Creative combination and recombination in Roman and Pseudo-Roman portraits

The head was the essential part of a Roman portrait, but the portrait’s meaning was shaped by the body to which it was attached. After a presentation of portrait heads joined to ideal bodies, the article discusses the combination of different stones for different parts of a sculpted bust. To attract collectors, many antique works were later refashioned and updated, an ancient head being mounted on a new bust. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to tell whether a given work is ancient, partly ancient, or wholly modern. It is my contention that most extant portrait busts of coloured marbles are modern; indeed, some are still being manufactured in the twenty-first century. The aim of the article is to present various ways in which ancient sculptures have been subject to combination and recombination down through the centuries.