The Arundel Head is a
Hellenistic
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
bronze portrait of a dramatist or king from
Asia Minor
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, now kept in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. Dating to the 2nd-1st centuries BC, the head once belonged to (and takes its name from) the famous English collector of classical antiquities,
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel KG, (7 July 1585 – 4 October 1646) was an English magistrate, diplomat and courtier who lived during the reigns of James I and Charles I. He made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather tha ...
.
Description
The head is all that remains of a life-size bronze
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...
. The artist has realistically conveyed the worn features of an old man, including a wrinkled forehead,
almond
The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...
-shaped eyes and pouting mouth, which gives the portrait an air of power and authority. The hair of this bronze
masterpiece
A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship.
Historically, ...
is tied down in a ribbon, which suggests it may have portrayed a poet. Once thought to represent the ancient Greek writer
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
, it is currently considered to personify either the ancient Greek playwright
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...
or a
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia
* Mac ...
King.
Provenance
Recent research has suggested that the ''Arundel Head'' may have originally been found in
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...
, the ancient name for
Ä°zmir
Ä°zmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of Ä°zmir Province. In 2024, the city of Ä°zmir had ...
in Turkey. The bronze sculpture was brought to England from
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
in the early seventeenth century as part of the
collection
Collection or Collections may refer to:
Computing
* Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science
* Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing
* Garbage collection (computing), autom ...
of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. Subsequently, it came into the possession of Dr
Richard Mead
Richard Mead, FRSFRCP (11 August 1673 – 16 February 1754) was an English physician. His work, ''A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it'' (1720), was of historic importance in advancing t ...
and later
Brownlow Cecil, 9th Earl of Exeter
Brownlow Cecil, 9th Earl of Exeter (21 September 1725 – 26 December 1793), known as Lord Burghley from 1725 to 1754, was a British Peerage, peer and Member of Parliament.
Life
Exeter was the eldest son of Brownlow Cecil, 8th Earl of Exeter, and ...
, who donated it to the British Museum in 1760, making it one of the earliest pieces of classical antiquities to enter the national collection.
British Museum Collection
/ref>
Gallery
File:Arundel Head (2).JPG, Side view of the head
References
Further reading
*Henry Beauchamp Walters: British Museum. Select bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, in the Departments of Antiquities, London 1915
*C.C. Mattusch, Classical bronzes (Cornell University Press, 1996)
*S. Walker, Greek and Roman portraits (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
*L. Burn, The British Museum book of Greek and Roman Art, revised edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)
{{British Museum
Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures in the British Museum
Bronze sculptures in London
Hellenistic sculpture
Findings in Turkey outside Turkey