Bust (sculpture)

Lore & Background

The portrait bust was a Hellenistic Greek invention, though the Egyptian bust precedes Hellenic productions by five centuries. Very few original Greek examples survive, as opposed to many Roman copies of them. There are four Roman copies as busts of Pericles with the Corinthian helmet, but the Greek original was a full-length bronze statue. They were very popular in Roman portraiture. The Roman tradition may have originated in the tradition of Roman patrician families keeping wax masks, perhaps death masks, of dead members, in the atrium of the family house. When another family member died, these were worn by people chosen for the appropriate build in procession at the funeral, in front of the propped-up body of the deceased. Later these seem to have been replaced or supplemented by sculptures. Possession of such imagines maiorum was a requirement for belonging to the Equestrian order.

During the Middle Ages, some reliquaries were formed as busts, notably the famous Bust of Charlemagne in gold, still in the Aachen Cathedral treasury, from c. 1350. Otherwise it was a rare format. Busts began to be revived in the Renaissance in a variety of materials, including painted terracotta or wood, and marble. Initially most were flat-bottomed, stopping slightly below the shoulders. Francesco Laurana, born in Dalmatia, but who worked in Italy and France, specialized in marble busts, mostly of women. Under the Baroque school the round-bottomed Roman style, including or designed to be placed on a socle, became most common. Gian Lorenzo Bernini did portrait busts of popes, cardinals, and foreign monarchs such as Louis XIV. His Bust of King Charles I of England (1638) is now lost; artist and subject never met, and Bernini worked from the triple portrait painted by Van Dyck. Nearly 30 years later, his Bust of the young Louis XIV was hugely influential on French sculptors. Bernini's rival Alessandro Algardi was another leading sculptor in Rome.

Reader's Guide

The bust format has been a popular style of life-size portrait sculpture since ancient times, valued for its lower cost and smaller space requirement compared to full-length statues. Its origins lie in Hellenistic Greece, though the Egyptian bust predates Greek examples by five centuries. Roman copies of Greek originals survive in greater numbers than the originals themselves. The Roman tradition may have evolved from the use of wax masks of ancestors in family atria and funeral processions, later replaced by sculpted portraits. During the Middle Ages, busts were rare except for reliquaries like the gold Bust of Charlemagne. The Renaissance revived the format in painted terracotta, wood, and marble, often flat-bottomed. The Baroque period saw the round-bottomed Roman style become dominant, with Gian Lorenzo Bernini creating influential portrait busts of popes, cardinals, and monarchs, including a lost bust of King Charles I and a bust of the young Louis XIV that influenced French sculptors. The world's largest bust is the Adiyogi Shiva statue in India, 112 feet tall.

Did You Know?

• The portrait bust was a Hellenistic Greek invention, though the Egyptian bust precedes Hellenic productions by five centuries.
• The Roman tradition may have originated from patrician families keeping wax masks, perhaps death masks, of dead members in the atrium.
• The Bust of Charlemagne in gold, from c. 1350, is a reliquary still in the Aachen Cathedral treasury.
• The world's largest bust sculpture is the Adiyogi Shiva statue in India, 112 feet (34 m) tall.