Experts have found a rare bronze bust depicting one of the most colorful characters in Roman history: the mad and depraved Emperor Caligula.
Considered lost for nearly 200 years, the 5-inch-tall bust was originally excavated in Herculaneum, a Roman city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Available for public viewing from the end of this month, the bust may have been cast in Herculaneum shortly before or after Caligula’s death, around 2,000 years ago.
It shows Caligula’s high forehead, his small mouth with thin lips, his prominent chin and the unmistakable shine of his silver eyes that indicated his “madness.”
Caligula, the third leader of the Roman Empire, lived a depraved lifestyle, indulging in brazen affairs with the wives of his allies and incestuous relationships with his sisters before his assassination in 41 AD.
The drawing shows Caligula’s high forehead, his small mouth with thin lips, his prominent chin and the unmistakable shine of his silver eyes, according to experts.
Regardless of the age of the bust, experts consider it an “exquisite” piece that represents one of the most depraved characters in human history.
After a determined search lasting a decade, the bust was found by Dr. Silvia Davoli, curator of Strawberry Hill and historian at the University of Oxford.
“The discovery of Caligula’s head is truly an exciting event,” he said.
“Each recovered object opens the doors to new hypotheses, helping us better understand the secret life of objects and their movements through the centuries.”
It is currently unknown when exactly the bust was cast, but it was one of the first objects excavated in Herculaneum in the 17th century.
Sometime in the 18th century, the bust was gifted to renowned English writer and politician Horace Walpole (1717-1797) by Sir Horace Mann, a distant relative who was a British envoy to Italy.
Both he and Walpole were amazed by the expressiveness of his face which according to them represented the Emperor ‘at the beginning of his madness’.
Like many of his treasures, Walpole kept it at Strawberry Hill House, his neo-Gothic villa built in Twickenham in 1749.
Caligula, the third leader of the Roman Empire, lived a depraved lifestyle, indulging in brazen affairs with the wives of his allies and incestuous relationships with his sisters before his assassination in 41 AD.
Both Mann and Walpole were amazed at the expressiveness that they said represented the Emperor ‘at the beginning of his madness’.
Strawberry Hill House, a Gothic style villa, was built in Twickenham by Horace Walpole in 1749.
But in 1842, the Bronze Head of Caligula was sold at the ‘Great Sale’ when most of its collection disappeared into private hands and its whereabouts were unknown ever since.
As part of her search, at Yale University, Dr. Davoli found a sketch of the bust that Horace Walpole had commissioned, but she still did not know where the bust itself was.
Crucially, further research revealed that it had remained in the Walpole family after his death before being purchased by collectors, including, eventually, the renowned Baron John Henry Schroder in the 1890s.
Schroder was the son of the man who founded the Schroders merchant bankers in London in 1804 and, more importantly, still maintains a collection of antiques accumulated between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
After discovering the bust in the collection, it was “unmistakable” that every detail in Carter’s drawing corresponded to the object, Dr. Silvia Davoli said, proving it depicted Caligula.
Now, after an absence of 182 years, it will be loaned back to its original home, Strawberry Hill House, for an exhibition from June 29 to September 8.
While there is no evidence that Sir Horace had sexual relations with men, he had several “close friendships with other Batchelors” and was described as “effeminate” by his contemporaries. Above, a 1910 print of Sir Horace.
Dr. Caterina Badan, curator of the Schorder collection, is now working together with Silvia to reconstruct the complex history of the object.
Although it was excavated in Herculaneum, experts cannot be completely sure whether it was cast during Roman times or much more recently.
The smoothness of the bronze surface may indicate that this is a Renaissance sculpture that somehow became entangled with the Herculaneum excavation in the 17th century.
Regardless of its age, they call it an “exquisite” object that represents one of the most depraved characters in human history.
Who was Caligula? The ‘mad’ and ‘perverted’ third emperor of ancient Rome slept with his own sisters and demanded that senators worship him like a god.
Caligula was born in the year 12 AD. C. son of the renowned Roman general Germanicus and his wife, Agrippina the Elder.
He was nicknamed Caligula, or “little boot,” in reference to the skimpy uniform his parents wore him.
Caligula’s mother and brothers died in prison after being accused of treason, after which his great-uncle Tiberius adopted him and made him and his son equal heirs to the empire.
Although his appointment was initially welcomed by Rome when his reign began, a serious illness – possibly epilepsy or hyperthyroidism – upset Caligula.
In addition to indulging in the carnal pleasures of sex and gluttony, Caligula tortured high-ranking senators by making them run for miles in front of his chariot.
He is also believed to have carried around with cash and drank precious stones dissolved in vinegar, and loved his horse so much that he tried to make him a consul.
The controversial 1979 erotic history film Caligula, which chronicled the rise and fall of the Roman emperor, starred Malcolm McDowell as Caligula (center), Helen Mirren and Peter O’Toole.
And he jokingly threatened to torture or kill his fourth and final wife, Caesonia, who was said to be so beautiful that Caligula paraded her naked in front of his friends.
He is quoted with the catchphrase: “Remember that I have the right to do anything to anyone.”
In addition to indulging in the carnal pleasures of sex and gluttony, Caligula tortured high-ranking senators by making them run for miles in front of his chariot.
His lavish lifestyle depleted the Roman treasury faster than he could replenish it with taxes and extortion.
In the year 41 AD. C., Caligula was stabbed to death, along with his wife and his daughter, by officers of the Praetorian Guard led by Cassius Chaerea.
In the 1979 erotic historical drama Caligula, which depicts the life of the Roman emperor, he is shown attending degrading sexual performances often involving children and deformed people.
The film, which was widely criticized and described as a “moral holocaust” by one critic, remains banned in its uncut version in several countries.