in particular p. 37, fig. 14 = Taf. 11, 15 of A.D. 312–13 (Ostia mint). This is our pl. iv, A.

page 4 note 4 For the identification of this head as Constantius I, instead of Maximinus Thrax (cf. Strong, Scultura Romana, pl. lxxvi), see Delbrück, op. cit. 10. A simple wreath of the same kind as here is figured on the coin of Constantius I, see Maurice, Numismatique Constantinienne, pl. III, no. 11: also the Arras medallion, Num. Ghron. ser. V, x, 228, fig. 1.

page 5 note 1 The circumstances of finding quoted in the text are given on the label affixed to the object, and there is a reference to the Minutes of the Society, vol. xxviii, 84, not at present available. When normal conditions are restored, it will be of interest to see whether these yield further information. Meanwhile all thanks are due to the Society of Antiquaries for permitting the writer to study it in detail; also for securing the photographs which serve here as illustrations.

page 5 note 2 Smith, Roach, Catalogue of the Museum of London Antiquities, 1854, pp. 6–7Google Scholar, where the object is described as ‘a leg and hoof of a horse, nearly life size, found at Lincoln and preserved in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries’.

page 6 note 1 The writer has had the opportunity of discussing the anatomy of the leg with Professors Lyle Stewart and Hobson of King's College, Newcastle upon Tyne, whose expert knowledge of veterinary and biological science was placed at his disposal. It seems that there is hardly enough of the leg to determine conclusively whether it is from the back or the front of the horse, but both authorities were agreed that the shape of the bones as modelled suggested a foreleg rather than a hind leg, which agrees with the normal classical convention.

page 6 note 2 The statue of Marcus Aurelius, of which an up-to-date study is highly desirable, is best illustrated in Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler, no. 369. It will be borne in mind that this figure was originally riding down a naked barbarian, Helbig, Führer, i, 408, in the tradition of the military tombstone. For the bronze horse from Herculaneum see E. R. Barker, Buried Herculaneum, 81, fig. 9. For the Nonii Balbi, see op. cit. 96, fig. 12. Both are at Naples.

page 6 note 3 For the horse from Vicolo delle Palme, see Cat. Museo dei Conservatori, 171–2, pl. 61; the catalogue erroneously describes the raised leg as the ‘right’ leg. The Esquiline horse is figured op. cit., pl. 58, see also p. 157.

page 7 note 1 For the Pompeii statues see Mau-Kelsey, Pompeii, its life and art, 44, plan ii.

page 7 note 2 For the Herculaneum statues see Barker, Buried Herculaneum, 51.

page 7 note 3 Milsington leg, J.R.S. xvi, 7 sqq.; for the hole for a spur, see p. 8.

page 7 note 4 Archaeologia, liii, 558. I am much indebted to Mr. W. Smallcombe, curator of Reading Museum, for permission to study this object and for the photograph used in illustration, taken after the bronze had been specially cleaned.

page 7 note 5 Loc. cit.

page 7 note 6 Richter, Ancient Furniture, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, 119–29, deals with thrones, stools, and chairs, without figuring any similar ornament.

page 8 note 1 For the general question of panoplied statues see Hekler, , Jahreshefte des oest. arch. Inst., 1919, 190Google Scholar sqq.

page 8 note 2 Delbrück, Bildnisse römischer Kaiser, pl. 1.

page 8 note 3 Hekler, op. cit. 191, fig. 119; cf. Cat. Mus. Capitolino, 39, no. 40, pl. 7.

page 8 note 4 Hekler, op. cit.

page 8 note 5 Hekler, op. cit. 208, fig. 136.

page 8 note 6 Hekler, op. cit.

page 8 note 7 L'Orange, Das spätantike Porträt, figs. 155, 156.

page 8 note 8 Antike Denkmäler, iii, pl. 20. The identification as Valentinian I has been disputed by Delbrück, op. cit. 219–26, pl. 116, who would choose Marcianus as the subject, and not without likelihood.

page 9 note 1 Caerwent, Archaeologia, lix, 120. The base measures 4.0 in. × 22 in. × 21 in., not as stated in E.E. ix, 1012, quite different measurements. It is thus suitable in proportion to carry a life-size statue.