Andrea Bocelli - Con Te Partirò

Il Cesare del Camposanto di Pisa

Sempre usato Tuscolo, fitta bene.

Lo so, gli occhi sono un po' a "palla" ma sono quelli della statua ...

http://www.toscanaoggi.it/Territorio/Musei-d-arte-sacra/Museo-dell-Opera-del-Duomo-di-Pisa

"Ma l'importanza indiscussa dei reperti in esse raccolti e un tempo custoditi nel Camposanto, ne giustifica ampiamente la presenza. La sala 22 conserva infatti quarantuno reperti archeologici romani, con molte urne cinerarie e svariati busti dei secoli I e II d.C., dei quali il più celebre è forse la testa in marmo lunense di Giulio Cesare, risalente al 30-20 a.C..

Vedi  post
http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.com/2018/07/il-cesare-del-camposanto-di-pisa.html

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.

The Tusculum Caesar

This is my reconstruction of the face of Giulius Caesar, in a lifelike style, that I have obtained from the Tusculum bust, today at the Archaeological Museum of Torino.

On the portrait of Caesar from Tusculum - Sul busto di Tuscolo

Dear reader, this post is devoted to a discussion of a portrait of Julius Caesar, known as the Tusculum bust.

In this post I will use the article by Francesco Carotta, published on the Corriere del Ticino in 2017. https://www.carotta.de/subseite/texte/articula/CesareTuscolo_CorriereDelTicino.pdf

and I strongly invite you to read it. The article, entitled IL CESARE INCOGNITO, is linking the marble bust of Tuscolo and a Denario by Buca, to the myth of Selene and Endymion.

Here some extracts.

The story of the discovery of the Tusculum bust has some humor in it. The marble head was found in Tusculum by Luciano Bonaparte. Luciano made profit with the antiquities, in particular those emerging from the ruins of that pleasant town among the Alban Hills (near today's Frascati), where the Roman nobility had built the villas, a famous one was that of Cicero. He used these antiquities to refund his huge debts. However, he did not realize that he had in his hands an original portrait of Caesar, which would have allowed him to restore his financial health. The bust then remained unsold and passed to the House of Savoy. With some others items of Lucien Bonaparte's collection, the bust was taken to the Castle of Agliè, where, a century and a half later, in 1940, archaeologist Maurizio Borda, comparing the profile with some coins of Caesar, recognized that Caesar was portrayed in it.

Believing the marble head had been at the top of a statue of a "togato", Borda fixed the head in a vertical position. This position highlighted two anomalies: a sinking on the apex of the skull and a swelling of the same on the left side. Assuming the portrait as made during the life of Caesar, and without taking into account the notorious "riporto" (lock of hair combed over his baldness)  to hide his harassing baldness, Borda diagnosed in Caesar clinocephaly and plagiocephaly, hypothesizing that these pathological deformations had been caused by epilepsy. "Idle idea, not only because Caesar was estimated the most handsome man in Rome - and this is incompatible with such supposed malformations - but also because, at that time, it had been proven that the occasional fainting of Caesar had not an organic origin, but was simply due to cachexia, exhaustion for the hard life spent in continuous wars. And, [it was an idle idea also because], above all, that marble head has several other anomalies (prominent and non-anatomical eyes, the left ear higher than the right, the flatted left wing of the nose, a slit of the mandible, the dimple of the displaced thyroid-joid area, vertical venus rings, twisted neck, raised right shoulder, etc.). These deformations are those studied by the classical sculptors, which, since the time of Phidias, practised them to make the faces of the statues more beautiful, depending on what was the main perspective to see them, particularly to optimize their view from below. And in fact, if we assume for the portrait of Tusculum a recumbent posture of the subject, mainly viewed from below, all these so-called anomalies are changed into aesthetic excellences. Observed from this point of view Caesar's portrait from Tusculum is beautiful, like a masculine Gioconda. "

Here the best view of Tusculum bust, as highlighted by Francesco Carotta in
https://www.carotta.de/subseite/texte/articula/Sulla_postura_del_Cesare_Tuscolo.pdf 

Cari lettori, in questo post mi servirò dell'articolo di Francesco Carotta sul Corriere del Ticino nel 2017. https://www.carotta.de/subseite/texte/articula/CesareTuscolo_CorriereDelTicino.pdf
che invito a leggere. L'articolo, dal titolo IL CESARE INCOGNITO lega il busto marmoreo  di Tuscolo ed il Denario di Buca al mito di Selene ed Endemione.

Ecco alcuni estratti.

