The Chatsworth Head is a slightly over-life-size

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

head dating to around 460 BCE which is now 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 ...

Description

The head was originally part of a complete statue, probably (judging by the shoulder-length curly hair) one of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

, made up of various sections (e.g. head, arms, legs, some of the locks of hair) produced separately by lost-wax casting then joined into one whole - a leg from the same sculpture is in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

(Br 69). Its eyes probably originally held

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

or ivory

inlay Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with the ...

s, which were held in with surviving bronze plates, which curl outwards to form eyelashes. Its lips seem to have been plated with reddish

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

to imitate their natural colour.

Discovery

In 1834, the

managed to purchase the first large bronze statue found in modern times after its discovery in Italy near the Island of Elba. Two years later a complete statue was discovered near Tamassos on

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and was immediately retrieved by locals who dragged it from its position using oxcarts. During its journey the statue fell apart losing legs, arms and its torso.

Provenance

The head was acquired by the 6th Duke of Devonshire at

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 ...

from H.P. Borrell in 1838.'The Chatsworth Head'
A. J. B. Wace, ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', Vol. 58, Part 1 (1938), pp. 90-95, accessed August 2010 The other parts of the statue were lost, but it is believed that a leg in the Louvre was originally part of this statue.Greek bronze statuary: from the beginnings through the fifth century B.C.
Carol C. Mattusch, p.3, 1988, accessed August 2010 The 6th Duke of Devonshire and his successors kept it at their residence of Chatsworth House, from which it takes its name. It was loaned to the Fitzwilliam Museum in the mid-1930s, and was acquired from the 11th Duke by the

in 1958. It has the British Museum catalogue reference 1958 0418 1 and is on show there, in Room 15.

Notes

References

*D.E.L. Haynes, The technique of Greek Bronze (Mainz am Rhein, 1992) *C.C. Mattusch, Greek Bronze statuary (Cornell University Press, 1988) *L. Burn, The British Museum book of G-1, revised edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

External links