User:Jialxv/sandbox/Togatus of Pompelo

This page is a sandbox of user:Jialxv. It serves as a testing spot and page development space for the user and is not an encyclopedia article.


 Flush this sandbox 

Click here and add on top of the page:
#REDIRECT[[User:Jialxv/sandbox]]

Togatus of Pompelo

Togatus of Pompelo is a togatus, a Roman bronze sculpture, with an established dating of the mid-second century, found in the street of Navarrería in Pamplona (Spain), the Roman Pompaelo, during excavations there carried out in 1895 and which was found its whereabouts are unknown until 2015, when it was located in a private of United States collection where it was considered to come from Gaul. It is the second important bronze robe preserved in Spain, although it was discovered first. In 1982, in a farmhouse in Granada, the Togatus of Periate was discovered, also by chance, which gains in excellence by preserving the usual interchangeable pieces of the head and left hand. This piece is kept in the Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Granada. Thirteen examples of bronze togados are preserved throughout the world, of which five were found in Pompeii and Herculaneum. For this reason, "it represents one of the most remarkable large bronzes known in Spain, and in its genre, as a togado sculpture." , is one of the most important pieces of those that appeared in the peninsula."

Name and etymology edit

Description edit

(material, style, broader style in which it is inscribed, e.g. Art Nouveau, parts description)


Technique edit

(method of construction)


Function edit

Symbolism edit

History edit

In 1895, Juan Iturralde y Suit, in the Bulletin of the Navarra Historical and Artistic Monuments Commission, reported the discovery of archaeological remains during construction work on a house on Calle de la Navarrería in Pamplona. The Commission of Historical and Artistic Monuments of Navarra, as reported by Iturralde and Suit, "was convinced that important remains of Roman constructions would be found there" recommending the workers "to proceed with great care in moving earth." The reason for such prevention was motivated because, a short time before, "mosaic pavements had been found buried at a depth of two or three meters" in works carried out in the "Calle de la Curia" that were collected and preserved "in the old Chamber de Comptos, occupied», at that time, «by this Commission of Monuments.»

In 1906, according to the legal regulations in force at the time, the owner (the person who had discovered it) claimed the piece that he had left in deposit with the Commission and the trace of the piece was lost. It is known that in 1970 it was in Versailles and in 1985 in New York, in the private collection of John Werner Kluge. Between April 1996 and April 1997 it was exhibited during the show called "The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections" organized by the Harvard University Art Museums​ In 2010 it appears in the December catalog of Christie's auction house, in New York indicating its origin from the "South of France" although it was not finally acquired by anyone. Two years later, in 2012, it was featured in the "Dialogues Between Art & Design" exhibition, organized by Phillips de Pury & Company, with no intention of sale.

In 2015, Manuel Olcina Doménech, director of the MARQ, and thanks to the existence of an old photograph of Julio Altadill published by the Navarra Historical Monuments Commission, during a congress for specialists from around the world of bronze sculptures Roman celebrations held in Aalen identifies the image during the projection of one of the presentations. The "American specialist, Carol C. Mattusch, claimed that she had seen it in the American John Kluge collection." She herself reports on its cataloging in 1996 and the inclusion of the piece in Christie's auctions. Olcina notifies the Navarrese authorities about its relocation.

As reported by Diario de Navarra, "in 2018 an article in English by specialists in Roman sculpture Luis Romero Novella (University of Navarra) and Rubén Montoya González (University of Leicester, United Kingdom), entitled A rediscovered Togatus from Pompelo". This publication in the Cuadernos de Arqueología of the University of Navarra was known by the current owner of the work, "who contacted Luis Romero through an intermediary, in order to gather more information about the Pompelo Robe." After communication to the Museum Service of the Government of Navarra, since then, the arrival in Pamplona has been managed "through a long-term loan" where it will remain for two years.

Impact edit

(include copies and imitations)


Testimonies and traditions edit

(include literary testimonies or oral traditions linked to it)


Criticism edit

Gallery edit

See also edit

  •  
  •  

References edit


Bibliography edit

  • Romero Novella, Luis; Montoya González, Rubén (2015). "A rediscovered togatus from "Pompelo"". Cuadernos de arqueología de la Universidad de Navarra (23 (Cuadernos de Arqueología de la Universidad de Navarra, Vol)): 279–289. ISSN 1133-1542.
  • title.

Further reading edit

  • title.
  • title.

External links edit

  •  
  •