This life-size portrait bust of a young boy, originally affixed to a herm of wood or stone, was made by a gifted sculptor who endowed it with great presence. His large soulful eyes are inlaid with silver, and his hair is arranged in thick layers of curls that even cover the backs of his ears. The boy's identity is unknown since no inscription is preserved, but the high quality of the sculpture has often led to the suggestion that he represents the emperor Nero as a child. Since Nero was already 13 years old in A.D. 50, when he was adopted by his great uncle and stepfather, the emperor Claudius, it seems unlikely that he is in fact the person portrayed here. Nevertheless, the style of the bust is very much in keeping with late Julio-Claudian portraiture.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bronze portrait bust of a young boy
Period:Early Imperial, Julio-Claudian
Date:ca. 50–68 CE
Culture:Roman
Medium:Bronze, silver
Dimensions:H. 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm)
Classification:Bronzes
Credit Line:Funds from various donors, 1966
Accession Number:66.11.5
By 1876, collection of Sir Francis Cook, Doughty House, Richmond, UK; 1901-1905, collection of Wyndham F. Cook, Richmond, UK; 1905-1925, collection of Hymphrey W. Cook, Richmond, UK; July 14, 1925, purchased by Davidge through Christie’s, London (lot 118); [until 1945, with H. Blairman & Sons, Ltd., London]; [1945, purchased by Joseph Brummer from H. Blairman & Sons, Ltd.]; [1945 (arrived to New York City on February 4, 1946) – 1947, with Joseph Brummer, New York (AS 829)]; October 20, 1947, purchased from the Brummer estate by Albert E. Gallatin; 1947-1966, collection of Albert E. Gallatin, New York; acquired in 1966, purchased through Sotheby’s, London (lot 58).
Conze, Alexander. 1903. "Antiken aus Englischen Privatbesitz." Archäologischer Anzeiger, : p. 144.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1961. Ancient Art from New York Private Collections: Catalogue of an Exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 17, 1959–February 28, 1960. no. 160, p. 42, pls. 39, 60–61, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1966. "Reports of the Departments." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25(2): p. 82.
Oliver, Andrew Jr. 1967. "Portrait of a Young Boy." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25(7): pp. 264–72, figs. 1, 4–6, 12.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1975. "Greek and Roman Art." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art), No. 1965/1975: p. 117.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. pp. 86–87, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Coonin, Arnold Victor. 1995. "Portrait Busts of Children in Quattrocento Florence." Metropolitan Museum Journal, 30: pp. 61–62, fig. 4.
Mattusch, Carol. 1996. The Fire of Hephaistos : Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections no. 46, pp. 318–21, fig. 46a–f, Cambridge, Mass: Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums.
Pollini, John. 2002. Gallo-Roman Bronzes and the Process of Romanization: The Cobanus Hoard. p. 2 n 8; 17 n15, Leiden: Brill.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 414, pp. 359, 486–87, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Daehner, Jens M. and Kenneth Lapatin. 2015. Potere e Pathos: Bronzi del Mondo Ellenistico p. 169, fig. 11.2, Firenze: Giunti.
Daehner, Jens M. and Kenneth Lapatin. 2015. Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World p. 169, fig. 11.2, Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum.
Zanker, Paul. 2016. Roman Portraits: Sculptures in Stone and Bronze in the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 45, pp. 112–13, 138–40, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Zanker, Paul, Seán Hemingway, Christopher S. Lightfoot, and Joan R. Mertens. 2019. Roman Art : A Guide through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection. pp. 24–25, fig. 16, New York: Scala Publishers.
Curator Christopher S. Lightfoot welcomes a bust of Roman Emperor Domitian to the Met as part of a one-year loan exchange with The Toledo Museum of Art.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
