Capitol Brutus

Capitol Brutus - antique bronze sculpture , which is exhibited in the Palace of the Conservatives on the Capitol .

The bronze head of a man, discovered during excavations in Rome in the 16th century, created a sensation with its safety and immediately replenished the Pope’s collection. Lovers of antiquity soon noticed a portrait resemblance to the profile of Lucius Junius Brutus on the coins of the Roman Republic and concluded that the statue depicts the founder of this republic. At present, such identification is recognized as unfounded.

Lucius Junius Brutus as a fighter against tyranny was extremely popular in revolutionary France . Many copies of the capitol bust were installed in public places of the Republic.

Under the Treaty of Tolentino, Napoleon received the right to export from Rome a hundred paintings or statues of his choice. Among the objects of art specifically mentioned in the contract were the portraits of two great tyranobortsevs — the bronze bust of Lucius Junius Brutus and the marble head of Mark Junius Brutus . After the overthrow of Napoleon, Capitoline Brutus returned to Rome.

The capitoline portrait of a man is considered a masterpiece of antique portrait sculpture. It is distinguished by a high degree of preservation: inlaid eyes, intact surface of hair, cheeks, forehead.

Part of the bust below the neck was made during the Renaissance on the basis of clothing, which usually depicted the Roman emperors. A copy of the Capitoline Brutus was made in Russia during the reign of Catherine II , but soon the sculpture went to the smelter as "the idol of the Jacobins " ^[1] . At the beginning of the 20th century, a copy from the bust was cast for the Alexander III Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.