Pompey the Great
Marble. 30—50 CE.
Height 25 cm. Inv. No. 733.Copenhagen, New Carlsberg GlyptotekPhoto by Sergey Sosnovskiy

Pompey the Great.

Marble. 30—50 CE.
Height 25 cm.
Inv. No. 733.

Copenhagen, New Carlsberg Glyptotek
(København, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek).

Origin:
Acquired in 1887 from Rome. Found in 1885 at The Licinian Tomb at Porta Pia.
Description:

1. Pompey the Great

The Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius (106-48 B.C.) is portrayed as he was around the age of fifty. The head’s shape is markedly round and turned slightly toward the left. There is a powerful growth of hair. At the forehead the locks of hair ascend directly upwards. The hairstyle upon the brow, with its perpendicularly erect curls, stirred Pompey’s admirers to compare him with Alexander the Great. Inspired by the latter, the general permitted others to call him ’Magnus’. At his triumph after his campaign in Asia, Pompey wore Alexander’s purple chlamys. Original: Bronze statue in the vestibule of Pompey’s theater at the Campus Martius, 55 B.C.

Copy: Beginning of the 1st cent. A.D.

I.N. 733.
Head.
Marble. H. 0.25.
Minor damages in the face, the hair and the ears. Residues of patina are preserved in the fracture of the neck.
Acquired in 1887, from Count Tyszkiewicz’s collection in Rome, through the mediation of Helbig. According to Helbig, the portrait was discovered in 1885 at The Licinian Tomb at Porta Pia (Porta Salaria).

F. Poulsen 1951, Cat. 597; V. Poulsen 1973, Cat. 1; F. Johansen, MedKøb 30 (1973) 89—119; F. Johansen, AnalRom VIII (1977) 48 ff.; F. Johansen, Berømte romere fra Republikkens tid (1982) 25—33; R. R. R. Smith, JRS LXXI (1981) pl. V, 2; L. Giuliani, Bildnis und Botschaft (1986) 25 ff., 56 ff.; D. Boschung, JdI 101 (1986) 257 ff.; Kaiser Augustus und die verlorene Republik (1988) no. 154; P. Zanker, Augustus und die Macht der Bilder (1987) 20; M. Moltesen, MedKøb 45 (1989) 88, fig. 1; M. Moltesen, AA (1991) 271; M. Bentz, RM 99 (1992) 232, Taf. 67; Kockel, Porträtreliefs, 71, n. 570, 575; M. Trunk, Boreas 17 (1994) 267 ff.

F. Johansen
Credits:
(сс) 2008. Photo: Sergey Sosnovskiy (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Text: museum inscription to the sculpture.
© 1994. Description: F. Johansen. Catalogue Roman Portraits, vol. I, p. 24, cat. no. 1.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 1994.
THE GALLERY OF ANCIENT ART
Keywords: γλυπτική sculptura sculpture sculptural scultura skulptur ρωμαϊκό roman romana romano romani römisch römische römisches römischen römischer romain romaine romains romaines man uomo mann homme γναίος πομπήιος ο μέγας gnaeus pompeius magnus pompey the great gneo pompeo magno pompée le grand απεικόνιση portrait portraiture ritratto ritrattistica porträtmalerei porträt κεφάλι κεφαλή head testa kopf tête marble marmor marmo maschile männliches männlicher portraitkopf male of cneus cnaeus g52 from licinian tomb licinii inv no 733
History of Ancient Rome