| Gonzaga Cameo | |
|---|---|
%2c_da_hermitage.jpg) The Gonzaga Cameo in theHermitage Museum | |
| Height | 15.7 cm |
| Width | 11.8 cm |
| Created | possibly 3rd century BC |
| Present location | Saint Petersburg,Russia |
TheGonzaga Cameo is aHellenisticengraved gem; acameo of thecapita jugata variety cut out from the three layers of an Indiansardonyx, dating from perhaps the 3rd century BC.[1] It was a centrepiece of theGonzaga collection of antiquities, first described in a 1542 inventory ofIsabella d'Este's collection as representingAugustus andLivia.[2] The figures were later identified asAlexander the Great andOlympias,Germanicus andAgrippina the Elder,Nero andAgrippina the Younger, and many other famous couples of antiquity.[1]The male figure on the cameo is clad in the attributes of Alexander, including a laurel-wreathedhelmet, and wears agorgoneion. His otheraegis represents a bearded head, probably that ofZeus Ammon.[3] The man'slaurel wreath is crowned by a snake which suggests theuraeus. The contrasting male and female profiles were in all probability intended to suggestZeus andHera.[4] The brownnecklace is a later addition masking that the cameo was, at some point, broken in half.
YoungPeter Paul Rubens, then in the employ of the Mantuan Duke, admired the Gonzaga cameo as the finest in existence.[2] During theWar of the Mantuan Succession, it was carried off by the imperial troops toVienna and was preserved in thePrague Castle treasury through theThirty Years' War.[5] At the end of the conflict, the Swedesmarched into Prague and looted the imperial treasury.
Several years later the cameo resurfaced in the collection of QueenChristina of Sweden. There is little record of its subsequent history. It is assumed that the Queen took it with her to Italy, bequeathing it to her favourite, CardinalDecio Azzolini. It was subsequently acquired, with the rest of Christina's art collection, byLivio Odescalchi, Duke ofBracciano and nephew ofInnocent XI.[6]
In 1794, the cameo was part ofPius VI's collection inVatican. The invading French took it with them toParis where it entered the collection ofNapoleon andEmpress Joséphine. After Napoleon's downfall,Alexander I of Russia paid a visit to theChâteau de Malmaison and offered Joséphine every assistance in his power. As a sign of gratitude she presented the cameo to the Tsar.[7]
Since then, the so-called Malmaison cameo has been kept in theHermitage Museum inSaint Petersburg. InVienna, there is a rival Hellenistic cameo, of lesser quality,[8][9] which theHabsburgs also described as the "Gonzaga cameo", probably on assumption that it had not been stolen by the Swedes in 1648. This results in considerable confusion between the two.
Set against the dark layer, their majestic white profiles, hers soft and feminine, his decisive and virile, are the embodiment of the authority that will bring prosperity to their subjects.
The cameo shows the profiles of a man and a woman which conceivably possess family likeness. Thiscapita jugata type of portrait, showing two superimposed profiles, is known from the coins issued byPtolemy II Philadelphus inHellenistic Egypt. Such portraits show Ptolemy with his sister and wife,Arsinoe II. Ptolemy was the first Hellenistic ruler to marry his sister; and it was at his court that the image of the twin deities,theoi adelphoi, gained currency. To shore up the identification, it has been argued that the woman's head on the cameo is covered with a sort of bridal veil.
J. J. Pollitt ofYale University believes that it is the Vienna cameo that represents Ptolemy and Arsinoe.[3] As for the Saint Petersburg cameo, Pollitt argues that the sharply defined quality of the "neoclassical" workmanship indicates a later date than is commonly recognized.[3] He identifies the figures asTiberius andLivia represented "in very generalized form so that they would simultaneously evoke the imagery of a Ptolemaic cameo and, through it, the imagery of Alexander".[3]
