DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0046
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PLATE XI.
BUST OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS.
A Bust of the Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus clothed in the
paludamentum, which is fastened upon the right shoulder by a
circular fibula. The correctness of the appropriation is established
by a comparison with his coins, and with other busts which have
been tested and authenticated by the same satisfactory guides.
Heads of this Emperor are not uncommon, few Museums are with-
out one or more specimens, and his portrait is therefore so far
familiar to most persons, that there is seldom any difficulty in re-
cognising it. One of those in the Capitoline Museum1 seems to
resemble the one now under consideration; and one in the Mattei
collection,2" which seems to be its exact counterpart, is pronounced
by Venuti, the describer of those monuments, as the most accurate
and elegant representation of the portrait of this Emperor. A de-
scription 3 of his personal appearance is given by iElius Spartianus
with which the bust under consideration sufficiently agrees. His
hair curls about his head in rather crisp locks, and partly covers his
forehead with a few short ringlets; his beard partakes of the same
character, is rather long, and is separated into two distinct portions
below the middle of the chin. The workmanship is very good, and
1 Mus. Capit. torn. ii. tab. 54.
2 Mon. Math. vol. ii. tab. 30, fig. 1. Quae ceteris accuratior, et elegantior, pro tem-
porum, et artium collabentium conditione. This bust is now in the Blundel collection
at Ince in Lancashire.
3 Ipse decorus, ipse ingens, promissa barba, cano capite et crispo, vultu reverendus,
canorus voce. Spartian. in vit. Severi, c. J 9, apud Hist. Aug. Script.
PLATE XI.
BUST OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS.
A Bust of the Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus clothed in the
paludamentum, which is fastened upon the right shoulder by a
circular fibula. The correctness of the appropriation is established
by a comparison with his coins, and with other busts which have
been tested and authenticated by the same satisfactory guides.
Heads of this Emperor are not uncommon, few Museums are with-
out one or more specimens, and his portrait is therefore so far
familiar to most persons, that there is seldom any difficulty in re-
cognising it. One of those in the Capitoline Museum1 seems to
resemble the one now under consideration; and one in the Mattei
collection,2" which seems to be its exact counterpart, is pronounced
by Venuti, the describer of those monuments, as the most accurate
and elegant representation of the portrait of this Emperor. A de-
scription 3 of his personal appearance is given by iElius Spartianus
with which the bust under consideration sufficiently agrees. His
hair curls about his head in rather crisp locks, and partly covers his
forehead with a few short ringlets; his beard partakes of the same
character, is rather long, and is separated into two distinct portions
below the middle of the chin. The workmanship is very good, and
1 Mus. Capit. torn. ii. tab. 54.
2 Mon. Math. vol. ii. tab. 30, fig. 1. Quae ceteris accuratior, et elegantior, pro tem-
porum, et artium collabentium conditione. This bust is now in the Blundel collection
at Ince in Lancashire.
3 Ipse decorus, ipse ingens, promissa barba, cano capite et crispo, vultu reverendus,
canorus voce. Spartian. in vit. Severi, c. J 9, apud Hist. Aug. Script.