Augustus as Supreme Pontiff, front view.
Title
Augustus as Supreme Pontiff , front view .
Date
Late 1st century BCE - early 1st century CE
Cultural Context
Ancient Roman Italian European Western European
Style/Period
Roman (ancient Italian style) Augustan Imperial (Roman) Early Imperial
Subject
Statues Portraits Men Emperors Rulers Upper class Priests Clergy Veils Hairstyles
Description
"This portrait of Emperor Augustus (27 B.C . - 14 A.D.) is a fragment of a full-length statue that was recarved into a bust and then set on an architectural element taken from another source . The chin , nose , and arch of the right eyebrow are mid-nineteenth-century restorations as are the top of the skull and several folds of the toga . The emperor is represented capite velato , as a priest , or, more specifically , as pontifex maximus (supreme pontiff) , a title he took after the death of Lepidus in 12 B.C . The Louvre's fragmentary statue belongs to the same type as the full-length Via Labicana statue sculpted after 12 B.C. , probably near the end of the emperor's reign , based on the rendering of the toga with a sinus and umbo . However , the different hairstyle -a forked strand over the left eye and three large forelocks brushed to the left - distinguishes the Louvre portrait from that type . […] On the Louvre's bust , marks of old age are obvious . The statue must therefore date toward the very end of the emperor's reign . It expresses one of the cardinal virtues Augustus stressed through imperial propaganda : pietas augusta. " (Excerpt from catalogue entry by Ludovic Laugier , p . 89) . Discovered in Rome (?) . Purchased in 1861 , formerly in the Campana collection (MA 1276-INV . CP 6426 ; MNE 830) . Restorer : C . Devos , 2005 .
People Pictured
Augustus, Emperor of Rome, 63 BCE-14 CE
Material
Marble (rock) Rock Stone (rock)
Measurements
H: 35 3/8 in (90 cm)
Technique
Sculpting Carving (processes)
Work Type
Sculpture Statues Portraits Portrait sculpture Busts Stonework
Repository
Musee du Louvre (Paris, France)
Source
Giroire, Cecile, and Daniel Roger. Roman Art from the Louvre. New York: American Federation of Arts in assoc. with Hudson Hills Press, 2007. (p.89, cat.30).
Rights
Photographs of the works in the exhibition reproduced in Giroire courtesy: Copyright © 2007 Musee du Louvre and the American Federation of Arts/Anne Chauvet, Daniel Lebee, and Carine De Ambrosis.
Digital Publisher
University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center
Format
image/jpeg
Digital File Name
VRC 762-10.jpg
Rating
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