- Museum number
- 1805,0703.3
- Description
-
Marble figure of Actaeon attacked by his hounds.
- Production date
- 2ndC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 103 centimetres
-
Weight: 71.50 centimetres
-
Weight: 125 kilograms
-
Depth: 38 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Restored and set on a new base in the 18th century.
-
Cook 2013, nr. 136:
Townley's description; ‘A group of Acteon attacked by two dogs. it is three feet high, and was found 1774 in the villa of Antoninus Pius, along with a repetition of it, which was purchased by Comte d’Orsi of Normandy’ (TY 12/3; Chambers, dining room 29).
Acquired from Hamilton, probably for £60, the figure that appears in Hamilton’s account (TY 8/109, dated 23 January 1775) and the first two priced lists (TY 10/6-7). Townley later recorded the price as £75 (TY 10/5 and TY 12/1), but then reduced the figure to £70 in the transcript accounts (TY 10/3, fo. 37; ST 1, fo. 21r). Hamilton first informed Townley that he had two versions of this composition in a fragmentary and undated note (TY 7/561, probably written in 1773, for which see under 1805,0703.8). In June 1774 Jenkins wrote that the Actaeon was the best thing yet found by Hamilton near Lanuvium; he had acquired one version himself (present location unknown, see Cook 2013, nr. 131*), while the other was wanted by Visconti for the Pope (TY 7/335). Visconti later changed his mind, and on 28 October Hamilton wrote that he would restore it and send it to Townley (TY 7/573). On 10 January 1775 Hamilton reported that he had found a head for the Actaeon (TY 7/576), and in a letter of 11 February enclosed a sketch of the group ‘done as usewall in the hurry of packing up’ (TY 7/580/1). Replying on 3 March Townley noted from the sketch that Hamilton had treated Actaeon to a pair of ‘horns’, to which Hamilton replied ‘I never restore anything without antique authority, (TY 7/584, 21 March 1775). In this case at least his claim was justified, since the roots of the antlers are clearly visible on Actaeon’s forehead. On 20 May Hamilton again had to make excuses for damage suffered in transit. This time he blamed the dockers in London, but promised to try a different method of packing (TY 7/590/1).
Date:
2nd ½ II AD (Dostert); Cf. statue in Millais collection: A. Andrén, Millesgården. A Guide to the Collection of Ancient Sculpture (Stockholm 1952) 14 no.41: ‘careful Roman work of the second century A.D., probably reproducing a Hellenistic version of the theme’; Late Hellenistic type (Neudecker)
Drawings:
* Townley drawings 2010,5006.98, 2010,5006.86 (annotated A. Tendi del.), and 2010,5006.102, attributed ‘probably’ to Hamilton [I. D. Jenkins].
* Nollekens: B. F. Cook, `The Townley Marbles in Westminster and Bloomsbury', The British Museum Yearbook, 2 (1977), 45, figs. 26-27, no. 23.
* Chambers: B. F. Cook, `The Townley Marbles in Westminster and Bloomsbury', The British Museum Yearbook, 2 (1977), 42-43, figs. 24-25, no. 28.
Bibliography:
- Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum (1808) III.45.
- Ancient Marbles of the British Museum, II, pl. 45.
- A Guide to the Graeco-Roman Sculptures in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum) (2 vols., London 1874 [2nd ed. 1879] and 1876), I, no. 165.
- A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Vol. III (London 1904), 24-25 no. 1568
- Arvid Andrén, `Greek and Roman Marbles in the Carl Milles Collection,' Opuscula Romana 5 (1965), 101, fig. 12.
- LIMC, I, 568 s.v. Aktaion no. 38*.
- B. F. Cook, The Townley Marbles (London 1985), 19 fig. 16.
- Die Skulpturenausstattung römischer Villen in Italien (Mainz am Rhein 1990), 162, no. 21.5.
- Astrid Dostert, Die Funde vom Monte Cagnolo – Sammlungsgeschichte und Bedeutung im Villenkontext (Magisterarbeit am Fachbereit 14 der Freien Universität Berlin 1991), 77-81, no. 7 (bibl.), pl. 22.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2021 - 2022 27 Apr – 16 Jan, Madrid, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2022 16 Feb – 29 May, Seville, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2022 28 Jun - 9 Oct, Zaragoza, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2022 -2023 22 Nov - 9 Apr, Palma, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2023 4 July - 22 Oct, Barcelona, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
- Acquisition date
- 1805
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1805,0703.3
