Head of the youthful Honorius. Constantinople, 393—394. Marble

The head is approximately half life-size; it is of fine-grained marble, broken at top of neck with fracture angling upward to nape of neck. The original surface was evidently matte. The head has a number of chips: across right eyebrow; over left eyebrow extending up into hairline; in left upper eyelid; in upper edge of headband above left eye; and in nose. Small cracks run from bridge of nose to inner corner of right eye; from central hole in headband to inner corner of right eye; and between holes on right side of head. In addition, small, irregular incised lines mark the crown of the head, apparently not part of the original design. Five small holes are drilled in upper edge of headband; three retain small amounts of lead solder, indicating a metal addition to the crown, either a wreath (Vermeule [2], 1964, pp. 104-105) or, more probably, a central jewel and sun rays (Delbrueck, 1951).

The slightly asymmetrical compression of the left side of the face suggested to Delbrueck (1951) that this was one of a group, with Theodosius I as central figure and his elder son, Arcadius, in the place of honor on his left; such a group would have been made before Theodosius' death in January 395, and most probably during 394, when Arcadius and Honorius shared the consulship. The physiognomy—particularly the nose— as well as the delicate form and style place the subject within the Theodosian house in any case, and the best resemblance is with Honorius; the same person is shown a few years older on the Rothschild cameo in Paris, generally assumed to have been made for Honorius' marriage in 398 (Delbrueck, 1933, pi. 105).

The head was acquired in New York City in 1937 by W. R. Valentiner, who donated it to the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Bibliography: Delbrueck, 1951; Vermeule (2), 1964, pp. 104-105; Waltham, 1968, no. 17, and pi. ix; Boston, 1976, no. 188.

Head of Theodosius II. Constantinople (?), about 430-440. Marble. The marble head was affixed to a disparate neck and bust; it is broken off under chin. The lower half of nose is restored, and ears and upper lip are chipped; many smaller damages. Irises and diadem were drilled for color inserts, now lost. The flesh is highly polished, but hair, beard, and diadem have matte surfaces. Hair and beard are plastic, worked in detail only at edges of the flesh areas; hair is scarcely worked above the diadem and on rear, suggesting that the portrait was designed for display in a niche. Though the total loss of the original neck makes it impossible to be certain, the head appears to be inclined slightly to its right. Within the context of its style, the execution is extremely skillful, with subtle calculation of the arches and ovals that form the countenance.

The diadem is set high on the coiffure, with an elaborate central jewel, which has traces of lead (solder ?) in one cell. The skull is high, round, and wide-browed, and the lower face long and half oval; bold eyebrows arch over large almond eyes. The nose is thin (so far as restoration allows judgment), mouth small with slightly protruding lip, all conforming generally to the physiognomy of members of the Theodosian House.

Although the name of the usurper Eugenius has been associated with the head, largely because of the beard, the wave in the hair over the brow is a style introduced only in the fifth century; the early middle age of the subject confirms the stylistic character and makes the subject's probable identification Theodosius II, the son and heir of Arcadius as emperor in the East; his coin images do not contradict the possibility. Delbrueck (1933) suggested the work might have been occasioned by the marriage of Theodosius' daughter, Licinia Eudoxia, in 437 to Valentinian III.

The head is part of the ancien fonds of the Louvre and may have been in the Royal Collection as early as the middle of the seventeenth century.