TheHera Borghese is a type of sculpture ofHera named after the owners of its archetype, theBorghese family.
One example is in theNational Museum of Rome[1], whilst others are in thePalatine Antiquarium[2] and at theCastello Aragonese MuseumArchived 2007-10-05 at theWayback Machine atBaiae.[1]
The namesake statue for this archetype is made ofmarble has been dated to the 2nd century AD. It was excavated (alongside many other statues) from a largeRoman villa near Monte Calvo[2] in 1824–26. The villa belongedC. Brutius Presens who was a prominent figure during the reign of emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Afterwards the statue was taken to Rome and exhibited at the Villa Borghese.
Inherited by a succession of Borgheses until the latter part of the 19th century it had been removed from public view and stored in the basement of theVilla Borghese for many years. The Borgheses having some financial difficulties were interested in selling some of their works of art and in 1891 it was acquired byWolfgang Helbig for theCarlsberg Glyptotek. Since the purchase of the Hera Borghese was subject to some discretion, codenames were employed,in the case of the Hera it was called "Jeanette[3]".
Different attributions of who the artist behind the original design that served as basis for the Roman sculptor who made the Hera Borghese ranges fromAlkamenes toPolykleitos.
In 1976 restorations were undertaken and older restorations done on the statue were undone.[4] It has been suggested that instead of representing the goddess Hera/Juno it instead depictsAphrodite orVenus- and could be a copy of Aphrodite Euploia by Polykleitos.[4] Comparison with how the figureschiton is draped[5] could also be compared withVenus Genetrix further strengthening the claim.
Major exhibits at theMuseo Nazionale Romano | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ludovico Ludovisi Collection |  | |
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