Gaius Julius Caesar (?)
Marble. Ca. 40 BCE.Height of the face 0,2 m. Inv. No. 512.Rome, Torlonia Museum
Gaius Julius Caesar (?)
Marble. Ca. 40 BCE.
Height of the face 0,2 m.
Height of the face 0,2 m.
Inv. No. 512.
Rome, Torlonia Museum
(Roma, Museo Torlonia).
Origin:
Probably Rome.
Description:
A portrait in the Museo Torlinia with large staring eyes has been proposed as Julius Caesar by Erica Simon, who suggested that the head belonged to the statue that Mark Antony erected on the Rostra after the murder of Caesar. One of Cicero’s letters menthioned that this statue carried the inscription PARENT OPTIME MERITO (Cicero, Ad Fam. XII. 3. 1). The statue aimed at raising compassion in everybody who saw it, and the Torlonia portrait was clearly intended to do the same. However, the whole face and the hair are radically recut, and I find it hard to see how one can use it for any iconographic purpose. It is just a nameless Republican portrait.
Literature:
E. Visconti, I Monumenti del Museo Torlonia di Sculture Antiche (Rome, 1884), pl. 131, No. 512.
J. J. Bernoulli, Römische Ikonographie, vol. 1 (Stuttgart, 1882), No. 12.
F. Johansen, «Antichi ritratti di C. Giulio Cesare nella scultura», Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 4 (Copenhagen, 1967), p. 39, pl. 21.
P. Zanker, «Das Bildnis des M. Holconius Rufus» AA, 1981, p. 357, No. 27.
E. Simon, AA (1952), p. 138ff.
J. J. Bernoulli, Römische Ikonographie, vol. 1 (Stuttgart, 1882), No. 12.
F. Johansen, «Antichi ritratti di C. Giulio Cesare nella scultura», Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 4 (Copenhagen, 1967), p. 39, pl. 21.
P. Zanker, «Das Bildnis des M. Holconius Rufus» AA, 1981, p. 357, No. 27.
E. Simon, AA (1952), p. 138ff.
Credits:
© 1987. Photo, text: Johansen F. S. «Portraits in Marble of Gaius Julius Caesar: a Review». Ancient Portraits in the J. Paul Getti Museum. Vol. I. 1987, p. 28—29, 33.
Keywords: απεικόνιση portrait portraiture ritratto ritrattistica porträtmalerei porträt roman romana römisches romain man uomo romano römischer mann homme δικτάτορα γάιος ιούλιος καίσαρ dictator gaius julius caesar caius iulius dittatore gaio giulio cesare diktator cäsar dictateur jules césar γλυπτική sculptura sculpture sculptural scultura skulptur ρωμαϊκό romani römisch römische römischen romaine romains romaines marble male inv no 512
