A bust of a Roman general and politician, more than 2,000 years old and once sold at an Austin, Texas, Goodwill for $35, will return to Germany in May.
The statuette will continue to be displayed at the San Antonio Museum of Art through May 21, after which it will return to the state of Bavaria in Germany.
Before it turned up at Goodwill, the bust had last been attached to the Pompejanum complex in Aschaffenburg, Germany.
The complex, named for the lost Roman city of Pompeii, is the idealized recreation of a Roman villa and was built at the behest of Bavarian King Ludwig I between 1840 and 1848.
Since King Ludwig had purchased the bust from a legitimate art market, custody of it belongs to Germany instead of Italy.
“The German State was the last legal owner of the portrait, which was in the collection of the Bavarian King Ludwig I by 1833,” the San Antonio Museum of Art told Fox News.
The identity of the man depicted by the bust is up to debate. Some think it depicts the Roman general Drusus the Elder.
Drusus the Elder expanded the Roman frontier into Germany. He would die, only 29 years old, after an injury suffered in a riding accident became infected.
The stone likeness stood silent watch in the Pompejanum courtyard until World War II, when Allied bombing in January 1944 severely damaged the complex.
After that, the bust disappeared, and it is theorized that a U.S. soldier looted the statue and took it home to Texas, from whence it ended up in the Goodwill store. Restoration of the Pompejanum complex began in 1960, and it opened as a museum in 1994.
The bust was rediscovered in 2018 by collector Laura Young, who purchased the statue for $35. When she noticed its particular wear and tear, she reached out to experts to figure out its provenance.
Auction houses Sotheby’s and Bonhams confirmed it was Roman, and that it had once been displayed at the Pompejanum, the custody of which had since transferred from the defunct Bavarian monarchy to modern authorities in the German state.
“There were a few months of intense excitement after that, but it was bittersweet since I knew I couldn’t keep or sell the (bust). Either way, I’m glad I got to be a small part of (its) long and complicated history, and he looked great in the house while I had him,” Ms. Young said in a San Antonio Museum of Art release from 2022.
The bust was first exhibited at the museum in May 2022, with the assent of German art officials.
“We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought was lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful location. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the San Antonio Museum of Art for their support in returning the ancient portrait,” Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes President Bernd Schreiber said in the 2022 release.
Where the bust will be displayed upon its return to Germany has not yet been decided. It could return to the Pompejanum, or be exhibited in Munich, where the rest of King Ludwig I’s art is displayed.
Drusus the Elder was related to five Roman emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty: a stepson of Augustus, the brother of Tiberius, the father of Claudius, the paternal grandfather of Caligula, and the maternal great-grandfather of Nero.
While some media outlets have identified Drusus the Elder as “Germanicus”, the honorary name was only given to him posthumously, and is also used to identify his son, Germanicus Julius Caesar.
Other experts, including Lyndsey McAlpine, a Roman art specialist at the San Antonio Museum of Art, think the bust depicts Sextus Pompey, son of the Roman triumvir Pompey the Great, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Sextus Pompey spent his life warring with Julius Caesar in an attempt to avenge his father’s downfall and death. After losing his base in Sicily, Sextus Pompey would be caught in what is now Turkey and executed.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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