Marble portrait of the emperor Augustus

Period:
Early Imperial, Julio-Claudian
Date:
ca. A.D. 14–37
Culture:
Roman
Medium:
Marble
Dimensions:
H. 12 in. (30.48 cm)
Classification:
Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1907
Accession Number:
07.286.115
  • Description

    The over life-size fragment may have been part of a seated statue of the emperor made during the reign of his step-son and successor, Tiberius. Over two hundred and fifty portraits, including numerous full-length statues, have survived. Although Augustus’ features are individualized, he is represented in an idealized, ageless way. When he died in A.D. 14, he was seventy-seven years old, but no portraits of him in old age are known.

  • Provenance

    Until 1907, collection of Edward P. Warren at Lewes House, Sussex

  • References

    Robinson, Edward. 1908. "New Accessions in the Classical Department: I. Marbles." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 3(1): p. 7.

    Robinson, D. M. 1926. "Two New Heads of Augustus." American Journal of Archaeology 30: 127, fig. 1.

    Montini, I. 1938. Il ritratto di Augusto. Rome: C. Colombo, pp. 59, 90, no. 66.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1939. Augustan Art: An Exhibition Commemorating the Bimillennium of the Birth of Augustus. New York, p. 6.

    Poulsen, F. 1939. Römische Privatporträts und Prinzenbildnisse. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, p. 24, no. 7.

    Richter, G. M. A. 1948. Roman Portraits. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 18.

    Hausmann, U. 1981. "Zur Typologie und Ideologie des Augustusporträts." In Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung, edited by H. Temporini and W. Haase. Berlin: De Gruyter, pt. 2, Principat, Künste, vol. 12, p. 589, n. 286.

    Hertel, E. D. 1982. Untersuchungen zu Stil und Chronologie des Kaiser- und Prinzenporträts von Augustus bis Claudius. Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität, pp. 60-62, 257, no. 100.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 72, pp. 11, 99.

    Boschung, D. 1993. Die Bildnisse des Augustus. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, pp. 42 nn. 134, 139, 43 n. 143, 44, 85 n. 409, 100 n. 496, 166-67 no. 140, pl. 109.

    Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. 2000. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 13, pp. 33, 205.

    Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 383, pp. 332, 481.

  • See also
    What
    Where
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    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
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