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Benvenuti in queste pagine dedicate a scienza, storia ed arte. Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, Torino

Showing posts with label Leiden bust of Caesar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leiden bust of Caesar. Show all posts

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Un Cesare Chiaramonti a Leida (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden)

Mi riferisco ad un busto di Cesare che è conservato al Museo di Antichità di Leida.
https://www.rmo.nl/museumkennis/klassieke-wereld/romeinen/julius-caesar/
Il museo possiede due busti. Uno è molto rovinato.
Dice il Museo di questo busto: "Het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden heeft nog een tweede portret van Caesar. Deze marmeren kop (tweede afbeelding) is vrij zwaar gehavend. Het voorhoofd is horizontaal ingekerfd en de kin en de neus zijn grotendeels weggeslagen. De verdwenen neus was trouwens niet de oorspronkelijke; een rond gat bewijst dat er ooit met behulp van een ijzeren pen een nieuwe op is gezet. De hals is schuin afgebroken. De kop zou afkomstig zijn van de Hunerberg in Nijmegen, maar dat is niet zeker. Hij is in 1931 als onderdeel van het legaat van P.A. Gildemeester in het museum terechtgekomen. Hoe hij eraan kwam, is niet bekend; vermoedelijk heeft hij de kop bij een kunsthandel gekocht. Op de Hunerberg in Nijmegen lag tussen 71 en circa 104 na Chr. het kamp van het Tiende Legioen, dat oorspronkelijk door Caesar is opgericht. Het zou dus niet verwonderlijk zijn als in deze legerplaats een beeld stond van de legendarische stichter." "The National Museum of Antiquities has a second portrait of Caesar, this marble head (second image) is quite heavily damaged, the forehead is notched horizontally, and the chin and nose are largely smashed away. The missing nose was not the original one. A round hole proves that with an iron pen a new nose had been set up, the neck is cut off obliquely. The head would come from the Hunerberg in Nijmegen, but that is not certain. It was in 1931, as a part of the legacy of P.A. Gildemeester in the museum. How he got it is not known; presumably he bought the head at an art shop. On the Hunerberg in Nijmegen, between 71 and circa  104 AD, there was the camp of the X Legion,a legion originally established by Caesar. So it would not be surprising if there was a portrait of the founder, in this camp. "

Il Cesare di cui si parla lo vedete a sinistra nell'immagine seguente. Ma di che Cesare si tratta? Ossia, di quale tipo di ritrattistica antica di Cesare? Alcuni ritratti di Cesare sono come quello del Museo Chiaramonti (Musei Vaticani), e lo vedete a destra. Altri sono come quello del tipo Tuscolo, oggi al Museo Archeologico di Torino. Ho provato a miscelare il ritratto di Leida con quello di Tuscolo - e potete vedere il risultato al link - ma è molto meglio se si usa il ritratto Chiaramonti. 



L'immagine è un morphing dal busto Leida al Chiaramonti. Guardate i capelli, gli occhi, la bocca, e la forma stessa della testa. E' un Chiaramonti.



Ho fatto in precedenza alcuni morphing anche con altri busti, ma ora mi sono convinta per il Chiaramonti.  Come mai non ho apprezzato subito nel busto di Leida un Chiaramonti? C'è un motivo. Il Museo di Leida ha commissionato una ricostruzione in 3D, di cui discussi abbondantemente, nella quale chi ha fatto la ricostruzione ha usato il busto di Tuscolo per ricostruire le parti mancanti del viso, e questo è stato fuorviante.
Peccato non aver puntato sul Charamonti. Il risultato sarebbe stato molto migliore, e anche più corretto dal punti di vista della comparazione stilistica dei busti. 



Ecco come poteva apparire in origine il busto di Leida, se lo pensiamo del tipo Chiaramonti.
In effetti, il naso del Chiaramonti è un restauro moderno, come anche il profilo della bocca. Ma non per questo è possibile usare il Tusculum.


