DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52594#0416
Roman Portraiture.
Like No. 590, this small head of a bald man seems to
belong to the beginning of the Empire.
Billedtavler pl. XXXXVIII. Vessberg: Studien p. 215, 1.
594. (LN. 1812). A Roman. Head. M.
II. 0.33, from chin to vertex 0.22. The nose modern in marble. The
ears and the left eyebrow broken off. The surface much polished and
overworked. Acquired 1901 together with No. 598 from an art dealer
at Venice.
The bald-headed man with the flatly carved hair at the
back and the unusual, flat vertex dates like No. 593 from the
beginning of the Empire.
Billedtavler pl. XXXXVIII. Arndt-Amelung 4794-95 (Fr. Poulsen). Bernhard
Schweitzer: Die Bildniskunst der rom. Republik p. 40 note 1.
595. (I. N. 739). Roman lady of the time of the Republic. Head.
M.
H 0.22. The protruding parts of nose and lips restored. Somewhat
damaged by moisture. Acquired 1891 from Rome, but reputed to have
been found at an antique villa in the Alban hills.
The unusual coiffure, with a middle part formed by a
thin back-turned plait and two partings from which the
lightly waved hair is combed back towards the bun af the
back, belongs to the end of the Republic, the years around
40 B. C. With the aid of portraits on coins Helbig thought
himself able to identify our small head as Antonins’ wife,
Fulvia, who was a very imperious woman (cf. Plutarch:
Antonins 10), and about whom Velleius Paterculus (II 74, 3)
says that there was nothing female about her except her
body (nihil muliebre praeter corpus gerens). But on the
one hand it is not certain that the coins mentioned portray
Fulvia and not Antonius’ second wife, Octavia, and on the
other, the likeness is not finite convincing. According to
the tradition (Sueton: de rhetoribus 5) Fulvia had a swelling
of the cheek like that resulting from a bee-sting, which
gave rise to jokes to the effect that she had pricked herself
with the metal pen with which she wrote down her com-
mands for the day. Our lean-cheeked lady has no such
stigma.
Billedtavler pl. XXXXVIII. Helbig in Mon. Lincei I 1891 p. 573 seqq. and
pls. I-II. Steininger: Weibliche Haartrachten p. 7 note 1. F. W. Goethert: Zur
412
Like No. 590, this small head of a bald man seems to
belong to the beginning of the Empire.
Billedtavler pl. XXXXVIII. Vessberg: Studien p. 215, 1.
594. (LN. 1812). A Roman. Head. M.
II. 0.33, from chin to vertex 0.22. The nose modern in marble. The
ears and the left eyebrow broken off. The surface much polished and
overworked. Acquired 1901 together with No. 598 from an art dealer
at Venice.
The bald-headed man with the flatly carved hair at the
back and the unusual, flat vertex dates like No. 593 from the
beginning of the Empire.
Billedtavler pl. XXXXVIII. Arndt-Amelung 4794-95 (Fr. Poulsen). Bernhard
Schweitzer: Die Bildniskunst der rom. Republik p. 40 note 1.
595. (I. N. 739). Roman lady of the time of the Republic. Head.
M.
H 0.22. The protruding parts of nose and lips restored. Somewhat
damaged by moisture. Acquired 1891 from Rome, but reputed to have
been found at an antique villa in the Alban hills.
The unusual coiffure, with a middle part formed by a
thin back-turned plait and two partings from which the
lightly waved hair is combed back towards the bun af the
back, belongs to the end of the Republic, the years around
40 B. C. With the aid of portraits on coins Helbig thought
himself able to identify our small head as Antonins’ wife,
Fulvia, who was a very imperious woman (cf. Plutarch:
Antonins 10), and about whom Velleius Paterculus (II 74, 3)
says that there was nothing female about her except her
body (nihil muliebre praeter corpus gerens). But on the
one hand it is not certain that the coins mentioned portray
Fulvia and not Antonius’ second wife, Octavia, and on the
other, the likeness is not finite convincing. According to
the tradition (Sueton: de rhetoribus 5) Fulvia had a swelling
of the cheek like that resulting from a bee-sting, which
gave rise to jokes to the effect that she had pricked herself
with the metal pen with which she wrote down her com-
mands for the day. Our lean-cheeked lady has no such
stigma.
Billedtavler pl. XXXXVIII. Helbig in Mon. Lincei I 1891 p. 573 seqq. and
pls. I-II. Steininger: Weibliche Haartrachten p. 7 note 1. F. W. Goethert: Zur
412