[1] Only the head is ancient, once belonging to statue dating from c. 130–140 and the late reign of Hadrian (r. 117–138); the bust is a modern addition.

[2] The bust was acquired along with the rest of the antiquities collected by 18th-century Grand Tourist and Fellow of the Royal Society, Charles Townley.

[3] The head, carved from Parian marble, was believed to have been found on the Janiculum hill near the Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome in 1770, in an area then known as Italian: Tenuta della Tedesca, lit.

[2] Townley bought the head in July 1773 from Thomas Jenkins, the antiquary and art dealer, for £150.

The head was already in Britain by June 1774, probably having been owned previously by John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, from whom Jenkins wrote in July 1773 that it was "to be received".