Il  Cesare Chiaramonti è un busto di Gaio Giulio Cesare, in marmo bianco lunense, altezza totale 52 cm (il solo volto h. cm 26). Databile all'età augustea (44-30 a.C.). Oggi conservato nei Musei Vaticani (Museo Pio Clementino, Galleria dei busti, inv. 713). Questa testa di Cesare, insieme al ritratto conservato al Camposanto Monumentale di Pisa, è riconosciuto unanimemente come ritratto di G. Giulio Cesare e viene detto "Chiaramonti-Pisa". Nel 44 a.C. il Senato di Roma decise che Cesare avrebbe avuto una sua statua in ogni tempio di Roma e dell'Italia (Cassio Dione Cocceiano, Storia romana, XLIII, 14 e 45; XLIV, 4).
Da https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gaius_Iulius_Caesar_(Vatican_Museum).jpg

La folta capigliatura del Cesare Chiaramonti non era quella di Cesare, che notoriamente, per pronunciata calvizie, usava pettinarsi riportando i capelli in avanti.  Sul Chiaramonti c'è una capigliatura come quella di Ottaviano Augusto, segno che Augusto voleva avere delle statue di Cesare che fossero a lui somiglianti il più possibile. La mamma di Ottaviano, Azia, era la figlia della sorella di Cesare, Giulia minore, e di Marco Azio Balbo; Ottaviano, pertanto, era pronipote di Cesare.
Insomma, c'era aria di famiglia.

Su Augusto. http://www.storiainrete.com/9380/in-primo-piano/dal-senato-ai-tweet-in-latino-cosi-augusto-invento-la-politica/
"Fin qui il politico. Ma l’uomo? Un attentatore arrivò a tiro di daga, ma fu bloccato dalla dolcezza aliena del suo sguardo. Scultori e bronzisti hanno consumato molto materiale per tramandarne le fattezze. Un eterno ragazzo, fuori dal tempo, con le ciocche ribelli, color sabbia, sulla fronte pensosa, corazzato per una parata di trionfo, più che per una battaglia vera. Un sacerdote dei riti. Una padre della famiglia e della patria. Un custode delle tradizioni."


Secondo le descrizioni degli storici, Ottaviano Augusto aveva gli occhi azzurri, di un colore intenso,  capelli castano chiarissimo, quasi biondi, inoltre si diceva fosse molto bello. Insomma, un bjuŋd, che, in Piemontese, non significa solo "biondo", significa anche "bello". Doveva somigliare a Cesare, altrimenti il suo rimarcarne il legame familiare non avrebbe avuto senso. 

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Morphing of a bust of Julius Caesar at the National Museum of Antiquities, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.

Morphing of a bust of Julius Caesar at the National Museum of Antiquities, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.: Here we show some morphing of a marble head of Julius Caesar which is today on display in the National Museum of Antiquities, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden. For the morphing we will use the marble head of Caesar of the Centrale Montemartini, Roma, the Caesar’s head of the Camposanto Monumentale in Pisa, the Chiaramonti Caesar, and the Tusculum bust. Two lifelike reconstructions will also be proposed.

A figure from the article

Monday, September 17, 2018

Leiden bust of Caesar (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) Morphing with Tusculum bust.



This is a morphing of the Leiden bust of Julius Caesar. From the left: Leiden bust, 2/3 Leiden and 1/3 Tusculum bust, 1/3 Leiden and 2/3 Tusculum, the face of Tusculum on the Leiden head.


Lifelike rendering of the morphing

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The Profiles of Caesar's Heads given by Tusculum and Pantelleria Marbles

The Profiles of Caesar's Heads given by Tusculum and Pantelleria Marbles: Here we want to show a comparison of the profiles of Julius Caesar’s head, as portrayed in Tusculum and in Pantelleria marbles. These profiles are in good agreement and are in good agreement to that given in a coin of 44 BC, struck one month before Caesar’s assassination.



