Alexander: Heracles: A Preliminary Note Author(s): Erik Sjqvist Reviewed work(s): Source: Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts,

Vol. 51, No. 284 (Jun., 1953), pp. 30-33 Published by: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4171154 . Accessed: 13/07/2012 03:45
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BULLETIN OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

In 1939,AhmedYoussef,who had been lent to the Expeditionby the CairoMuseum,completed the difficulttask of replacing the thin gold sheets copyof the box for andfaienceinlayson a modern the curtainsof the bed canopy. The inscriptions Sneferu,the give the titles of the queen'shusband, firstkingof Dynasty IV. The boxhas so far only been publishedin an articleby Reisnerin the Illustrated LondonNews, November 18, 1939, pp. 757-758. At the sametime, AhmedYoussefprepared a reproduction of the box for the Boston Museum (Fig. 2; Acc. No. 39.746). Unfortunately the wood was affected by the climatic changefromEgypt to Americaand had to be removed from exhibitionin the Museum after a shorttime and allowedto standfor a considerable periodto determinewhetherfurtherstresswould be exertedon the plasteredand gilded surfaces. Mr. Young has now treated these again and the box has recently been returned to exhibition. of the footboardof Togetherwith the decoration the bed, of which a reproductionis exhibited of the nearby, this box gives a vivid impression skill of the Old Kingdomdesigner. Even more elaborate are the hawks, feather patterns, and fromthe secondarmchair(Fig. 7) and the flowers inlaid designson the lid of the chest which contained the braceletbox (Fig. 8). In the summer of 1952I was able to examinethis materialagain in the CairoMuseumwith AhmedYoussefand to checkthe inlay patternsand gold sheetswith my restored drawings. It was proposedthen that AhmedYoussefshouldcompletethe workof restorationand it is hopedthat he may soon be able to turnhis ingenuityto the chairandchest, which and showypiecesof are the most richlydecorated all the furniture. A glance at the photographof the tomb of Hetep-hereswhen it was first opened (Fig. 3) shows clearlyhow hopelesslookingwas the condition of the decayedmaterial,with the woodinside the gold casingsof the furniture eithershrivelled to a fractionof its originalbulk or else deof cigarash. All the teriorated to the consistency more amazingwas Reisner'sachievementin recovering the original appearance of virtually the faevery one of the objects. In comparison, mous equipmentof the tomb of Tut-ankh-amen wasin soundcondition,as wellas beingsome 1300 yearsmorerecent(1353B.C. as against2650 B.C. has furniture for Hetep-heres). The Hetep-heres less attentionthan that of attractedconsiderably Tut-ankh-amen, partly becausethere werefewer piecesand partlybecauseit belongedto a time of simpler living conditions.However, it is fully of the first great periodof Egyprepresentative tian achievement. The fine proportions and reflectthe same spirit boldlydesigneddecoration of Dynasty IV, the as the greatportraitsculpture wonderful wall reliefs,and the paintingas exemplifiedby the famousMedumGeese.
SMITH WILLIAM STEVENSON

7
1-j

Fig. 1. Headof Alexander

Otis NorcrossFund

Alexander - Heracles: A Preliminary Note marblehead which is here presented'is not a newcomerto the Museum(Fig. 1). It paid its first visit to Boston as early as in the summerof 1910, then on loan from Mrs. John Newbold Hazard of Peacedale,L. I., and after variousvicissitudeswas again depositedhere by Mrs. Hazard'sdaughter,Mrs. D. H. Reese, from whomit has now been recentlyacquired. It was bought in Sparta in 1908 and went through a preliminarycleaning process in the British Museum in the same year before being W. Romaine broughtby its firstowner,Professor Newbold, to Philadelphia. The importanceof the head, clearlyenvisagedby its learnedowner, was soonconfirmed by specialistsin the field. In it2 for WilliamN. Bates published 1909Professor the first time. It was brieflypresentedby Dr. L. D. Caskeyin this Bulletinin the followingyear and was furtherdiscussedby two other scholars in subsequent years.:3 of the headthereis little to To theirdescription may add, and a summaryof earlierobservations sufficeas a presentation. It is somewhatunder life-sizeandmadeof Pentelicmarblewhichon the
I Head of Alexander; 52.1471: Otis Norcross Fund. W. N. Bates, "A head of Heracles in the style of Scopas," AJA, XIII, 1909, pp. 151-157. 3 L. D. Caskey, "A Marble Head of Herakles," Bullefin M. F. A., Vol. VIII, 1910, pp. 26-27: W. W. Hyde, "The Head of a Youthful Heracles from Sparta," AJA, XVIII, 1914, pp. 462-478; id. in Olympic Victor
2

