Altes Museum Displays Green Caesar Next to Melon Coiffed Cleopatra

Summary: Berlin's Altes Museum displays Green Caesar next to melon coiffed Cleopatra in the Etruscan and Roman Art permanent exhibition, which opened in 2010.

"Green Caesar" and "Berlin Cleopatra" have unknown provenances, with unknown findspot for "Green Caesar" and imprecise findspot for "Berlin Cleopatra"; Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015, 15:37, image of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta (MiguelHermosa), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Berlin's Altes Museum displays "Green Caesar" next to melon-coiffed Cleopatra in the Etruscan and Roman Art permanent exhibition's Rome -- Faces of Empire gallery, located since 2010 on the upper floor.

The Grüner Caesar ("Green Caesar"), which portrays Roman general and statesman Gaius Julius Caesar (July 12 or 13, 100-March 15, 44 BCE), derives its name from the sculpture's constituent material of dark green slate. The bust's fine-grained metamorphic rock was quarried in Wadi Hammamat (Arabic: وادي الحمامات, Wadi al-Hammamat, "Valley of Many Baths") in southern Egypt, known anciently as Upper Egypt, according to the description of the "Green basanite bust" (page 223) by museum curator, museum keeper and Roman art and archaeology specialist Susan Walker (born Sep. 11, 1948) in Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, co-published with museum curator, museum keeper and classical archaeologist Peter John Higgs in 2001.

"Green Caesar" measures 41 centimeters in height. While the marble eyes may have been inlaid modernly, the carved pupils and irises definitely were not carved anciently, according to Susan Walker's description.

"Green Caesar" depicts a mature-age Caesar with a well-lined face. His thinning hair seems engraved, rather than depicted three-dimensionally, on his scalp. The high cheekbones and prominent chin recall Egyptian portraits. Other facial features, such as the eyes, lips and the deep nasolabial folds (also termed smile or laugh lines) from the nostrils' alar creases to the mouth corners, resemble posthumously created stone portraits.

"'Green Caesar.' Acquired in Paris in 1797. Greywacke from Egypt, 1-50 BC. This posthumous bust shows Caesar as a statesman dressed in a toga. His gaunt portrayal is to convey energy, drive, austerity and authority. The eye inlays are modern. Being classically toned down and idealised in contrast to earlier Caesar portraits, this portrait was adapted to the taste of the early Imperial Age"; Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, 22:38:36, image of Julius Caesar, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany: Gary Todd (Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D.), Public Domain, via Flickr

An unknown provenance and unknown findspot confound the sparse history of "Green Caesar." The green bust "most likely" was created within "fifty years or more" of his assassination in 44 BCE. "Green Caesar" dates to the first half of the first century CE, as suggested by Susan Walker.

"Green Caesar" entered Berlin's Altes Museum by way of Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great. Frederick II (Jan. 24, 1712-Aug. 17, 1786), who reigned as King of Prussia from May 31, 1740, until his death in 1786, acquired "Green Caesar" from the Jullienne Collection. Jean de Jullienne (Nov. 29, 1686-March 20, 1766) was a Parisian textile manufacturer and art collector.

As part of the Prussian royal family's art collection, "Green Caesar" was incorporated into the holdings of the Altes Museum, which opened Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1830. Frederick William III (Aug. 3, 1770-June 7, 1840), Frederick I's grandson, reigned as King of Prussia from Nov. 16, 1797, until his death in 1840. King Frederick William III had the Altes Museum built as a public museum for the royal art collection, according to archaeologist and travel writer Thomas Dowson in "Green Caesar & Cleopatra in the Altes Museum on Museumsinsel, Berlin," published March 27, 2023, on his archaeology and travel website, Archaeology Travel. Altes Museum was designed in the German Neoclassical style by Prussian architect and painter Karl Friedrich Schinkel (March 13, 1781-Oct. 9, 1841).

"Green Caesar" gazes to the left, as described by Susan Walker. The sculpture's head turns to the left as well. The Altes Museum advantages the sculpture's leftward attentiveness with the placement of a marble head of Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII Philopator (Ancient Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ, Kleopatra Philopator; ca. 69-Aug. 10 or 12, 30 BCE) to the left of "Green Caesar."

