Townley Antinous

The Townley Antinous is an marble portrait head of Antinous wearing an ivy wreath is part of the collection of London's British Museum and part of the Townley Marbles.[1] Only the head is ancient, once belonging to statue dating from c. 130–140 and the late reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138); the bust is a modern addition.[2] The portrait probably shows the youth as Dionysus–Bacchus.[2] The bust was acquired along with the rest of the antiquities collected by 18th-century Grand Tourist and Fellow of the Royal Society, Charles Townley. A drawing of the bust attributed to Vincenzo Pacetti is also in the museum's collection.[3]

Bust of Antinous
The bust in 2011
SubjectAntinous
LocationBritish Museum, London, United Kingdom

The head, carved from Parian marble, was believed to have been found on the Janiculum hill near the Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome in 1770, in an area then known as Italian: Tenuta della Tedesca, lit. 'Germanwoman's estate'.[2] It and the remains of the statue to which it belonged were found used as spolia in a roadside wall near the Porta San Pancrazio, a gate in the Aurelian Walls.[2] Townley bought the head in July 1773 from Thomas Jenkins, the antiquary and art dealer, for £150. The head was already in Britain by June 1774, probably having been owned previously by John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, from whom Jenkins wrote in July 1773 that it was "to be received".[2]

See also

References
  1. "Museum number 1805,0703.97". British Museum. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  2. "portrait head | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  3. "drawing | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2020-10-13.


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