THE

Athlctic Art,Wash.1921,pp. 305-320;R. G. Kent, andGreek Monuments fromSparta,"Procecd. of theNumism.and AntiHercules "The Baffled in a Soc. of Philadelphia, vol. 29, pp. 85-104 (later produced quarian reprint,1923). corrected

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Sicyon, 330 B.C. of Alexander, Fig. 2. Teiradrachm

-U
Fig. 4. Head of Alexander Otis NorcrossFund

Fig. 3. Headof Alexander Athens, National Museum

right side has taken on a mottled golden brownish patina entirely lacking on the left. The face is remarkably well preserved except for the tip of the nose. The delicate finish of the surface is intact on the right half and only slightly weathered on the left side, which evidently was exposed for some time to the corroding activities of air, wind, and water. The neck and the back of the head with the ears are missing, and the breaks likewise show traces of weathering. The youthful head wears the lion helmet, the traditional equipment of Heracles. The helmet is drawn down rather far, so that muzzle and teeth of the beast overshadow the forehead. This adds to the lively play of light and shadow which is a

of the head, and dramatizes main characteristic of the young face. The intensity the expression in the eyes whichatis concentrated of expression tract the onlookerwith a magneticforce. Their vigorousand sensitivemodellinghas given riseto as to the directionof theirpenetrating speculation gaze. They have been variously described as lookingupward,to the right, or to the left. As a matter of fact, a close examinationreveals that faint tracesexist at least on the left eye of a tiny incisionwhichseemsto markthe outeredgeof the pupil. It lies, however, very near the center,4 and cannotguideus with certaintyin any specific direction. The heavy, slightly fleshy eyebrows give, in any event, the impressionof an upward gaze. glanceratherthan a straightforward This is not the only point of discussionamong those who have earliertreated the head. Bates attributesit to Scopasor his circle,Caskeypoints out Praxiteleanfeaturesin the lowerpart of the head and termsit "an eclecticworkin whichfeaturesfromSkopasand Praxiteleshave beencomeffect." Hyde, binedwith an unusuallysuccessful still consideringit an eclectic work, mentions Lysippus, but denies that Heracles is represented. Instead he suggests that it is an idealized portraitof an unknownvictoriousathlete in the disguiseof Heracles,and bases this assumption on its clearindividualization. Even Caskey
4 1 am

indebted to Miss Hazel Palmer for this observation.

