Grand Tour Bronze Portrait Bust of Seneca

Modeled after the original found at Pompeii.

GRAND TOUR Italian School Pair of Busts, "Homer" & "Pseudo-Seneca", after Antiquity Patinated bronze mounted on solid marble plinths cast by Chiurazzi, Naples circa 1880 each sealed with foundry cachet on shoulder Item # 304KUV24Y A rare and exciting pair of Grand Tour busts after Antiquity, each is executed in bronze and finished in a Herculaneum black patina with hints of verde in the underlying surface by the foundry of J. Chiurazzi of Naples. Foundry seals are located on their shoulders verso. The first is a fine cast of Homer after the marble bust of Antiquity formerly in the Farnese collection and currently in the permanent collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. It depicts the aged Greek poet and author of the Illiad and the Odyssey as a bearded man dressed in a tunic with a ribbon holding back his hair while concerned wrinkles line his forehead. His eyes are empty and devoid of anything, the absence alluding to his blindness while the sheer intensity of his spirit overwhelms the viewer. His simple garment are a reminder of his poverty. The second bust known as "Pseudo Seneca" is cast after the original bust of antiquity found in 1754 at Herculaneum in the Villa of the Papyri, the home of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, father-in-law of Julius Caesar. The estate was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The bust had been thought to be an image of Lucius Annaeus Seneca - Seneca the Younger - the famous Stoic philosopher and fabulously wealthy advisor to Nero. However, after a titled bust of Seneca...

From the J. Chiurazzi foundry in Naples. Homer with nice rich patina on a Siena marble socle. Foundry medallion on back of base.

Bronze bust on yellow marble socle.

Grand Tour Style bronze bust of Clytie, after the antique, the nymph with downcast face and scantily draped, cupped in a large flower. Raised on a 6" sq...

Italian 19th century bronze bust of Augustus Ceasar, finely detailed and well patinated, standing on turned ebonized wood and marble socle plinth base.