La cronistoria del ritrovamento del busto di Tuscolo "non manca di una certa comicità. La testa marmorea fu trovata al Tuscolo da Luciano Bonaparte". Luciano lucrava sulle antichità, "affioranti dalle rovine di quell’ameno municipio dei colli Albani (presso l’odierna Frascati), dove la nobiltà romana vi aveva costruito le sue ville, di cui fu famosa quella di Cicerone. Reperti che smerciava per pagare i suoi ingenti debiti, senza però accorgersi di avere in mano un ritratto originale di Cesare, che gli avrebbe permesso da solo di risanarsi". Il busto quindi resta invenduto e passa ai Savoia. Insieme a quanto rimasto della collezione di Luciano, il busto viene portato nel Castello di Agliè, "dove un secolo e mezzo dopo l’archeologo Maurizio Borda, comparandone il profilo con monete di Cesare, riconobbe trattarsi proprio di lui."
"Ritenendo aver essa appartenuto ad una statua di togato, fissò la testa in posizione verticale, nella quale risultano però evidenziate due anomalie: un affossamento sull’apice del cranio ed un rigonfiamento dello stesso sulla parte sinistra. Nel suo entusiasmo trattarsi di un ritratto contemporaneo ripreso dal vivo, e senza tener conto del notorio riporto dei capelli in avanti per celare la molesta calvizie, diagnosticò in Cesare clinocefalia e plagiocefalia, ipotizzando essere state quelle deformazioni patologiche la causa del suo famoso mal caduto. Idea peregrina, non solo perché Cesare era stimato l’uomo più bello di Roma, incompatibile con tali supposte malformazioni, ma anche perché è stato nel frattempo dimostrato che gli occasionali svenimenti di Cesare non avevano un’origine organica, ma erano dovuti semplicemente a cachessia, esaurimento per la dura vita passata in continue guerre,  e soprattutto perché quella testa marmorea presenta diverse altre anomalie (occhi prominenti e non anatomici, l’orecchio sinistro più alto del destro, ala del naso sinistra appiattita, mandibola sbieca, fossetta della zona tiro-joidea spostata, anelli di Venere verticali, collo torto, spalla destra rialzata, ecc.), deformazioni del tipo di quelle studiate ad arte dagli scultori classici, che fin dal tempo di Fidia le praticavano per rendere più belli i volti delle statue, a seconda di qual era la prospettiva principale, particolarmente per ottimizzarne la vista dal basso. Ed infatti, se si assume per il ritratto tuscolano una postura reclinata del soggetto con vista principale dal basso, tutte le cosiddette anomalie si tramutano in eccellenza estetica. Osservato da questo punto di vista il ritratto tuscolano di Cesare è bellissimo, quasi una Gioconda al maschile."

Grazie al dottor Francesco Carotta, ora possiamo vedere il ritratto di Cesare nel modo migliore possibile. 

Post archiviato

http://archive.is/wxmd5

On d’Hollosy reconstruction of Caesar - continued

In the post of June 26, 2018
http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.com/2018/06/on-maja-dhollosy-reconstruction-of.html

I discussed the reconstruction of Caesar's head made by Maja d'Hollosy, proposed in http://www.rmo.nl/reconstructiecaesar. She used data from a Leiden bust and the Tusculum bust. So I measured two rectangles to compare the face of Tusculum bust and the face of d'Hollosy reconstruction. Here the result.

The rectangles of the Tusculum bust (left). Rectangles of 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 sizes are in pixels.

To the reader, the exercise to evaluate the ratios. Differences are of about 10%.

However, a reader could tell me that I have not investigated the other bust used for the reconstruction, that which is in Leiden. Actually, the bust is in bad condition, so I "restored" digitally its image. And the result is the following. 

For comparison, I rotated a little the image. Here the result and comparison.

The rectangles of the Tusculum bust (left), of a frontal view of Maja d’Hollosy’s 3D reconstruction (middle) and Leiden head (right). The numbers (in pixels) are given to the reader, in such a manner that  any measurement and ratio can be easily evaluated. 

The most evident defect of the 3D  reconstruction is in the fact that it has the head which has a square as its frame, whereas the two busts have rectangles.  

A chi somiglia?

Per far vedere che la mia ricostruzione del busto di Tuscolo non è troppo lontana da persone reali. In alto a sinistra, un particolare del busto di Tuscolo. Coloriamo un po' la pelle ed cominciamo a tracciare gli occhi (in alto a destra). In basso a sinistra la ricostruzione. A destra, lo riconoscete tutti, c'è Fiorello. Allora, il Cesare di Tuscolo a chi somiglia? Un pochino a Fiorello.

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

Leiden marble head of Julius Caesar digitally restored

The head of Leiden "restored" using the Chiaramonti Caesar.

On the left, the head of Leiden as it is, on the right, the face restored using that of the Tusculum bust (Turin).

See please the new post

https://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.com/2019/03/un-cesare-chiaramonti-leida-rijksmuseum.html