The Juno Ludovisi (also called Hera Ludovisi) is a colossal

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

marble head of the 1st century CE from an acrolithic statue of an idealized and youthful

Antonia Minor Antonia Minor (31 January 36 BC – 1 May 37 AD) was the younger of two surviving daughters of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor. She was a niece of the Emperor Augustus, sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of ...

as the goddess

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods * ''Juno'' (film), the 2007 film Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, a character in the book ''Juno of ...

. Added to the Ludovisi collection formed by Cardinal

Ludovico Ludovisi Ludovico Ludovisi (22 or 27 October 1595 – 18 November 1632) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church. He was an art connoisseur who formed a famous collection of antiquities, housed at the ...

, it is now in the Palazzo Altemps,

Museo Nazionale Romano The National Roman Museum (Italian: ''Museo Nazionale Romano'') is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Casts of it are in the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Classics Department Casts Gallery, UK;

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

, Pennsylvania, USA; the

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

haus in Weimar, Germany;

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, Johnson Center, Fairfax, USA; the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

, Department of Art History, Finland; and the University of Tartu Art Museum, Estonia.

Description

The sculpture was made of

Parian marble Parian marble is a fine-grained, semi translucent, and pure-white marble quarried during the classical antiquity, classical era on the Greece, Greek List of islands of Greece, island of Paros in the Aegean Sea. A subtype, referred to as Parian ' ...

, and is generally considered to be a posthumous and deified portrait of Antonia Minor, mother of

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

. The bust was probably found in Rome, and prior to joining the Ludovisi Collection, was owned by Cardinal Federico Cesi. There is debate over whether in addition to Antonia Minor the bust could represent

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC AD 29) was List of Roman and Byzantine empresses, Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal Adoption ...

Legacy and Popular Culture

As early as 1536, the presence of the sculpture was known to the general public prior to the ownership by Ludovisi. The painting, ''Landscape with Roman Ruins'' by painter Herman Posthumus depicts the bust at forefront, surrounded by Egyptian and Roman sculpture fragments with a quote from Ovid's Metamorphoses: "TEMPVS EDAX RERVM TVQVE INVIDIOSA VESTVSTAS O NA DESTRVITIS" (Translated: ''Oh, most voracious time, and you, envious Age, you destroy everything''). The sculpture is known to have been greatly admired by

, who bought a cast of it, soon after seeing it in Rome. The American-British novelist

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

mentions the Ludovisi Juno several times including in his first long form novel '' Roderick Hudson''. He described it in its surround as follows..."One warm, still day, late in the Roman autumn, our two young men were seated beneath one of the high-stemmed pines of the Villa Ludovisi. They had been spending an hour in the mouldy little garden-house where the colossal mask of the famous Juno looks out with blank eyes from that dusky corner which must seem to her the last possible stage of a lapse from

Olympus Olympus or Olympos () may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Lesbos * Mount Olympus (Euboea) ...

"...

Notes

Bibliography

* Nunzio Giustozzi, "Una Giunone adorata", in Adriano La Regina (a cura di), ''Museo nazionale romano'', Electa, Milano 2005, ISBN 88-370-37430, p.140. Ludovisi collection Collection of the National Roman Museum Hellenistic-style Roman sculptures 1st-century Roman sculptures Marble sculptures in Italy Sculptures of women in Italy Sculptures of Roman goddesses Juno (mythology) {{Italy-sculpture-stub