Londinium, Architecture and the CraftsLethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
History
Londinium, Architecture and the Crafts
Lethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
England -- Antiquities, Roman; London (England) -- Antiquities, Roman; Romans -- England -- London
will be seen in regard to the mosaics, generally spoke slightingly of
their quality.
I may now sum up my conclusions. The head belonged to a standing statue.
The hand, found separately, may have belonged to the same statue; it
probably drooped and held a roll. The head has the characteristics of
Hellenistic art. The expression is alert and eagle-like; the
close-cropped beard already appears on the head of Mausolus in the
British Museum, and seems to have been maintained as an Alexandrian
tradition. The statue was doubtless imported and may well have been
brought from Alexandria, a chief centre of bronze casting. Notice that
repairs are executed in an exactly similar way on the head of
“Aphrodite,” brought from Armenia and probably an Alexandrian work, _c._
200 B.C. A little silver image of Harpocrates, also found in the Thames,
is, I think, certainly an Alexandrian work. The bronze statue would have
been set up as a memorial of the Emperor’s visit to Britain in 121. A
“big brass” was struck in honour of the same event, inscribed _Adventus
Augusti Britanniæ_, and the profile portrait on the coin is very like
our head. It has the clipped beard and bears a laurel wreath. Hadrian
was the first of the emperors to wear a beard, and we may take our
bronze as evidence that he began with the clipped fashion. Not much
attention has been given to this head as an early portrait of the
emperor, but it is important from that point of view. Compare it with a
small bronze bust of a later time found at Winchester and also in the
British Museum.
Other remnants of large bronze statues have been found in London. Two
fragments at the Guildhall are thus described: “(19) Arm of a bronze
statue broken off below the elbow, 19 in. long; (21) Left hand of a
statue, bronze, of heroic size, with traces of gilding, 9½ in. long.
Found in a well to the east of Seething Lane.” From a notice in _The
Builder_ (May 3, 1884), it appears that the latter was found with coins
of Nero and Vespasian during the construction of the Metropolitan
Railway. An article in the _Journal of the Archæological Association_
(vol. xxiv.) discusses other fragments of bronze statues. There must be
evidence for the existence of four or five large bronze statues in
Londinium. A bronze leg of a horse at the Society of Antiquaries, found
in Lincoln, shows that equestrian figures—probably of emperors—were also
known in Britain (cf. the Marcus Aurelius in Rome).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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