This bronze monumental statue is one of the very few nearly complete Roman bronze statues of the third century preserved today. It is a reminder that many of the disembodied portrait heads displayed in these galleries were once attached to freestanding sculptures, whose original appearances were undoubtedly quite different. Portraits of the emperor served the highly important function in imperial propaganda of presenting the ruler to the public and of projecting the personality with which he wished to be perceived. Leadership and military strength are evoked in the heroic nudity of the figure and in the pose, which recalls the famous statue of Alexander the Great with the Lance by Lysippos. In contrast to the idealized body, the portrait head represents the emperor with brutish realism. Trebonianus likely would have cradled a parazonium, or short sword, in his left arm, and held a spear in his upraised right hand. The statue has undergone several campaigns of restoration since its discovery in the early nineteenth century and was examined in great detail as part of the conservation treatment in preparation for its display here. Visual examination inside and out, combined with x-radiography, made possible the clear identification of ancient and restored areas, which are indicated in the accompanying illustration. At least three-quarters of the statue is ancient. Despite the discrepancy in scale, the head belongs to the body. Although the mantle draped over his left shoulder is a modern restoration, cast edges beneath it confirm that the statue had a similar embellishment in antiquity. The left foot with its elaborately decorated open-fronted boot appears to be ancient but may not belong.
Said to be from near the church of San Giovanni, Laterano, Rome
Said to have been found in Rome by Count Nicolai Nikitich Demidov
Until 1828, collection of Count Nicolai Nikitich Demidov, Rome and Florence; after 1828, collection of Anatole Nicolaevich Demidov, later Prince of San Donato, Rome and St. Petersburg (by descent); by 1852, collection of Auguste de Montferrand, St. Petersburg; [after 1858, with Rollin & Feuardent, Paris]; [until 1905, with Pottier & Co., Paris]; acquired in 1905, purchased from Pottier & Co.
Fitz Gerald, C. M. 1905. "Accessions by Purchase, July-October: Bronze Statue of Trebonianus Gallus." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1(1): pp. 12–13.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1915. Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes. no. 350, pp. 154–59, New York: Gilliss Press.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1936. A Guide to the Collections, Part 1: Ancient and Oriental Art, 2nd edn. pp. 109–10, fig. 69, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1948. Roman Portraits, 2nd edn. no. 109, p. vi, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bandinelli, Ranuccio Bianchi. 1966. Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica, Classica e Orientale, Vol. 7. p. 971, fig. 1097, Rome: Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1970. "The Department of Greek and Roman Art: Triumphs and Tribulations." Metropolitan Museum Journal, 3: pp. 73, 75–77, fig. 3.
Thimme, Jürgen. 1976. Kunst und Kultur der Kykladeninseln im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr.: Ausstellung unter d. Patronat des International Council of Museums ICOM im Karlsruher Schloss vom 25. Juni-10. Oktober 1976. no. 118, pp. 152–53, Karlsruhe: Müller.
Weitzmann, Kurt. 1979. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century no. 1, pp. 8–9, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. no. 118, pp. 152–53, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kleiner, Diana E. E. 1992. Roman Sculpture. pp. 371–72, fig. 336, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Mattusch, Carol. 1996. The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections cat. 55, p. 349, fig. 1, Cambridge, Mass: Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums.
D'Ambra, Eve. 1998. Roman Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Papini, Massimiliano. 2000. Palazzo Braschi. La Collezione di Sculture Antiche. p. 148, Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 471, pp. 402–3, 497–98, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
La Rocca, Eugenio, Claudio Parisi Presicce, and Annalisa Lo Monaco. 2015. L'età dell'angoscia : da Commodo a Diocleziano : 180-305 d.C. cat. I.58, pp. 84–91, 200, 367–68, fig. 6.1, 6.6d, Rome: MondoMostre.
Cadario, Matteo. 2015. "Storie di statue. Aspetti delle strategie e forme di rappresentazione imperiale nel III secolo d.C." L'età dell'angoscia : da Commodo a Diocleziano : 180-305 d.C., Eugenio La Rocca, Claudio Parisi Presicce, and Annalisa Lo Monaco, eds. cat. I.58, pp. 84–91, fig. 1.6d, Rome: MondoMostre.
Marlowe, Elizabeth. 2015. "Said to Be or Not Said to Be: The Findspot of the So-Called Trebonianus Gallus Statue at The Metropolitan Museum in New York." Journal of the History of Collections, 27(2): pp. 147–57, fig. 1.
Zanker, Paul. 2016. Roman Portraits: Sculptures in Stone and Bronze in the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 30, pp. 56, 62, 94–97, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.