Unknown Roman Republican

Various identities have been given to this Roman portrait head — a little known Consul called Appius Claudius Pulcher, Julius Caesar, a modern forgery — but it probably attempts to represent a character type rather than an individual. It is notable for its distinctive eyebrows and pronounced Adam’s apple.

This emphasis on human characterisation was a common trait in sculpture of the late Roman Republic, in the first century BCE

Number

521

Material

Marble

Location of Original

Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek 719

Size

0.36m

References

Poulsen: Katalog over Antike Skulpturen Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 390, pl. XLV
Schweitzer: Die Bildniskunst der Römischen Republik, figs.157 & 163
Hekler: Greek and Roman Portraits, 142b
Johansen, F: Catalogue of Roman Portraits in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1994), vol.1, 296, no.131

Date

c.40 BCE

Provenance

Said to have been found in Frascati; later in Rome

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