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a coin in the NewellCollection I herereproduce of the AmericanNumismatic Society (Fig. 2), published by Professor Noe afterthe notes of Mr. Newell.5 Struckin Sicyon in the year 330 B.C., it shows Alexander'slikeness in the traditional Heraclesiconography. It seems to be the king portrayedas Heracles,not Heracles used as an allegoryof this early stage of deificationof the youngruler. The featuresareclearlyindividualized beginningwith the two separate planes in which the forehead is modelled. There is an upperflat sectionand a lowerbulgingone divided by a horizontal groove. The eyebrows arerather heavy and fleshy, the eyes fairly deeplyset, and the nose straight and energetic. These manly, forcefulfeaturescontrastto some extent with the softerandmorerounded formsof mouthand chin. A personalcharacteristic is obviouslyrendered in the strikinglyshortupperlip andthe small,rather sensuousmouth. In later coin issues these features are either over-emphasized or blurred,but these early coins preserve a truer likeness and mark at the same time the first decisive step in the evolutionof an iconography that was totally new to Greekart: that of rendering an imageof a deifiedruler. The final stages of this processended in the famousAlexanderportraitsby Lysippus,so eloquently describedby Plutarchand variousother ancient authors, where we meet him with "his neck bent slightly to the left," "lookingup with his face to the sky," with a "liquidsoftness and in his eyes"and with a "manliness brightness and lion like fiercenessin his countenance." Such were the Lysippanportraitsof Alexanderwhich have come down to posterity in innumerable copiesandin literature, but whichdo not apply to the youngAlexander in 332B.C. whenhe was just 24 yearsold. The official portraitsof that period are,in my opinion,reflected in the coinsof Sicyon and Tarsus. The die-cutterwas not the original portraitist, but the talentedintermediary between a leadingartist of the time and the mass medium of coinage. What did the archetypelook like after which the die-cutterworked? I think a detailedcomparison between the Sicyon coin and our head gives a satisfactoryanswerto the question. All the personalfeatures of the coin image pointed out above are found in the marble head from Sparta, only infinitelyfiner and more plastically rendered:the divided forehead,the heavy eyebrows,the short upperlip, the small mouth, the softly roundedchin. Volume,proportions,and above all the expression are the same. The evidence seems sufficientto identify them as the same person:our head is a portraitof the young Alexanderfrom the time between 332 B.C. and 330 B.C.
5 Numismatic Studies, 6, 1950, p. 12, No. 3.1, P1. 1. The new photograph of the coin we owe to the courtesy of Miss Margaret Thompson of the American Numismatic Society.

had pointedto these featuresand held that it was only the lion-helmetwhich helpedus to identify him with the deifiedhero. Kent goesbackto the Heraclesidea,but connectsit with a localSpartan myth, related by Pausanias(II1,15, 3-5), of the woundedand baffled Heracleswho sneakedaway afterhavingbeenattacked byHippoco6n, a legendary kingof Sparta,and his sons. Pausaniassaw a statue of Heraclesin a sanctuaryclose to the city wall of Sparta,the attitude of whichhe was told had been suggested by this episode. Our head should, accordingto ProfessorKent, be a remnantof that statue. His mainarguments are the expression of the face whichlacks divine serenity- quite appropriately on account of the unusualsituation -and the direction of the eyes, to the quotedauthor,glancingsidewise according towardthe left. In the variety of interpretations and attributions there is a generalconsensuson the great beauty of the head, the finenessof its execution, and its quality of being a Greekworkfrom the fourthcenturyB.C. In this all importantpoint I am in wholeheartedagreementwith the distinguished scholars already mentioned. But theirvery discussion in otherpointsseemsto suggest a new solutionregarding both subject-matter and artist. The pathos,the intensity,andthe individuality of the headstronglysuggesta portraitratherthan an image of an immortal. Its small size speaks decidedly against a cult statue. On the other hand,it wouldbe unparalleled in Greekart of the fourthcenturyto render an athleticvictor,as suggestedby Professor Hyde,in the attireof Heracles. But who could he be? Who among mortals could in the latter part of the fourth centuryaspire to an identificationwith the deified hero? The only possibleanswerseemsto be: Alexander the Great. The deificationof Alexanderduring his own lifetimewas a gradualprocess,which can be followed through our historicalsources. It originated in the old Macedoniankingship, which claimeddescentfromboth Heraclesand Achilles, and gainedmomentumunderthe influenceof the new impressionswhich met Alexanderand his men during the conquest of the East. Soon after having crossedthe Hellespontin 334 B.C. Alexandervisited Ilium, the scene of the great deedsof his ancestorAchilles,and presentedhimself as a reincarnation of the Homerichero. Two years later, after the successfulbattle of Issus, Alexanderbesieged and conqueredthe city of Tyre, valiantlydefendedby its inhabitantsunder the protection of the Phoeniciangod HeraclesMelkhart,the "patronsaint" of the city. After the conquest, in 332 B.C., Alexandertook the placeof the god, and soon after this crucialevent in his early career we meet what I believe to be his imagein Heracles'attire on coins both in the East and in Greeceitself.

