Skip to main content
Artist/Maker
Pietro Bazzanti
(Italian, 1842 – 1881)
Datebefore 1881
MediumMarble
DimensionsOverall: 17 × 11 1/4 × 9 in. (43.2 × 28.6 × 22.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hugh Jamison, Class of 1941
Object number2023.10.83
On view
DescriptionThis marble portrait is a nineteenth-century copy of an ancient Roman bust. The original sculpture, which can be found in the Galleria dei Busti at the Vatican Museums, was thought to be a portrait of a young Caesar Augustus when it was first unearthed in the early 1800s. Scholars later determined that the features better aligned with portraits of the emperor’s grandsons, Gaius (20 BCE–4 CE) and Lucius (17 BCE–2 CE). Surviving depictions of the two brothers are typically similar in style and treatment, but experts such as John Pollini have convincingly argued for this bust’s identification as Gaius based on detailed comparison with other known portraits. Gaius and Lucius were raised by Augustus as his adopted sons, making them joint heirs to the Roman Empire. Tragically, Gaius died of an unknown illness at the age of twenty-three, before he could fulfill his destined role.
Several Italian sculptors and workshops crafted copies of the original Gaius bust in the decades following its discovery. This version was created by Pietro Bazzanti, a Florentine sculptor who specialized in reproductions of famous artworks and antiquities. Bazzanti’s workshop can still be found along the Arno river in Florence, where it is now known as the Galleria d’Arte Pietro Bazzanti e Figlio.
Collections
Additional Details
Alternate Titles
Bust of Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula)
Signature
Back of plinth: "P. Bazzanti Florence"
Unknown artist
Date: 19th century
Medium: Cast bronze with inlay on marble base
Object number: 2023.10.73
George Catlin
Date: published 1838
Medium: Lithograph with hand coloring
Object number: 1971.42
Augustus Rockwell
Date: 1865
Medium: Oil on canvas
Object number: 1873.2
Unknown artist
Date: 19th century
Medium: Cast bronze
Object number: 2023.10.80
Fitzgerald C. Peploe
Date: 1903
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 19XX.8
Antonio da Trento
Date: c. 1527-1531
Medium: Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks (pale green and black)
Object number: 1992.24
Hiram Powers
Date: 1867-70
Medium: Marble
Object number: 1869.2
Renée Stout
Date: 2008-10
Medium: Acrylic, latex paint, spray paint, plastic rhinestones, wood, glass, metal, varnish, collage, and found objects
Object number: 2016.2
Yashua Klos
Date: 2018
Medium: Collage with woodblock prints and graphite on paper
Object number: 2019.1
Unknown artist, Peruivian (Cuzco School)
Date: late 17th-early 18th century
Medium: Oil on canvas
Object number: 2019.12