Male Portrait in Bronze
This head representing a man of regular features has been discovered on 1901, August. It must have come from a statue about 2 m tall.
The forehead of the portrayed man is low; his hair is arranged in a raw of short locks regularly arched from a “pincers” motif at the inner corner of the right eye. This detail is present on the portraits of Augustus, and was adopted, with some variations, by his successors.
Some small locks turned in the direction of the center of the face are reminiscent of representations of Gaius Caesar (20 BCE - 4 CE), the adopted son of Augustus and his intended heir, and other private portraits from the same period.
This hairstyle and the classical features of the portrait suggest its assignment to the years 25 BC – 35 AD during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. It resembles their portraits, but the face is not theirs.
One may suppose that the subject was a member of the local aristocracy whose loyalty to the values of the “Principatus” was equally proclaimed by deliberate imitation of the appearance and coiffure of the men of the imperial family.
Source: Museum information note
Roman bronze portrait
About 25 BC – 35 AD
From Torino
Torino, “Museo di antichità”
Male Portrait in Bronze
This head representing a man of regular features has been discovered on 1901, August. It must have come from a statue about 2 m tall.
The forehead of the portrayed man is low; his hair is arranged in a raw of short locks regularly arched from a “pincers” motif at the inner corner of the right eye. This detail is present on the portraits of Augustus, and was adopted, with some variations, by his successors.
Some small locks turned in the direction of the center of the face are reminiscent of representations of Gaius Caesar (20 BCE - 4 CE), the adopted son of Augustus and his intended heir, and other private portraits from the same period.
This hairstyle and the classical features of the portrait suggest its assignment to the years 25 BC – 35 AD during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. It resembles their portraits, but the face is not theirs.
One may suppose that the subject was a member of the local aristocracy whose loyalty to the values of the “Principatus” was equally proclaimed by deliberate imitation of the appearance and coiffure of the men of the imperial family.
Source: Museum information note
Roman bronze portrait
About 25 BC – 35 AD
From Torino
Torino, “Museo di antichità”