Italian, 18th century

Vitellius is among the most recognisable Roman emperors and was therefore a popular subject for portrait busts from the 16th century onwards. Vitellius was born on 24 September of the year 15 AD and came from humble origins. Despite that, it seems that he asserted himself in politics early on in life, becoming Consul at only 33 years of age. By the year 61 AD, Vitellius was Proconsul of Africa and it was in this capacity that his ability to lead people became apparent to Emperor Galba. Vitellius was picked to command the army of Germania Inferior and quickly became known for his generosity and good-naturedness by feting his soldiers incessantly. His troops grew so fond of him that a coup was organised to oust the Emperor Otho and put Vitellius in his place; in 69 AD he was proclaimed Emperor by the majority of the Roman forces abroad and marched for Rome. Once installed in office, he gave his raucous soldiers feasts, games and free reign in the city. Vitellius' bacchanal would not last long however. The general in charge of the Roman Legion in the eastern provinces, Vespasian, got wind of the excesses of the Emperor's administration and toppled the good natured Vitellius only months after his accession. 

The present bronze follows the ancient model exemplified by a Roman marble version formerly in the Grimani collection (from 1523) and now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia (inv. no. 20). Copied frequently by Italian painters of the Renaissance, the Grimani bust is so called because it was sent from Rome to Venice in 1523 by Cardinal Domenico Grimani. The model was also disseminated in plaster casts and copies by Renaissance artists in other media. Whether the Grimani Vitellius is a work of the early 16th century or of the Imperial Roman period has been the subject of debate, as has the traditional identification as the emperor Vitellius.

Tantalisingly a bronze cast of the model has been attributed to the Venetian sculptor Simone Bianco (1512-after 1553). This cast, which was modelled after 1523 and certainly before 1595, is in the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale in Venice and is published in V. Avery, Vulcan's Forge in Venus' City: The Story of Bronze in Venice 1350-1650, Oxford, p. 321, figs. 10.5-10.6.

A similar 18th-century bronze cast from the Arthur M. Sackler collections and formerly with Heim Gallery, London, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 29 January 2010, lot 412.