Portraits of Early Roman Emperors

    During their reign, Roman emperors commissioned artists throughout the realm to sculpt portraits and busts of them in an effort to strengthen their authority in the eyes of the people. In line with the current sculptures of the age, the portraits were primarily naturalistic, depicting the face and body as we would find in real life. However, artists didn’t merely represent the face as they saw it. The visual representation of the emperor was extremely important. The portraits would exhibit similarities to one another that would create an empire-wide face of the emperor, allowing the viewer to immediately recognize who they portrayed. Artists often used and manipulated physical features to stress characteristics such as power, intelligence, and even deity. These features would be coupled with characteristics specific to the current time period, such as length of hair, to make the portraits even more recognizable as the current emperor. Perhaps the most important role of the portrait bust was to both connect and distinguish the current emperor from those who preceded him. Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was declared a god at the time of his death. In order to connect themselves to deity in the eyes of the people, the portraits of early emperors would often resemble the portraits of Augustus in a number of ways, even if they weren’t directly linked to his lineage. This exhibition features a walk through history, comparing and connecting portraits of Roman emperors.

Unknown Artist, Small Ivory Head of Emperor Augustus, ca. 10 BCE–10 CE, Ivory, H. 19/16 in. (4 cm), MET 23.160.78

Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, and his portraits, sculptures, and busts set the stage for what was to come. Creation of the portrait type originated in an official commission and was approved by the residing emperor or his top officials. There are actually no literary sources which give insight as to the process of how they were made, but our best guess is that a prototype affirmed by the emperor was used for mass production across the empire. Augustus created the idealized style of the emperor, and this portrait faithfully represents his Prima Porta type. The facial features and short, curled locks of hair undoubtedly identify the portrait as Augustus.

Unknown Artist, Marble portrait bust of the emperor Gaius, known as Caligula, 37–41 CE, marble portrait bust, MET 14.37

Gaius Caligula succeeded Tiberius as the third Roman emperor. Caligula was only twenty-five when he came to power, and his youthful features are unique among Roman emperors. Notice the similarities between this bust and the head of Augustus. Interestingly enough, as Caligula was adopted by Tiberius, he wasn’t directly related to Augustus, strengthening the argument that he was appealing to authority through the use of Augustus-like features. After his death, he was subjected to damnatio memoriae, a term deeming all his decrees void and everything evoking him worthy of destruction. Because of this, many of his sculptures were reworked to portray Augustus or other emperors which followed Caligula. This one, and many others, escaped untouched.

Unknown Artist, Head of the Emperor Nero, Shortly after 64 CE, marble, Munich, Glyptotek

    Nero, the fifth Roman emperor, is infamous for his cruelty and tyrannical tendencies. He, like Caligula, was subjected to damnatio memoriae after his violent death by his own hands. Many of his works were also redone to portray his successors or simply destroyed. Here we see him portrayed with a much fuller face and luxurious curls than those of his predecessors. This hairstyle would’ve only been worn by the most high class of men. Taking into account these features, we are led to believe that the portrait was created during the latter years of his reign, as he slowly began to shift from the Julio-Claudian style.

Bust of Emperor Hadrian, ca. 117–138 CE, marble, Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Nuovo, Sala degli Imperatori, Rome

    While Hadrian’s predecessor, Trajan, often strongly resembled Augustus in portraits, especially towards the end of his rule, Hadrian went a fundamentally different direction. His enamor with the Greeks and promotion of their culture found its way into how he represented himself to the people. The hair on his statues and busts even outdid that of narcissistic Nero’s with its elaborate curls only a Roman version of the curling iron could produce. His rule brought about peace and prosperity to the Empire, and his assimilation of Greek culture impacted the imperial courts long after his death.

Unknown Artist, Portrait from a Statue of Emperor Caracalla, ca. 211–17 CE, marble, H. 141/4 in., MET 40.11.1a

This head of Caracalla which would’ve at one time stood on top of a statue is a remarkable example of how emperors used public images to convey how they wanted to be viewed. Instead of comparing himself to his predecessors through similarity, Caracalla chose to depict himself in a new style. Notice how the furrowed eyebrows and tilted head give off a look of anger and battle-readiness. Caracalla intentionally discarded the previous trend the emperors who preceded him employed beginning with Hadrian: long hair and full beards like the Greeks of the past. His rule would be a foreshadowing of the line of soldier-emperors who were to come.