statue

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Object Type
Museum number: 1848,1103.1
Title: Object: Head of Hadrian
Description: Bronze head of Hadrian, from a larger statue (one and a quarter times life-size). Hollow cast in the round. There is a break in the hair on the left side; a narrow crack runs from the left cheek, under the chin, and back halfway up the right cheek; a repair patch is missing on the front of the neck. The pupils of the eyes, probably of glass, are now lost. The head has been roughly hacked from its body.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 117-138
Findspot: Found/Acquired: London Bridge, '.... dredged up from the bed of the Thames, a little below the site of old London Bridge, on the Southwark [southern] side of the river....' (Roach Smith, Illus. Rom. London), in 1834. The head was raised with gravel and ballast, along with bronze statuettes and gold coins.... it is very likely that the recorded find spot is close to the statue's original location in a central area of Londimium' (CSIR I, 10, p. 115). (Thames); Found/Acquired: Thames, River
Materials
Dimensions: Height: 430 millimetres; Weight: 26.50 kilograms (with block); Weight: 16 kilograms (without block); Width: 360 millimetres; Depth: 340 millimetres
Curator's comments: 'This is a superb casting of the head of Hadrian, one of a mere handful of major bronze portraits of that emperor to have survived from antiquity. Hadrian, apparently aged arouund 30, is clearly recognisable from his incipient beard, moustache and distinctive physiognomy. However, the portrait is in an extremely provincial style, exemplified by the tightly bunched curvilinear hair, the large ears and the wide spacing of the eyes. The beard is lightly incised and, though curly looks wispy, while the stylised curls around the front of the head give way to simple incised locks further back' (CSIR I, 10, p. 115). Hadrian (reigned AD 117-138) is famous as the emperor who built the eighty-mile-long wall across Britain, from the Solway Firth to the River Tyne at Wallsend: 'to separate the barbarians from the Romans' in the words of his biographer. This head comes from a statue of Hadrian that probably stood in Roman London in a public space such as a forum. It would have been one and a quarter times life-size. The statue may have been put up to commemorate Hadrian's visit to Britain in AD 122; Hadrian travelled very extensively throughout the Empire, and imperial visits generally gave rise to programmes of rebuilding and beautification of cities. There are many known marble statues of him, but this example made in bronze is a rare survival.; Opper 2008 Wegner (1956), pp. 28, 57, 64, 101; Wegner (1984), p. 123; Potter (1997) p. 54, Evers (1994), no. 55; Lahusen & Formigli (2001), no. 114.; '68% copper, 8.5% tin, 22.8% lead' (CSIR I, 10, p. 115).
Bibliographic references: Potter 1997 / Roman Britiain (p.54 ; fig.36); Opper 2008 / Hadrian: Empire and Conflict (38); Lahusen & Formigli 2001 / Romische Bildnisse aus Bronze. Kunst und Technik. (no. 114); Roman Britain 1964 / Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain (p. 54, pl. 15.5); Hobbs & Jackson 2010 / Roman Britain Life at the Edge of Empire (p. 101, fig. 77); CSIR I, 10 / Roman Sculpture from London and the South-east (no. 213); Parkinson 2013 / A little gay history. Desire and diversity across the world (pp. 116-17)
Location: On display (G49/dc14)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2018 20 Jun-10 Dec, France, Paris, Musée du Louvre, Hadrian: An Emperor Cast in Bronze 2018, 6 May- 30 June, National Museum, New Delhi, India and the World: A History in Nine Stories 2017-2018, 10 Nov 2017 - 18 Feb 2018, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai, India, India and the World: A History in Nine Stories 2015-2016 14 Dec-30 June, Jerusalem, The Israel Museum, Hadrian Bronzes: 50th Anniversary Loan. 2012 22 Jun-2013 22 Jan, Museum of London, Our Londinium 2012 2008 24 Jul-26 Aug, London, BM, 'Hadrian: Empire and Conflict' 2008 Apr 16-Jun 8 Wallsend, Segedunum Roman Fort, 'The Face of an Emperor-Hadrian Inspects the Wall' 2008 Feb 8-Apr 13, Carlisle, Tullie House, The Face of an Emperor-Hadrian Inspects the Wall'
Associated names
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Sotheby's; Purchased from: Newman
Acquisition date: 1848
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1848,1103.1

Free entry

Opening hours