Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

C 068
Copy of the Head of a Fifth Century Female Statue. Duke of Alba, Madrid

Marble
Head
Spain, Madrid, Duke of Alba

Preservation:
The head is broken through the neck. The end of the nose is missing. There is a substantial chip in the hair above the left eye as well scattered smaller chips and abrasions.

Description:
The head shows a mature female whose long hair is neatly arranged and bound. Running around the head above the ears is a circlet above which the crown of the head is smooth (perhaps a cap?) and out from under which hair appears. Directly under this circlet above the nose but high on the brow is a central part, away from which the hair on both sides descends. This creates a small triangular zone of forehead at the center of the brow. The descending hair on both sides reaches a point, still high on the brow, when it shifts direction and turns to the side of the head. It moves in scalloped waves to the temple where it then disappears to the back and into the smooth area of the head. The hair around the temples pushes backwards, over the top of the ear and disappears also under the circlet into the smooth upper area of the head. Behind the ear the hair is combed upwards and seemingly over the circlet around which it is then tucked. The face has an oval shape. The widely spaced cheek bones give it its greatest breadth across the eyes. The brow is high and the eyebrows are arched. The eyes are wide open and the nose is fine and has no dip at the bridge. The lips are full and tucked into the full but firm cheeks. The groove between the lips rises, then dips, then rises, and dips. The central lip, therefore, has a central overhang.

Discussion:
The head is deemed to be a Roman work which is based on or copies a Classical sculpture. It certainly resembles the head of Athena in the metope of Herakles and Atlas from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Both heads have in common the hairstyle and in both the upper portion of the head is left smooth. Moreover, both have a similar ratio of hair to brow and in both the hair on the brow has a similar shape. The sculptures from the Temple of Zeus are securely dated ca.450 and thus, the original model or inspiration for the Madrid head is also dated in the middle of the fifth century.

Bibliography:
C. Waldstein, "The Hesperide of the Olympia Metope and a Marble Head at Madrid" (JHS 5 1884) pp.171-175 compares the Madrid head to the figure of Athena (he calls her a Hesperide) in the Atlas Metope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
P. Arndt and W. Amelung, Photographische Einzelaufnahmen antiker Skulpturen VI (Munich 1912) p.54 nos.1784-1785 considers it to be a Roman copy but believes Waldstein’s comparison to the Olympia Atlas metope is correct