The Old Fisherman, called the Dying Seneca
Unknown · Second century AD (125-175), restored 1585-1625
An old man with a half-bald head, hollow cheeks and a wiry beard stands with his knees slightly bent, naked except for a cloth knotted at the waist, in a basin of veined red marble. For centuries this figure was shown as the philosopher Seneca bleeding to death in his bath on Nero's orders, and the black stone, the pale alabaster belt and the glinting enamel eyes were chosen to make that death scene as dramatic as possible. In fact the body is a Roman version of a Hellenistic type, an old fisherman worn out by his trade, and the bath, belt and eyes were all added after the statue was dug up in Rome on the Esquiline in 1594.
The restoration around 1601 was a team effort recorded by name: Longhi completed the missing arms and legs in black marble, Cimino made the alabaster belt, Morone the enamel eyes and Del Zoppo the basin, and the whole surface was repolished. The statue then stood in the Villa Borghese, where Rubens drew it and where it became one of the most copied antiquities in Rome. The Louvre acquired it in 1807 when Napoleon bought his brother-in-law Camillo Borghese's collection.
Did You Know? Rubens drew this figure as the dying Seneca; the bath he lies in was added by restorers around 1601 to make the story work.
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