A Bust of a Prelate in the Metropolitan Museum, New York

Abstract

The Metropolitan Museum of Art possesses the bust of a prelate (Fig. 1) which it acquired as part of the Altman collection in 1913.1 The bust, 14 1/8 inches high, is of white marble, and presents the head together with a portion of the shoulders and chest of a cleric. The man is represented as tonsured. He is clean shaven and wears a rochet over a cassock. The head is turned slightly to the right and the eyes gaze out in the same direction. The lower portion is cut in the segment of a circle, and the flat and unfinished surface of the back leaves no doubt that the bust was originally intended to be placed in a tondo. The dowel hole visible in the flat surface of the back confirms this hypothesis. It is, therefore, to be considered as a high relief rather than a piece of sculpture in the round. The base on which it is now displayed is of a different type of marble and can have had nothing to do with the original.