Portrait of Antinous as Dionysos

This marble head belonged to an over-life-size statue of the emperor Hadrian’s companion Antinous. The thick curls, smooth cheeks, and straight brows above heavy eyelids are all typical features of his portraits. He wears a wreath of ivy leaves, an attribute borrowed from the god Dionysos; a metal crown was once attached in the cavity above his forehead. His right hand resting on his head remains from when the statue was complete, and the youth stood in a relaxed pose. The current mount holds the head upright, but in its original position, the head turned to the left and tilted slightly downward.

Roman sculptors used white marbles from quarries in present-day Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Chemical analysis of a sample from this portrait indicated that its marble likely came from the quarries on Mount Pentelikon, near Athens. The small grain size and the flaw along a micaceous vein visible in the right side of the neck are typical of Pentelic marble. The Greeks quarried Pentelic marble as early as the sixth century B.C., and it was widely exported as a material for statues during the Roman Empire.

After it was carved, the ivy wreath on this portrait was covered in a layer of gold leaf, only traces of which now survive. The pronounced purple color of several of the leaves on the back of the head is the result of the deterioration of the ancient gilding. The hair, facial features, and skin were probably painted, but all that remains of their ancient coloration are scattered microscopic particles of a pigment known as “Egyptian blue.”

The portrait entered the Museum’s collection in 1986. Its current appearance reflects a long but unrecorded history of interventions that occurred before it was offered for sale in New York, in 1984. After its modern discovery, the head was restored as part of a complete statue; the bronze pin at the right wrist and the dowel cavity in the left side of the neck remain from this process. Damaged areas of the nose and forehead were replaced in marble or plaster, and the face was aggressively cleaned. The historic restorations were all later removed, a common practice in the mid-twentieth century.