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the marble statue of the emperor augustus from nin Author: Helena Ugrina/helencina@gmail.com Mentor: Siniša Bizjak, Assistant Professor
Arts Academy of the University of Split Conservation - Restoration Department
description OF the statue The statue of the Emperor Augustus represents just a part of the group of statues discovered during the 18th century archeological excavations in Nin. The statue is carved in the Roman style of the middle (40s and 50s) of the 1st century. The hair is intricately carved, and the carefully combed strands leaving the ears free, indicate the Augustus Prima Porta hairstyle, called after the statue from Prima Porta, today in the Vatican Museum. The Augustus was crowned for Emperor in 12. B.C. Living emperors are shown with the head covered in tunica. Roman Emperors were considered divine after their death and as such they were shown with naked upper body and barehead, which allows for the conclusion that the statue was made after Augustus’ death. Iconographicly, Augustus from Nin is identified with the Roman chief deity – Jupiter. By visual examination it was concluded that the statue was made of pentelic marble and that it was a high quality example of Roman statuary.
The hardest black crusts on the drapery were removed by air abrasion using fine aluminium oxide powder (50 micrometer nozzel). The most persistent deposits were removed mechanically, with scalpels.
Mechanical cleaning started with steam under pressure. This method has showen good results, but it could not remove black crust on the drapery. The old portland cement which filled the joint between marble statue and limestone base was removed with chisels.
3 The cracks and missing parts in the base have been retouched with Paraloid B72 in Acetone mixed with marble dust. At the end, the statue was sealed with 3% solution of Paraloid B72 in Acetone.
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1 Detection of the brass pins While the statue was in the horizontal position, following was observed; the base added in the 20th century, wasn't only adhered to the statue with portland cement, but was additionally reinforced with three brass fixings. A sample of brass was taken, and the analysis showed that it was of high quality. Furthermore, it was necessary to determine how deep the brass fixings reach in order to ascertain the stability of the statue. XR examination was impractical because of the thickness of the marble. The next option was thermography using cooled thermal camera with sensitivity of 0.02C, which prooved equally ineffective in locating the metal fixings, which are deep into marble. Higher energy radiation, such as gamma radiation or Cobalt 60, were not available. Therefore, the conservation and restoration staff of the Arts Academy decided to drill holes across the length of the brass fixings, and measure their depth using an endoscope camera. Since the data obtained by the camera confirmed the stability of the statue, in the holes of brass fixings enlarged by drilling, bars of carbon fiber were inserted and adhered with an epoxy adhesive.
Historical collection Danielli The statue belonged to the Danielli historical collection, called after it’s founder dr. Ante Danielli Tomasini who assembled the largest and most valuable collection of antiquities in Dalmatia, in the first half of the 18th century. Danielli purchased and included into his collection all of the seven statues found during the excavations at Nin. Shortly after they were purchased by Danielli, they were mentioned by Domenico Fortis in his travel book “Viagin Dalmazia” in 1792. Unfortunately, he does not give the description of the statues, but only writes that “4 colossal statues of salt marble stand out” in the Danielli collection. In 1882, the collection came into possession of the seminary in Udine. At that time, the first catalogue description of the statue of Augustus was published by J. Banko and P. Sticotti in 1895. In the description is written that the right arm was still complete, and it was holding the remnants of a spherical object. In 1901 the seminary sold out the entire collection in an auction. The four large statues of Roman Emperors from Nin were purchased for the Correr Museum in Venice. In 1928 they were returned to Zadar during the exhibition at San Donato. On that occasion the buildings around San Donato were removed and the statues were placed on the cleared space. On that place, the statues stood until 1954, when the complete archaeological display was moved to the building of St. Demetrius (today Faculty of Philosophy). In 1973, the statue of the Emperor Augustus was moved to its current position – the newly built Archaeological Museum in Zadar. 12th International Conference of Conservation-Restoration Studies, Split 23th-25th April 2015.