Messina (Sicily) Saint's head mid 12th century

    Man's head in marble, what remains of the statue possibly of a saint. Only the front is carved in the round, the back is just rough-hewn, probably indicating that the statue originally stood in a niche.
This head appears to draw its iconographical references from the typical portrait of the "Greek philosopher" as depicted throughout Antiquity, then from the 5th century from that of the "saint", and lastly from that of "Peter the Apostle" as treated in Sicilian mosaics of the Romanesque period.

Dimensions of the object
24 x 11,3 cm

Bibliography
- Museo regionale, Messina, 1992, p. 44.
- I Normanni, popolo d'Europa, Roma-Venezia, 1994, Mario d'Onofrio (dir.) ,n° 307.
- Italie des Normands, Normandie des Plantagenêts, Musée de Normandie, Caen, 1995, n° 31.

Location
Messina, Museo regionale

Photography
Photo B. Delorme