''Carmagnola'' or ''la Carmagnola'' is the traditional name of a

porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

head of a late Roman

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

, widely thought to represent

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

, now placed on the external balustrade of

St Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica (; ), is the cathedral church of the Patriarchate of Venice; it became the episcopal seat of the Patriarch of Venice in 1807, replacing the earlier cath ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Description

The

Diadem A diadem is a Crown (headgear), crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of Monarch, royalty. Overview The word derives from the Ancient Greek, Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", fro ...

unambiguously identifies the head as that of a late Roman emperor, and on stylistic grounds it has been dated between the 4th and 6th centuries, with several scholars identifying it as a depiction of

. The flattened nose is ostensibly the result of damage and subsequent repolishing. It is "one of the most significant" of the ornamental trophies that adorn the Basilica's facade, looking straight into the direction of Constantinople. A headless porphyry statue kept at the Archiepiscopal Museum in

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

has been hypothesized to belong to the same original.

History

The head may come from the

Philadelphion The Philadelphion was a public square located in Constantinople. Location After passing the Forum of Theodosius, the Mese Odos (the main road of Constantinople) branched into two directions. One led to the quarter known today as Yedikule, v ...

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 ...

, the original location of the

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs The Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs is a porphyry sculpture group of four Roman emperors dating from around 300 AD. The sculptural group has been fixed to a corner of the façade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy since the Middle Ages. It ...

that is now just below on the Basilica's ''

Piazzetta Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (also called Giambattista Piazzetta or Giambattista Valentino Piazzetta) (February 13, 1682 or 1683 – April 28, 1754) was an Italian Rococo art, Italian Rococo painter of religious subjects and Genre works, genre s ...

'' facade. It was "almost certainly" brought to Venice as part of the loot from the

Sack of Constantinople The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusaders sacked and destroyed most of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire ( ...

during the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

in 1204 CE. The ''condottiere''

Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola Francesco Bussone, often called Count of Carmagnola (5 May 1432), was an Italian condottiero. Life Bussone was born at Carmagnola, near Turin, in a humble peasant family. He began his military career when twelve years old under Facino Cane, a ...

was beheaded on 5 May 1432 on the ''Piazzetta'', where his head was presumably left exposed for some time, leading to the sculpture's traditional nickname. File:San Marco in Venice 3.jpg, Side facade of

, with ''Carmagnola'' at the far left of the upper-level railing File:Carmagnola 3.jpg, The

viewed from behind ''Carmagnola'' File:Carmagnola 1.jpg

References

{{coord missing, Italy 6th-century sculptures Busts in Italy Byzantine sculpture Constantinople Justinian I Roman sculpture portraits of emperors Stone sculptures in Italy Works looted by the Fourth Crusade Looting in Turkey