Detail of the Colossal Juno Statue in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Juno
Roman
Early Imperial
late 1st B.C.

Medium/Technique Marble: Body is made from Carrara Marble; Head is of Pentelic Marble

Dimensions:
Overall (Marble statue with it's base): 407.7 x 83.2 x 119.4 cm, 5896.76 kg (160 1/2 x 32 3/4 x 47 in., 13000 lb.)

Overall (Measurements of the statue): 379.7 x 128.9 x 73 cm (149 1/2 x 50 3/4 x 28 3/4 in.)

Credit Line: Museum purchase with funds donated by George D. and Margo Behrakis

Accession Number: 2011.75

Collections: Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications: Sculpture

Description: Colossal sculpture of a goddess, most likely a Muse. Based on style, iconography, carving technique, and provenance, made in Rome. She joins a group of similarly scaled statues seemingly made by the same workshop in the same period possibly for a commission for the remodeling by Augustus in 32 BC of Theater of Pompey. Her head was added much later and can be identified as Juno by her diadem and facial features.

Provenance: Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (b. 1595 - d. 1632), Villa Ludovisi, Rome [see note 1]; until 1897, remained in the gardens of the Villa Ludovisi, Rome [see note 2]; November 1897, sold by the Ludovisi family, through Richard Norton, to Charles F. Sprague (b. 1857 - d. 1902) and Mary Pratt Sprague (later Mrs. Edward D. Brandegee) (b. 1871 - d. 1956) and taken to their home at Faulkner Farm, Brookline, MA [see note 3]; passed by descent within the family to the Brandegee Charitable Foundation, Brookline; 2011, sold by the Brandegee Charitable Foundation to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 23, 2011)

NOTES:
[1] The sculpture was first recorded in the posthumous inventory of the collection of Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, drawn up in 1633. It was subsequently inventoried in the Ludovisi collection between 1641 and 1789; see the documents transcribed below.

[2] In 1880, the sculpture was described by Theodor Schreiber in his publication Die antiken Bildwerke der Villa Ludovisi in Rom (Leipzig, 1880), pp. 206-207, no. 211. The Ludovisi collection was dispersed at the end of the nineteenth century, at which time the sculpture was purchased by Charles and Mary Pratt Sprague.

[3] According to two letters from Richard Norton to Fox dated October 22, 1897 and November 18, 1897, the statue was sold for 15,000 lire, and was shipped from Livorno to Boston on December 2nd or 3rd, 1897.

Inventory records:

Inventario delle Massaritie, quadri, statue, et altro, che sono alla Vigna dell'Ecc.mo S. Pnpe di Venosa a Porta Pinciana rivisto questo di 28 Genn. 1633, fol.41, 179: "Una statua colosea due volte del naturale, figura d'una Giulia con piedistallo, e basa di Peperino, travertino e muro".

Inventario di tutte le statue che stanno di fuora, e di dentro delli Palazzi e per il Giardino dell'Ecc.mo Prencipe di Venosa, e Piombino &. 1641, fol.45, 5: " Una figura di un Colosso di un'Imperatrice antica posta in capo al detto Viale grande di pmi dicidotto incirca."

Stima delle Statue del Giardino dell'Ecc.mo Sigr. Prencipe Ludovisi in Roma stimate da me soscritto, fol.120v, 318: "Statua a canto lemura di Roma in prospettiva al Viale in faccia alla porta del Giardino alt. pmi 18 con suo piedestallo con anima di granito, cimasa e basa di travertino. 800."

Ms. Finding Aid, 3 (Raccolta Topham), circa 1720-1730 (Eton College Library), 107: "Statua colossa di Faustina".

Descrizione di Tutte le Statue antiche et altro Esistenti nella Villa Ludovisi spettante all'Ecc.mo Sig.r Pnpe di Piombino e Prima, march 1749, fol.25, 122: "Una statuona grande, con suo piedestallo di granito, e travertino, che rappresenta una Faustina di marmo".

Manoscritto dei Lanzi, Antichita di Roma vedute circa il 1789 e di Bolsena Viterbo Cortona ed Arezzo nell'anno stesso di piu di Volterra Lucca e Firenze: "St(atu)a coloss. di Faust(ina) giun(io)re". Testa colos(sal)e sim(il)e alla cred(ut)a Livia del m(edice)o f(acente) Giun(on)e mi par.do ritratto".


Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/552590/juno