The Green Caesar




The Green Caesar is a portrait of Gaius Julius Caesar made of green slate kept in the Antikensammlung Berlin with the inventory number Sk 342, which was probably made in the first century AD

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Julius Caesar - Coin - 44 BC


Magnifico profilo. Testa piccola.
Wreathed head of Caesar right, behind crescent; before, CAESAR·IM downwards; behind P M upwards. Border of dots. As explained by http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/acans/caesar/Career_Coins.htm
it was struck just after Caesar's refusal of the crown at Lupercalia.

On the Lupercalia, let us read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia and https://www.etymonline.com/word/february

It is possible that the world Lupercalia derived from lupus, "wolf," though both the etymology and its significance are obscure [1]. Lupercalia was a very ancient, even  pre-Roman pastoral , annual festival,[2] observed in Rome on February 15, to avert the evil spirits and purify the city. Lupercalia was also called "dies Februatus", purified (literally "februated day") after the fumes of purification (https://www.etymonline.com/word/february). 
The Lupercalia had its own priesthood, the Luperci, whose institution and rites were attributed either to the Arcadian culture-hero Evander, or to Romulus and Remus. The Luperci were young men. They formed two religious collegia based on ancestry; the Quinctiliani (named after gens Quinctia) and the Fabiani (named after gens Fabia). Each college was headed by a magister. In 44 BC, a third college, the Juliani, was instituted in honor of Julius Caesar; its first magister was Mark Antony.[10] The college of Juliani disbanded during civil wars, and was not re-established in the reforms of  Augustus. 
Descriptions of the Lupercalia festival of 44 BC attest to its continuity. During this Lupercalia, Julius Caesar refused three times a golden crown offered to him by Mark Antony.[17][18] 

Saturday, June 30, 2018

I tre Cesari


Tusculum  - Farnese - Leiden

The Leiden Caesar

The original image is on the left (Courtesy: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden)
In the middle, the Leiden bust is digitally restored using the face of the Tusculum bust. On the right you can see my lifelike rendering of the bust.  Actually, the bust is one of two marble heads of Caesar that we can see at a page  of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. It is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands, located in Leiden.

In the above image, th restoration was based on the face of the Tusculum bust, BUT we have other protraits of Caesar that we can use. One is the Chiaramonti Caesar.
Here the result in the following image.




Tuesday, June 26, 2018

On Maja d’Hollosy reconstruction of Caesar's head


As we have previously told in [1], on 22 June 2018 an article has been published by the National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) of Leiden [2], showing a new 3D reconstruction of Julius Caesar’s head based on a bust of the museum. 
Ref.3 is telling that this 3D reconstruction is "including the bizarre proportions of his [Caesar’s] cranium." To this conclusion given in [3] we answered in [1], telling the following. Suetonius, in De vita Caesarum [4], is not mentioning any bizarre proportion. And, to the author’s knowledge, no witty remark exists on Caesar’s head, besides his baldness of course.
 In fact, Suetonius tells that Caesar “was tall, of a fair complexion, round limbed, rather full faced, with eyes black and piercing”; only his baldness “gave him much uneasiness, having often found himself on that account exposed to the jibes of his enemies.” 
 In spite of Suetonius’ words, the result of the 3D reconstruction made by Maja d’Hollosy and given in [2], is the following: “Julius Caesar's head reconstructed with 3D technology - and it reveals something odd about his birth. The legendary Roman emperor has a 'crazy bulge' on his head, according to one expert”, as told in [5]. And also, the head reconstruction proposed in [2], is rendering Julius Caesar basically like E.T. [6]. 
 In [2], it is told that Maja d’Hollosy used a bust in Leiden (that shown by the web page) and the bust of Tusculum [7], today exhibited at the Museo Archeologico of Torino [8]. The Leiden bust shown in [2] is in bad conditions.  
Actually, at the web page https://elu24.postimees.ee/4509811/video-3d-busti-kohaselt-ei-olnud-julius-caesar-just-ilus-mees, we have a front view of Maja d’Hollosy reconstruction. So we can use it for comparison (let me stress that the image from the above-mentioned web site is here used for scientific and cultural purposes). In the Figure, the Tusculum bust is given on the left and the so-called 3D reconstruction on the right. The reader can easily note the different proportions of faces’ features. From the comparison, the differences are so evident that we can make easily some measurements. For instance, we could measure the distances between eyes and so on: but, I stress once more, differences are so evident that we can simply use two frames, for instance, two rectangles (red and purple). In the image, the numbers of pixels represent the size of the sides.