"Portrait of Cleopatra VII. Via Appia between Ariccia and Genzano (Italy)? Marble, 40-30 BC. The Egyptian queen wears the broad royal diadem of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the traditional melon hairstyle with a bun in the neck. The back of the head was made separately and attached. This portrait from Cleopatra's lifetime must have been set up in a private villa south of Rome"; Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, 22:38:30, image of Cleopatra, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany: Gary Todd (Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D.), Public Domain, via Flickr

The marble portrait of Cleopatra in the Altes Museum is known as the "Berlin Cleopatra." The sculpture measures a height of 27 centimeters and dates to circa 50 to 30 BCE, according to Peter Higgs in "198 Marble portrait of Cleopatra VII" (page 220) of his and Susan Walker's Cleopatra of Egypt (2001).

"Berlin Cleopatra" models a melon hairstyle. The melon coiffure featured a bun formed from braided rows of all head hair and positioned low, usually at the nape of the neck. The hairstyle's name, deriving from the resemblance of its segmented rows to lengthwise ridged-melon rinds, was devised by German scholars, according to American scholar of Ancient Roman art and architecture Diana E.E. (Elizabeth Edelman) Kleiner (born Sep. 18, 1947) in Cleopatra and Rome (Chapter 9, page 135), published in autumn 2005.

Melon-coiffed Cleopatra wears a wide diadem (Ancient Greek: διάδημα, diadema, “headband") that is set back on her head. The royal, ornamental headband angles behind her ears and underneath the low bun, as described by Peter Higgs.

A distinctive purple coloring on the diadem and hair may or may not originate with "Berlin Cleopatra." A base for gilding might have occasioned the purple staining. Yet, covering both the diadem and the hair in gold leaf would have yielded a merged, gilded mass, which seems unlikely as a desired effect anciently, assesses Peter Higgs. Alternatively, the purple residue could have been left with the removal of a patina during a modern conservation treatment.

An unknown provenance combines with a lack of details on discovery and acquisition history to enigmatize "Berlin Cleopatra." Its discovery has been associated with excavations conducted southeast of Rome along the Via Appia from 1786 to 1797 by Mallorca-born Spanish Bishop (1791), Archbishop (1795) and Cardinal (1803) Antonio Despuig y Damet (Catalan: Antoni Despuig i Dameto; March 30, 1745-May 2, 1813), Count of Montenegro. Despuig's collection comprised finds from the remains of a Roman villa located between the towns of Ariccia and Genzano di Roma and also from nearby locations. The exact findspot of "Berlin Cleopatra" is unknown. The Altes Museum acquired the sculpture in 1976 (Higgs, pages 205-206, 220).

"Green Caesar" and melon-coiffed Cleopatra, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany; Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, 06:30:04: rbhardy3rd, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"Green Caesar" and "Berlin Cleopatra" have unknown provenances, with unknown findspot for "Green Caesar" and imprecise findspot for "Berlin Cleopatra"; Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015, 15:37, image of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta (MiguelHermosa), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berlín_Julio_César_03.JPG

"'Green Caesar.' Acquired in Paris in 1797. Greywacke from Egypt, 1-50 BC. This posthumous bust shows Caesar as a statesman dressed in a toga. His gaunt portrayal is to convey energy, drive, austerity and authority. The eye inlays are modern. Being classically toned down and idealised in contrast to earlier Caesar portraits, this portrait was adapted to the taste of the early Imperial Age"; Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, 22:38:36, image of Julius Caesar, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany: Gary Todd (Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D.), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/101561334@N08/28119750813/

"Portrait of Cleopatra VII. Via Appia between Ariccia and Genzano (Italy)? Marble, 40-30 BC. The Egyptian queen wears the broad royal diadem of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the traditional melon hairstyle with a bun in the neck. The back of the head was made separately and attached. This portrait from Cleopatra's lifetime must have been set up in a private villa south of Rome"; Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, 22:38:30, image of Cleopatra, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany: Gary Todd (Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D.), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/101561334@N08/28657888341/

"Green Caesar" and melon-coiffed Cleopatra, Altes Museum (English: Old Museum), Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), northern Spree Island, historic central Berlin, northeastern Germany; Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, 06:30:04: rbhardy3rd, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbhardy3rd/29403632791/

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