This imperial portrait head originates from one of the North African provinces of the Roman Empire. From the time of Augustus onwards the imperial family and its circle monopolised official...
This imperial portrait head originates from one of the North African provinces of the Roman Empire. From the time of Augustus onwards the imperial family and its circle monopolised official public statuary. Imperial portraits were displayed in 'sebasteia', or temples of the imperial cult. Along with coins, sculpture was the preferred means of disseminating the emperor’s image. Scholars believe that official portraits were created in the capital city of Rome and disseminated across the empire to serve as prototypes for local workshops. Despite this attempt at uniformity, local stylistic traits could not be suppressed and there was great regional variety across the empire.
This marble head originally belonged to a much larger frieze, most probably representing several members of the imperial family together. In such friezes different rulers were often made to resemble each other, to impress iconographically a message of continuity and dynastic stability. Two possibilities are here given for the identification: Julius Caesar or Augustus.
Julius Caesar whose military and political career witnessed the transition between the end of the Roman Republic and the foundation of the Empire (although the first proper 'Emperor was his successor and adoptive son Augustus) is the first possible identification. Renowned for his military conquests in Gaul and his attempted invasion of Britain in 55 B.C., Caesar soon won immense popular support. As a member of the triumvirate his reputation grew, and led to his victory in the civil war that followed the break-up of this partnership. In popular imagination Caesar is perhaps most notorious for the manner of his death, assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 B.C. by a group of aristocrats who feared his growing authority. Ironically, for these defenders of Republicanism, their actions only speeded the demise of the Republic. Partly in reaction to the popular outrage at Caesar’s murder, the Senate decided to deify him in 42 B.C. A second civil war followed and the Empire then became consolidated under Caesar’s adopted son Octavius, later known as Augustus, the second possible identification of this head. In particular, the elongated and triangular face resembles the portraits of the young Augustus associated with the Alcudia / Actium type.
Dynastic reliefs proliferated around the Empire and this piece is a particularly fine example of the phenomenon. The head is tilted slightly to the right and the gaze is pensive. There is a suggestion of clothing at the base of the neck but the block of marble retains a slightly unfinished appearance that adds to its charm. Carved in very high relief, rather than in the round, the surface has an attractive warm patina.