French, 18th/ early 19th century

George Francis Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998), acquired from Crowthers of Syon Lodge;

thence by family descent 

This elegant set of six profile heads of Roman Emperors reflect the desire of collectors to adorn interiors in the 17th and 18th centuries with images of classical power. These present bronze reliefs, with their beautifully cast laurels, crowns or fillets, were almost certainly made in France in the 18th century. Similar profile heads of Emperors can be seen mounted on the walls of the celebrated Galerie de Girardon, illustrated in a series of engravings executed by Nicolas Chevalier after drawings by René Charpentier (1680-1723)(see those in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 49.95.154). François Girardon (1628-1715) was the greatest French sculptor of his day, and the court sculptor to Louis XIV. His fabulous gallery and unmatched collection of Renaissance and Baroque bronzes, transmitted to a broader audience through Chevalier’s engravings, set new standards in taste and connoisseurship. The present reliefs are likely to have been made for collectors wishing to emulate this aesthetic. Whilst they closely recall the Galerie de Girardon heads, particularly those with spiked crowns, such as Nero, they follow slightly different models since there are directional and other differences.

Roman Emperors were a popular subject matter for sculpture in the 18th century. The idea of having series of busts or reliefs of Caesars ultimately references Suetonius’ biographies of The Twelve Caesars, which document the lives and excesses of Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Titus, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. Later in the 18th century the architect Antonio Asprucci (1723-1808) would design the Room of the Emperors in Villa Borghese, one of the greatest interiors in Europe, around Suetonius’ theme.