A Roman Marble Portrait Head of Hadrian, circa 130 A.D.

Jandolo, Rome

Nils Ebbessøn Astrup (1901-1972), Oslo, acquired prior to 1956 on the advice of Hans Peter L'Orange (1903-1983), founder and director of the Norwegian Institute in Rome

Norwegian private collection, Oslo, by descent from the above

by descent from the above to the present owner

Documented

four photographs accessioned in 1954, and one in 1957, in the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom:

D-DAI-ROM-54.753-757: arachne.dainst.org/entity/1018066; arachne.dainst.org/entity/1018065; arachne.dainst.org/entity/1018064; arachne.dainst.org/entity/1018062 ("Kunsthandel Jandolo. Privatbesitz Norwegen")

D-DAI-ROM-57.912: arachne.dainst.org/entity/6334986 ("Rom, Kunsthandel. Jandolo"), without the restored nose

Published

Max Wegner, Hadrian (Das römische Herrscherbild, vol. II.3), Berlin, 1956, p. 106 ("Kunsthandlung Jandolo. Jetzt in norwegischem Privatbesitz")

Siri Sande, "Antikke portretter i norsk privateie," in Streiftog i antikken til H. P. l’Oranges 70-Arsdag, Oslo, 1973, p. 48f., illus.

Max Wegner and Reingart Unger, "Verzeichnis der Bildnisse von Hadrian und Sabina," Boreas, vol. 7, 1984, p. 126

Klaus Fittschen and Paul Zanker, Katalog der römischen Porträts in den Capitolinischen Museen, vol. 1, Mainz, 1985, p. 55, no. 10, Beilage 36

Siri Sande, Greek and Roman Portraits in Norwegian Collections (Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, vol. 10), Rome, 1991, p. 59f., no. 47, pl. 46 

Cécile Evers, Les portraits d’Hadrien. Typologie et ateliers, Brussels, 1994, p. 140, no. 76, fig. 72

Publius Aelius Hadrianus served as emperor for twenty-one years, from 117-138 A.D. There are more surviving portraits of Hadrian than of any other emperor besides Augustus. Two factors account for this proliferation: his long reign and his extensive travels across the Roman Empire, as statues of Hadrian were erected by cities in anticipation of or in appreciation of his visits. He was the first emperor to be depicted wearing a beard, a trend that each of his adult successors would adopt until the 4th century. Hadrian’s beard has been interpreted by many scholars as an outward sign of the emperor’s interest in Greek culture.

The present head is a replica of the Imperatori 32-type (the eponymous replica is in Rome, Musei Capitolini: Fittschen and Zanker, op. cit., pp. 54ff., no. 52, pl. 58ff.), which is known in almost 30 other replicas. The creation of this type has been linked to Hadrian’s nomination as pater patriae in 128 A.D.

For other marble sculpture from the Nils Astrup Collection sold at Replica Shoes ’s see New York, June 8th, 2011, no. 42 ("Pseudo-Seneca"), June 3rd, 2015, nos. 28 (bearded head of Dionysos) and 50 (a Julio-Claudian portrait bust of a man), and London, July 2nd, 2019, no. 247 (a portrait head of Aristotle).