Inv. n°: MMoCA580

Roman Marble Bust of Alexander Helios

DEACCESSIONED FROM THE LEVETT COLLECTION IN 2023. His face framed by thick wavy hair, with seven recesses over the top of the head for insertion of bronze rays, wearing a chlamys fastened with a circular brooch at the shoulders, with three ears of grain at the base of the bust. Significant traces of red paint can be found on the space between the hair and drapery on the right shoulder, on the fibula, on the neck above the drapery on the left, on the inside of the right arm, above the left eye and on the forehead, and over the right eye. Mounted on a cylindrical foot with a plain tabula made from a different marble.

h. 64.2 cm

c. 1st century BC

Marble

Provenance

  • Art dealer Capponi, via della Fontanella di Borghese, 20, Rome, prioro to 1897
  • Baron Kuhlmann-Stumm Collection, Schloss Ramholz, Germany
  • Koller, lot 1024, Zurich, 3rd December 2009
  • Art market, Paris, acquired from the above
  • Acquired at Christie's "Antiquities" sale 5488, London, 7th October 2010, lot 151

Publications

  • P. Arndt and W. Amelung, Photographische Einzelaufnahmen Antiker Sculpturen, nach Auswahl und mit text, Serie III, Munich, 1897, p. 37, item 811
  • P. Arndt and W. Amelung, Photographische Einzelaufnahmen Antiker Sculpturen, nach Auswahl und mit text, Serie IV, Munich, 1899, p. 50, bust in the Palazzo Lazzeroni (item 1172) compared to this bust Item 811
  • T. Schreiber, Studien über das Bildnis Alexander des Großen, 1903, p. 149, XIV, Helios V ; pp. 161‐162, fig. 17
  • J. J. Bernoulli, Die erhaltenen Darstellungen Alexanders des Großen: Ein Nachtrag zur griechischen Ikonographie, 1905, pp. 71-72, fn. 4
  • H. P. L’Orange, Apotheosis in Ancient Portraiture, 1947, p. 135, fig. 68, E.A. 811
  • K. Schauenburg, Helios; archäologisch-mythologische Studien über den Antiken Sonnengott, Berlin, 1955, p. 62, fig. 215 (mentioned in footnote that discusses symbols of végétation associated with Helios)
  • D. Svenson, Darstellungen hellenistischer Könige mit Götterattributen, 1995, p. 20
  • Christie’s London, Antiquities, sale 5488, 7th October 2010, lot 151
  • J. Pollini, "Roman Marble Sculpture" in M. Merrony (ed.), Mougins Museum of Classical Art, France, 2011, p. 79, fig. 12
  • "L'Or pour: le Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins", Les étoiles de Mougins, January/February/March 2013, no. 4, p. 8
  • Egypte Ancienne, May/June/July 2013, no. 8, p. 69
  • S. Davis, "Museum Watch: Mougins Museum Art Museum", France Today, June/July 2014, vol. 29, no. 4, p. 63
  • "Mougins: l'Antiquité, c'est tout près", Nice Matin, France, 9th May 2018
  • Christie's, Collecting stories: Christian Levett, 19th September 2019
  • R. Leung, "From 4th-Century Greek Vases to Female Abstract Expressionism", Larry's List, 2022, [On-line]. Available at: https://www.larryslist.com/artmarket/the-talks/from-4th-century-greek-vases-to-female-abstract-expressionism/
  • Mougins Infos, Mougins, Summer 2023, n°89, p. 31

Exhibitions

  • Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins (MACM), Mougins, France, from June 2011

N.B. Our online collection is being continually updated thanks to ongoing research and documentation efforts carried out by the MACM documentation team. Any additional information is welcome, please contact us.

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