The Apotheosis of Claudius

The Apotheosis of Claudius is a sculptural group, now in the Prado Museum in Madrid with the catalogue number E00225.

The tropaion (and possibly the pedestal and urn) were found in the villa on the estate of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BC–8 AD), a Roman general, politician and patron of the arts.

The work is named after a now-lost head of Claudius commissioned from Orfeo Boselli (1600–1676) by cardinal Girolamo Colonna, now lost but shown in at least two engravings of the group.

This bust was added when the sculpture was placed on a later larger pedestal in the classical style, just before Colonna gave the work to Philip IV of Spain in 1664.

The original bust of Claudius was lost in a fire at the Alcázar de Madrid in 1734 and replaced with another smaller version.