About this 3D model

This imposing portrait head of Alexander the Great is a highlight of the Pestalozzi Collection and a witness to the long history of collecting ancient works of art. Formerly part of the renowned collection of ancient sculpture at Marbury Hall, Cheshire, this portrait was collected by the Honorable James Hugh Smith Barry (1746-1801) in the 18th century. The Marbury Hall collection featured several important works, many of which have now found their way into museums worldwide, including the famed statue of Jupiter at the Getty Villa and a portrait bust of the Empress Livia now in Liverpool. Marbury Hall was host to some of the most famed travelers and art historians of the 19th century, including James Dalloway, Comte de Clarac and Adolph Michaelis. It is in the mold of Grand Tour collecting that Dr. Anton Pestalozzi built his collection and it is fitting that he also opened his doors to scholars, dealers and experts in ancient art, much as Barry and his descendants did two centuries prior. As M. Bieber notes (p. 72 in Alexander the Great in Greek and Roman Art), “The Romans adopted Alexander’s idea that harmony, peace and brotherhood ought to unite all mankind without regard to their race...Thus the brotherhood of men which Alexander had wished came true in the Roman Empire.” To that end, this monumental portrait of Alexander the Great works to unite the Pestalozzi Collection and speaks to the diversity of cultures, people, and personalities of the ancient Classical world assembled within. * * *The SculptureSurviving portraits of Alexander the Great are noteworthy for their wide range of styles employed to portray his unique physiognomy. The treatment of his leonine hair, for example, can be long and wavy on some portraits, while others emphasize the characteristic anastole or cowlick, not present on this example. Some show the Macedonian ruler with a pronounced crease in the forehead, as here, but this trait is not universally found on all portraits. Ancient writers tell us that Alexander issued an edict that only Lysippos should cast his image in bronze, only Apelles should paint his portrait, and only Pyrgoteles should engrave his image on gems (see D. Pandermalis, Alexander the Great, Treasures from an Epic Era of Hellenism, p. 15). Several portraits in bronze were commissioned, including the most famous, a standing figure of the Macedonian king holding a lance. While the original does not survive, Plutarch (De Alexandri Fortuna, 2.2) informs that his head had an upward tilt, giving him a sharp and penetrating look. Many small bronzes survive that seem to be inspired from this famous type (see the example at Harvard and another at Stanford, nos. 287 and 501 in P. Moreno, Alessandro Magno, Immagini come storia). Portraits of Alexander continued to be made throughout the Hellenistic period and beyond. The Roman love of important historical characters, coupled with their insatiable demand for Greek works of art, meant that portraits of Alexander continued to be popular well into the Roman Imperial period. Alexander is depicted here with large eyes with modeled lids, slightly parted lips, and the characteristic creased forehead. His thick leonine hair is swept up at the forehead in with locks breaking to the left and right. Deep drill work is used throughout to accentuate his unruly hair. When Adolph Michaelis catalogued the contents of Marbury Hall in 1882, the present head was attached to a colossal body, now located in a European Private Collection. Michaelis did not, however, consider this sculpture to represent Alexander, writing, “The youthful head, which shews well-rounded forms, is surrounded by rich, long, curly hair, not, however, arranged in the manner characteristic of heads of Alexander, which by its inclination towards the [left] shoulder it otherwise resembles” (see Michaelis, op. cit.). The author considered the sculpture to represent Helios on the recommendation of the archaeologist George Scharf who compared the head to depictions of the sun god on coins from Rhodes, but he left open the possibility that it could also portray a Dioscuri. These attributions contradict Comte de Clarac who, 40 years prior, notated the sculpture as “Alexandre le Grand” when he reproduced a drawing of the work (see de Clarac, op. cit.). Jucker (op. cit., p. 30) contends that this portrait cannot represent Helios - or even a composite Alexander-Helios type - for the head does not have holes for which separately-made rays would be inserted. The individualized facial features - including the creased forehead - are more akin to Alexander than Helios and the parted lips are also characteristic of the Macedonian ruler. Moreover, while the head today looks forward, it would have originally been turned to the right, a feature seen in several Hellenistic and Roman examples of Alexander (see cat. 1 in D. Pandermalis, op. cit.). The treatment of the hair in the Pestalozzi Alexander, cascading down in thick, layered locks,