Roman original or deliberate fake?

Abstract

A private collection in Cordoba contains a previously unpublished bronze head. It is not a Roman original. Its iconographic incongruences and its intentional fractures suggest a malicious intention in its manufacture. It is possibly a fake that someone intended to introduce in the art market. A second bronze portrait of the same personage belongs to a private collection in Murcia. It has similarly never been made known. It is also a modern sculpture, confirming the non-ancient origin of the bronze in Cordoba. The joint study of the two objects can serve as a methodological example of the procedure to detect modern fakes of bronze portraits with an antique appearance.

Keywords

• portrait
• bronze
• fake
• forger