P7248298
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Portraits of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
(AD 161-180) were popular with collectors of the 18th and 19th centuries, who admired the combination of culture and power that he represented, as a philosopher as well as an emperor. In 1752 this portrait entered the collection of the Barberini family in Rome; later it was brought to England. The head and the draped bust did not belong together in ancient times, although both are ancient. The head was probably only attached to the bust in Rome, for display in the Palazzo Barberini.
Head: made in Alexandria about AD 161-180
P7248298
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Portraits of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
(AD 161-180) were popular with collectors of the 18th and 19th centuries, who admired the combination of culture and power that he represented, as a philosopher as well as an emperor. In 1752 this portrait entered the collection of the Barberini family in Rome; later it was brought to England. The head and the draped bust did not belong together in ancient times, although both are ancient. The head was probably only attached to the bust in Rome, for display in the Palazzo Barberini.
Head: made in Alexandria about AD 161-180