Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

C 039
Copy of the Head of Polykleitos’ Diadumenos. Dresden

Marble
Head
28.5 cm, face 21 cm

Acquired in 1728 with the Chigi collection in Rome. Therefore, probably from Rome
Germany, Dresden, Albertinum und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Skulpturensammlung, Hermann 71

Preservation:
The nose is restored. The earlier restoration of the lips has been removed. There is some incrustation and the face has been cleaned but the surface is well preserved.

Description:
The head has a flat wide cranium with a face that is broad between the temples but tapers to the chin. The brow appears as a short rectangular area because it is traversed horizontally by the broad fillet which encircles the head. In addition, the eyebrows are virtually horizontal; the right eyebrow is, however, slightly higher than the left. The eyes have a heavy upper lid and a deeply drilled tear duct that, extending toward the nose, breaks the harmonious shape of the eye. An engraved half circle in each eye denotes the iris and a small indentation indicates the pupil. The cheeks are flat and merge at a solid short chin. The nose has a broad ridge and the lips are full and separated by a deep groove. The hair leaves the ears, which are deeply drilled, mainly uncovered. It is short and rendered in voluminous locks with fine engraved lines to delineate individual strands. The tousled locks originate at the crown. Around the ear the locks are particularly curly and feature drill work at the center of the curls. Encircling the head running above the ears and across the brow is a broad flat fillet which features two horizontal engraved lines that run inside of the fillet’s upper and lower edges. The fillet is tightly wrapped against the head and the hair above and below it springs out from it. At the back of the ends of the fillet cross over each other and move diagonally downwards.

Discussion:
The Dresden head is a copy of the head of the “Diadumenos” of Polykleitos (see cat.nos.C 36, 37, and 38). Among the copies of the head of the “Diadumenos” the Dresden head is regarded as faithful to the original since it corresponds in details of hair and physiognomy to the heads on the Athens, New York, and Tripolis “Diadumenos” statues and to the “Diadumenos” head in Kassel. More specifically, Kreikenbom considers it to be one of the six extant replicas which reproduce the left side of the original model correctly; the others are the New York, Tripolis, Barracco from Terracina, Frankfurt, and Kassel heads. Although Lauter dates the head to the Hadrianic period, Kriekenbom and Philipp have both dated the head just slightly later, to the early Antonine period. Kriekenbom, who is repeated by Philipp, cites the polished skin, the engraved irises with indented pupils under heavy upper eyelids, and the tousled locks of hair near the temples and at the back of the head in which the drill is used as being comparable to the same elements on the portraits of Marcus Aurelius.

Bibliography:
H. Marwitz, "Antiken der Sammlung Hermann Bünemann, München" (AntPl 6 1967) pp.32-33 figs.5-6 notes the eyes and hair around the left ear in comparison with other copies
H. Lauter, Zur Chronologie romischer Kopien nach Originalen des V. Jhr. (Bonn 1968) p.93 no.9 lists the head as a neoclassical work of the Hadrianic period
T. Lorenz, Polyklet (Wiesbaden 1972)
P. Zanker, Klassizistische Statuen (Mainz 1974) pp.11-13 notes its resemblance in facial shape to Athens, New York, Tripolis, and Kassel copies, corresponds also to Athens, New York, and Tripolis heads in the hair above the fillet over the brow
D. Kreikenbom, Bildwerke nach Polyklet (Berlin 1990) pp.130-140, 200 no.V.46 copy critique of the heads, dates the Dresden head to the early Antonine period
(H. Philipp), Polyklet: Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik (Mainz am Rhein 1990) p.563 no.80 notes Antonine aspects, drilled hair and eyes
(H. Protzmann), Die Antiken im Albertinum: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Skupturensammlung (Mainz am Rhein 1993) p.21 no.5 brief catalogue entry