Belisarius

Jean-Baptiste Stouf

about 1785–1791

Marble

J. Paul Getty Museum

This aged and emaciated figure is the blind general Belisarius. Heavy eyelids almost completely cover his eyes, which register nothing of the outside world. Deeply set eye sockets, encircled by wrinkles, also draw attention to Belisarius's blindness. His veined and wrinkled forehead, tilted head, and open mouth, emphasize his vulnerable state. In the mid-1700s, a novel by Jean-François Marmontel revived interest in Belisarius--a popular general of the Roman Empire whose promising career was sabotaged by the jealous Emperor Justinian I. In Marmontel's novel, the emperor has the heroic general blinded, reducing Belisarius to begging.