Vulcan
- Date de création
- End of the 3rd-first third of the 4th century
- Material
- Saint-Béat marble (Haute-Garonne)
- Dimensions
- H. 47 x l. 31 x P. 30 (cm)
- Inventory number
- Ra 34 d
This head originally belonged to the series of medallions that represented the gods. It was therefore one of the images on a shield (imagines clipeatae), as suggested by the similarity in height as well as the marks that show that it has been wrenched off at the back.
Vulcan (the Greek Hephaestus) was the god of fire, forges and volcanoes. As a skilled craftsman, he designed many of the weapons used by heroes. He is portrayed here as a middle-aged man, wearing the thick conical leather cap typically worn by artisans. The strength and impression of power of this head are achieved by the very full beard in particular. The thick curls are further enhanced by deep cavities hollowed out with a trepanning tool, a kind of drill bit used to create the areas of shadow that were so characteristic of this workshop, and so popular among its sculptors, strongly influenced as they were by oriental aesthetics.
P. Capus
Bibliography
- Balty, Cazes 2008 J.-C. Balty, D. Cazes, Les portraits romains, 1 : La Tétrarchie, 1.5 (Sculptures antiques de Chiragan (Martres-Tolosane), Toulouse. p. 127, fig. 105
- Beckmann 2020 S.E. Beckmann, « The Idiom of Urban Display: Architectural Relief Sculpture in the Late Roman Villa of Chiragan (Haute-Garonne), » American Journal of Archaeology, 124, 1, pp. 133–160. p. 138-139, fig. 5
- Cazes et al. 1999 D. Cazes, E. Ugaglia, V. Geneviève, L. Mouysset, J.-C. Arramond, Q. Cazes, Le Musée Saint-Raymond : musée des Antiques de Toulouse, Toulouse-Paris. p. 83
- Du Mège 1835 A. Du Mège, Description du musée des Antiques de Toulouse, Toulouse. no 159
- Du Mège 1828 A. Du Mège, Notice des monumens antiques et des objets de sculpture moderne conservés dans le musée de Toulouse, Toulouse. no 72
- Espérandieu 1908 É. Espérandieu, Recueil général des bas-reliefs de la Gaule romaine, 2. Aquitaine, Paris. no 892, fig. 3
- Joulin 1901 L. Joulin, Les établissements gallo-romains de la plaine de Martres-Tolosane, Paris. fig. 55 b
- Massendari 2006 J. Massendari, La Haute-Garonne : hormis le Comminges et Toulouse 31/1 (Carte archéologique de la Gaule), Paris. p. 252-253, fig. 132
- Rachou 1912 H. Rachou, Catalogue des collections de sculpture et d’épigraphie du musée de Toulouse, Toulouse. no 34 d
- Roschach 1892 E. Roschach, Catalogue des musées archéologiques de la ville de Toulouse : Musée des Augustins, Musée Saint-Raymond, Toulouse. no 34 b
To cite this notice
Capus P., "Vulcan", in The sculptures of the roman villa of Chiragan, Toulouse, 2019, online <https://villachiragan.saintraymond.toulouse.fr/en/ark:/87276/a_ra_34_d>.