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Thereexistsin the NationalMuseumof Athens a similarAlexanderhead (Fig. 3), of less distinguished quality but still an Attic marble work from the period.6 It is illustratedhere for comboth the faciallikeness parison,and demonstrates in execution. betweenthe two and the difference The Boston head stands out very honorablyin (Fig. 4). the comparison Thereremainsthe questionwhowas the author madein bronze of of the prototype probably in Heraclean the portraitof the young Alexander attire, of which the early coins and the heads in Boston and Athens give so eloquent witness. for obhave to be discarded ScopasandPraxiteles reasons,and the theory of its vious chronological beingan eclecticworkdoesnot answerthe new reHyde's of a royalportrait. Professor quirements pointed clearlytoward Lystylistic comparisons sippus- as, for example, the renderingof the hairof Agiasandof ourhead- and they now obsupportfromexternalevidence. tain considerable Lysippuswas the favoritecourt sculptorof Alexanderthe Great and had already made his first portraitof himwhilethe princewasstill a boy. It seemshardlyplausiblethat he shouldhave been forgotten when there arose the immensely imthe young king of rendering portantcommission Fig. 5. Headof Alexander Otis NorcrossFund being. Stylistic forthe firsttime as a semi-divine analysis and historicalevidencestrengtheneach other reciprocally. What has been considered best contemporary replica so far known, and thus is only the resultof the complexphys- takes an important place not only in the iconeclecticism iognomy of the sitter renderedby a first-rate ography of Alexander the Great, but also in the sculptorin an excellentlikeness,both spiritually studies of the art of Lysippus. and materially(Fig. 5). The Boston head is the ERIKSJdQVIST
6 Brunn,

H. and Arndt, P., Griechischeund Romische Portrdas,Pi. 486.

Princeton University

Accessions,

November 13, 1952 through March 12, 1953

Asiatic Art. Bronze,Chinese. 52.1751. Kuei ("two-handledbowl"), Chou dynasty; 52.1752. Ku (beaker), Chou dynasty............................................ Gift of ArthurWiesenberger. 53.131. Hu (large jar), early Han dynasty........................ Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat. Ceramics, Chinese. 52.1532. Porcelainvase, Kuan type, Ming (?) dynasty; 53.2. Pottery horse, Wei dynasty, sixth century; 53.121. Pottery pillow, unknown ware, Sung dynasty........................ 52.1545. Pottery pillow, Ting ware, Sung dynasty; 52.1546. Marbleizedcoffer, T'ang dynasty; 52.1547. Pottery pillow, Tz'u-chouware, Sung dynasty. Res. 52.107. Small jar, Ching-t-chen ware,Sung dynasty................ 52.1745. Plate decorated in Arita style with Kakiemondesign, eighteenth ........................................... century 53.132-53.133. Pair of small porcelaincups, Yung-ch'eng ........... period Korean. Ceramics, 53.120. Flask-shaped bottle, pottery, third or fourth century .............. Lead,Chinese. 53.32. Figurefor inlay decoration,Han dynasty......................... Paintings, Chinese. Res. 52.108. Pomegranate Branch,by Wan Kuo-cheng,late Ming dynasty.. Paintings,Japanese. 52.1543. Eagles, Crowsand Snowy Treetops, by Kishi Chikudo,nineteenth .Gift century

EdwardS. Morse Fund. Gift of C. AdrianRubel. Gift of Rev. FredericB. Kellogg. Gift of Miss Lucy T. Aldrich. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bernat. CharlesB. Hoyt Fund. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat. Gift of Miss Pauline Fenno.

of Miss AdelaBarrett,in memoryof Mr. and Mrs. SamuelEddy Barrett. 52.1544. Lotus Bud, by Toyo, AshikagaIdealisticSchool, fifteenthcentury. Gift of Robert T. Paine, Jr.