This is a cast of the celebrated 'Lansdowne' bust of 'Mercury', a Roman marble head dating from 120-140 AD, which was found at the Pantanello at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, in November 1769. It was acquired by the Scottish painter and antiquities dealer in Rome, Gavin Hamilton, restored (the head set into a marble bust) and sold to Sir William Petty Fitzmaurice (1737-1805), 2nd Earl of Shelburne and later 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, in 1771 for £55. He installed it with the rest of his collection at Lansdowne House, off Berkeley Square in London, where George Dance (Soane's first teacher and friend) was awarded the commission to design a library-sculpture gallery in 1788-91- Dance must have been very familiar with the collection which may explain Soane's acquisition, early, of two casts of busts belonging to Landsdowne (this and a cast of the Lansdowne Antinous). Both also became famous after their inlcusion in the 1809 publication by the Society of Dilettanti of some of the best sculpture in English collections in Specimens of Antient Sculpture…, by Sir Richard Payne Knight. The bust remained in the collection of the Lansdowne Family at Lansdowne House and later at Bowood in Wiltshire until it was sold at Christie's in 2022.

The maker and provenance of this cast is unknown but it must have been made in England and was in Soane's collection by 1812 when it appears on display on the wide shelf around the inside of the Dome rooflight in drawing 14/6/7 by George Basevi.

Today, the subject is more correctly identified as Hermes, from the flat cap or pestasos, now known to have been part of the original sculpture, although restored, rather than a later addition as previously thought.

For the history of the original marble see E. Angelicoussis, Reconstructing the Lansdowne Collection of Classical Marbles, Vol. II, Munich, 2017, pp. 160-165, no. 21
For further details of the original marble see Christie's Catalogue, The Exceptional Sale, London, 7 July 2022 (Live auction 20367), Lot 25: Lot essay and appended additional essay by Clare Hornsby, The Lansdowne Hermes in London: A snapshot of collecting motivation and the cult of the object. Full catalogue entry and images available online at www.christies.com

M827, provenance link