All photos by Brenna Reistad.
All italicized information are statements copied directly from exhibit materials on display at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
Roman
(reigned 37-41 CE), ca. 38 CE
Marble
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, 71.20
Roman
(reigned 37-41 CE), ca. 38 CE
Marble
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, 71.20
Emperor Gaius (known as Caligula, “Little Boot,” after the military boots he wore as a child), ruled Rome for only four years before his own guards assassinated him. Caligula became so reviled during his reign, that virtually all public images of him were destroyed, and VMFA possesses one of only two surviving full-length portrait statues of this emperor. Here, Caligula wears the toga and footwear of a Roman aristocrat, emphasizing his role as statesman an princeps, first among equals. The skillfully carved marble expertly renders the complex draping of a Roman toga, indicating that this statue was an imperial commission. Recent research indicates that statue was found at the shrine to the imperial family (the Julio-Claudians) near Rome.
Conserving Caligula
In 2011, VMFA’s curatorial and conservation staff determined that Caligula’s head and body were incorrectly aligned, and that they could safely separate the two sections in order to correct this.
Museum records, x-rays, and a visual examination determined that the head was held in place by intractable epoxy and a rod, later determined to be copper alloy. Solvents softened the epoxy, which was then removed with wooden and metal implements. Conservators used a thin wire coated with fine abrasives to cut through the remaining fill and the metal rod.
They then analyzed small samples of marble from both sides of the break using stable isotope analysis- a technique that examines radios of the marble’s carbon 13 and oxygen 18 molecules. This test established that the head and body are almost certainly from the same bock of Parian lyknites marble, a prestigious marble quarried on the island of Paros that was used for some of the finest imperial commissions.
Art historical comparisons and petrographic analysis of the size and orientation of the grain of the marble and striations within the marble helped determine the current alignment of the head. All material used in this restoration was chosen so it could easily be removed in the future.
Commenti