In the Louvre Museum, Paris, is a statue titled "young boy wearing a Toga, dated to the 1st century AD". It was aquired by the Museum from the Borghese collection.
I was fortunate to visit the Museum in May 2014 and though short for time I took as many photos as I could of what Roman statues I came across.
Recently looking through the photos I took I noticed some traits of the statue of the "young boy wearing a Toga".
The ears of the statue have been damaged and would originally have been larger. And "protruding".
The head of the statue is inclined to the right.
The neck of the statue is longer than average.
Having read about the Emperor Claudius, his physical traits and his condition (recently thought to be Cerebral palsy or Tourette syndrome).
One of the traits the historian Suetonius' described about Claudius (in his work "De Vita Caesarum" written in 121 AD) is how Claudius' head would shake.
In most of the statues of Emperor Claudius, his traits (long neck, "protruding" ears) are depicted.
Obviously the Imperial sculptors made the Emperor Claudius look as athletic, heroic and "perfect" as possible (as they did when depicting Augustus for example), avoiding showing his head at an incline or his ears in a realistic size.
So I put forward my theory on this unattributed sculpture in Louvre Museum for your consideration.
I was fortunate to visit the Museum in May 2014 and though short for time I took as many photos as I could of what Roman statues I came across.
Recently looking through the photos I took I noticed some traits of the statue of the "young boy wearing a Toga".
The ears of the statue have been damaged and would originally have been larger. And "protruding".
The head of the statue is inclined to the right.
The neck of the statue is longer than average.
Having read about the Emperor Claudius, his physical traits and his condition (recently thought to be Cerebral palsy or Tourette syndrome).
One of the traits the historian Suetonius' described about Claudius (in his work "De Vita Caesarum" written in 121 AD) is how Claudius' head would shake.
In most of the statues of Emperor Claudius, his traits (long neck, "protruding" ears) are depicted.
Obviously the Imperial sculptors made the Emperor Claudius look as athletic, heroic and "perfect" as possible (as they did when depicting Augustus for example), avoiding showing his head at an incline or his ears in a realistic size.
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| https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Claudius_Gabies_Louvre_Ma1231.jpg |
So I put forward my theory on this unattributed sculpture in Louvre Museum for your consideration.
