ROME, SECOND HALF 18TH CENTURY

This iconic bust carved from Carrara marble follows a well-known antique model described by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23/4-79 CE) as having been invented for the library of the Attalid kings of Pergamon in the 2nd century BCE. The portrait shows the blind poet of Greek antiquity staring into the black distance, ‘seeing’ the events of his epic Iliad and Odyssey unfold. The success of the portrait lies in the inherent irony that its focus is found solely in the deeply drilled ocular orbits and the frowning brow: the poet’s blindness is apparent only because of his transfixed gaze. Multiple ancient Roman versions of the model exist, the most notable being the Homer Caetani in the Louvre (inv. no. MR 530), which was purchased by Pope Clement XII in 1733, before being confiscated by France in 1797.