DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0043
19
PLATE X.
HEAD OF FAUSTINA.
A head of Annia Valeria Faustina, commonly called the younger
Faustina, daughter of Antoninus Pius, married to M. Aurelius,
A. D. 140, attractive more by her vivacity and spirit than even by
her beauty; and notorious even among Roman Empresses for
her dissolute life, in which perhaps she surpassed them all. A
comparison of the bust with the greater number of the coins of
this empress leaves no doubt of the correctness of the appropria-
tion. The character of the countenance, the position of the head,
the arrangement of the hair, and the form of the features, perfectly
correspond with the portraits on her various coins. Mongez1 gives
an engraving of a bust of this empress from the collection of the
Capitol, and illustrates it by three medals, to none of which can we
trace in it any resemblance. The engraving of this bust in the folio
edition of 2 the Museum Capitolinum is probably much more cor-
rect, as it coincides more with the Museum bust and with the
coins. In the Capitoline Museum3 there is another bust which
has been supposed by some to represent Faustina, but which the
directors of that establishment have hesitated to admit amongst
the well ascertained imperial portraits. It seems to be an exact
counterpart of the bust we are now considering, and Avhich, from a
careful comparison with coins, we cannot hesitate to ascribe to
Faustina.
1 Icon. Rom. pi. 42.
2 Mus. Capit. torn. ii. tab. 43. fol. 3 Id. 8vo. Milan, 1820, torn. ii. p. 124.
PLATE X.
HEAD OF FAUSTINA.
A head of Annia Valeria Faustina, commonly called the younger
Faustina, daughter of Antoninus Pius, married to M. Aurelius,
A. D. 140, attractive more by her vivacity and spirit than even by
her beauty; and notorious even among Roman Empresses for
her dissolute life, in which perhaps she surpassed them all. A
comparison of the bust with the greater number of the coins of
this empress leaves no doubt of the correctness of the appropria-
tion. The character of the countenance, the position of the head,
the arrangement of the hair, and the form of the features, perfectly
correspond with the portraits on her various coins. Mongez1 gives
an engraving of a bust of this empress from the collection of the
Capitol, and illustrates it by three medals, to none of which can we
trace in it any resemblance. The engraving of this bust in the folio
edition of 2 the Museum Capitolinum is probably much more cor-
rect, as it coincides more with the Museum bust and with the
coins. In the Capitoline Museum3 there is another bust which
has been supposed by some to represent Faustina, but which the
directors of that establishment have hesitated to admit amongst
the well ascertained imperial portraits. It seems to be an exact
counterpart of the bust we are now considering, and Avhich, from a
careful comparison with coins, we cannot hesitate to ascribe to
Faustina.
1 Icon. Rom. pi. 42.
2 Mus. Capit. torn. ii. tab. 43. fol. 3 Id. 8vo. Milan, 1820, torn. ii. p. 124.