On the left, the Tusculum bust. On the right a frontal view of Maja d’Hollosy’s 3D reconstruction (Courtesy: elu24.postimees.ee Kuvatõmmis/Youtube). Let me stress that the image on the right is here used for scientific and cultural purposes. The rectangles are showing the quantitative differences. 


As we can see from the Figure, we have  ratios 113/170 and 235/270 for the Tusculum head and 115/156 and 255/260 for the Maja d'Hollosy's reconstruction. That is: 0.66 and 0.87 (Tusculum), 0.73 and 0.98 (3D d'Hollosy). As a conclusion we can tell that the proportions of the Tusculum bust had not been respected in the 3D reconstruction. But the main defect of  d'Hollosy reconstruction is in the fact that the purple frame is a SQUARE, whereas that of the Tusculum is a RECTANGLE. The square enhances the effect of a rendering based on small and too close eyes, deliberately chosen by d'Hollosy.


References
[1] Sparavigna, A. C. (2018, June 24). Julius Caesar in a 3D rendering from a 2D picture. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1297051
[2] http://www.rmo.nl/reconstructiecaesar
[3] https://www.rt.com/news/430659-caesar-head-reconstructed-rome/
[4] Suetonius, Divus Julius, Alexander Thomson. Available at www.perseus.tufts.edu/
[5] https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/julius-caesars-head-reconstructed-3d-12794457
[6] https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/25/new-3d-reconstruction-reveals-julius-caesar-basically-looked-like-e-t-7658540/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tusculum_portrait
[8] http://museoarcheologico.piemonte.beniculturali.it/index.php/9-uncategorised/129-museo-di-antichita-di-torino




Sunday, June 24, 2018

My restoration of the Leiden bust of Caesar


This is my "digital restoration" (on the right) of the Leiden bust of Caesar (on the left). Actually, this is one of  two marble heads of Caesar that we can see at the page http://www.rmo.nl/onderwijs/museumkennis/klassieke-wereld/romeinen/de-voorwerpen/julius-caesar . The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands. It is located in Leiden.

For the restoration of the face I used that of the Tusculum bust.
Actually "rectangles" are coherent (see the discussion in this post)


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Arles, Turin and Caesar

The heart of the ancient history of Arles, this is what is on show at the Louvre Museum of Paris, until 25 June 2012. The Museum is  hosting an exhibition of spectacular Roman pieces recovered from the bottom of the Rhone! From March 9 to June 25, 2012, the Louvre Museum in Paris

On exhibition fifty of the most spectacular artifacts unearthed by archaeologists: columns and capitals, fragments of statues and reliefs, Roman jewelery, lamps, vases ... These pieces are coming from the museum of Arles, and other pieces from Avignon, Vienne and Turin.
Among the pieces from Turin, you can admire Julius Caesar's bust, unearthed in 1825,  long considered unique, until the discovery in 2007 in Arles of another bust of the Roman politician. At the Louvre, these sculptures will be presented for the first time side by side.


http://www.france.fr/it/arti-e-cultura/evenement/arles-gli-scavi-del-rodano-un-fiume-memoria

   Arles

Torino

Un altro ritratto interessante è quello del busto Farnese, a Napoli

 Napoli