''Carmagnola'' or ''la Carmagnola'' is the traditional name of a porphyry head of a late Roman

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, widely thought to represent

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

, now placed on the external balustrade of St Mark's Basilica in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

Description

The

Diadem A diadem is a type of crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. Overview The word derives from the Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", from διαδέω ''diadéō'', " ...

unambiguously identifies the head as that of a late Roman emperor, and on stylistic grounds it has been dated between the 4th and 6th centuries, with several scholars identifying it as a depiction of

. The flattened nose is ostensibly the result of damage and subsequent repolishing. It is "one of the most significant" of the ornamental trophies that adorn the Basilica's facade, looking straight into the direction of Constantinople. A headless porphyry statue kept at the Archiepiscopal Museum in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

has been hypothesized to belong to the same original.

History

The head may come from the

Philadelphion The Philadelphion was a public square located in Constantinople. Location After passing the Forum of Theodosius, the Mese Odos (the main road of Constantinople) branched into two directions. One led to the quarter known today as Yedikule, ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, the original location of the

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs The Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs is a porphyry sculpture group of four Roman emperors dating from around 300 AD. The sculptural group has been fixed to a corner of the façade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy since the Middle Ages. It p ...

that is now just below on the Basilica's ''

Piazzetta Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (also called Giambattista Piazzetta or Giambattista Valentino Piazzetta) (February 13, 1682 or 1683 – April 28, 1754) was an Italian Rococo painter of religious subjects and genre scenes. Biography Piazzetta was ...

'' facade. It was "almost certainly" brought to Venice as part of the loot from the

Sack of Constantinople The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the ...

during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 CE. The ''condottiere''

Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola Francesco Bussone, often called Count of Carmagnola (c. 1382 – 5 May 1432), was an Italian condottiero. Life Bussone was born at Carmagnola, near Turin, in a humble peasant family. He began his military career when twelve years old under Faci ...

was beheaded on 5 May 1432 on the ''Piazzetta'', where his head was presumably left exposed for some time, leading to the sculpture's traditional nickname. File:San Marco in Venice 3.jpg, Side facade of St Mark's Basilica, with ''Carmagnola'' at the far left of the upper-level railing File:Carmagnola 3.jpg, The

viewed from behind ''Carmagnola'' File:Carmagnola 1.jpg

References

{{coord missing, Italy 6th-century sculptures Busts in Italy Byzantine sculpture Constantinople Justinian I Roman sculpture portraits of emperors Stone sculptures in Italy Works looted by the Fourth Crusade Looting in Turkey