Miscellaneous >> BUST OF THE CAPITOLINE ANTINOUS

A Mid 19th Century Life Size Plaster Bust of The Capitoline, Antinous.  The God depicted with thick curled hair, looking slightly downward and to his left.  The bust mounted on a scrolled and circular socle.

Date c 1850

Height 26 1/2"  Width 14 1/2"  Depth 12"

Antinous was a handsome young man who lived in the early second century AD. At that time the Roman empire stretched from Egypt to southern Scotland, and the Roman Emperor Hadrian was perhaps the most powerful man in the world.
A love affair blossomed between Hadrian and Antinous which we don’t know very much about after all this time. But when Antinous drowned in the Nile, the emperor mourned him deeply and sincerely. He also honoured his memory by officially proclaiming that Antinous posthumously held the status of a god, an exaltation otherwise reserved for the imperial family.