A Classical Marble Head in the Krannert Art Museum: Issues of Identity and Museum Acquisition Policy

The Bearded Head in the Krannert Art Museum (acquisition number 1970-11-1) poses a significant problem of identification. Although there is no disagreement over the fact that it is a work of ancient art, it is unclear as to the period in which it was created. It has been defined in the past as a work of Greek sculpture, although it is now recognized as possibly having been sculpted in the Roman period. Without any provenance information attached to the head, this identification is suggested only by studying clues found in the sculpture itself. Some of the clues examined in this study include the type of marble used to sculpt the head, tool marks present on the head, and similarities to examples of sculpture with known provenances. Following a close examination of the head and consideration of the possible era of its creation, a history of the acquisition of the head is reconstructed. The head was bought with the understanding that it was a work of Greek art by the assistant to the director of the Krannert Art Museum, who was eager to build an impressive collection of ancient art and may have been taken advantage of by a dealer who was extremely knowledgeable in ancient sculpture. An examination of the two parties’ backgrounds as well as correspondence between the assistant to the director and others concerning the head is studied to try and determine whether the dealer was aware of the questionable identification of the head and continued to represent it as a work of Greek art, or whether he was genuinely under the impression that the head was Greek in origin. Analyzing the documents surrounding the acquisition of the head will lead to a greater understanding of the process of the sale of artworks of questionable provenance to small museums without access to the means for thorough professional authentication.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Archer, Marion C.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hostetter, Eric R.

• Greek sculpture
• Roman sculpture
• museum acquisitions
• krannert art museum

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2009 Marion C. Archer

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14619

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/14619