The earliest Roman portrait in the Getty collection is unquestionably a masterpiece. It is overwhelmingly impressive even though the sculptor was not very careful. The casting has the perfection of the best Hellenistic Greek bronze work, but the cold work—the detailed chasing of the eyebrows, hair, and ears—is sketchy and even a little negligent. But what a sensitivity to the nature of bronze! The casting and the modeling go together perfectly. The artist’s ability to capture the essence of the sitter is admirable. We do not see much of his real likeness or his complex character, as the man is rejuvenated or rather ageless, in the best Greek tradition. Standard Lysippan proportions are used to build the facial structure. This fact at first led some specialists to believe the head must represent a Hellenistic king. Although the absence of a diadem excludes this possibility, the artist’s inspiration must come from such a source. The man radiates the power of his will. Accustomed to command, he inspires submission by his charisma. In this way he is a descendant of Alexander the Great, even though the universe has become considerably older in the meantime and youthful dreams of meteoric conquest had been replaced by ruthless pragmatism. This is the way that the conquered Greek world saw its new Roman masters, and in turn they must have appreciated such flattering images.
The head is said to come from Asia Minor. It must have belonged to a statue like the standing so-called bronze ruler (fig. 1, p. vi) in the Museo Nazionale delle Terme, which in Baroque style and in approach to portraiture is its nearest kin. The character compares well with the literary descriptions and images on coins of L. Cornelius Sulla (138-78 B. C., fig. 11) the great general, who in the early first century B. C. tried to reverse the inevitable change of Roman civitas, by casually imposing a military dictatorship in an attempt to save the unsaveable.
2 This head, made for insertion in a statue, presents a good example of the transition in style between late Hellenism proper and its continuation in the Roman world. The style and craftsmanship are comparable to portraits of the first century B. C. carved in Italy, However, there is something in the personality of this young man that is definitely not Roman. The provenance is well established and confirmed by the Asia Minor marble. It is nothing ethnic that dominates the expression, for we have seen portraits of former slaves of Levantine stock who when living in the City did their best to look like Roman senators (see no. 10). Our melancholy young man totally lacks the civism proper to the society in Rome in the first century B. C. His appearance corresponds rather to the last stages of small Hellenistic kingdoms in Asia Minor, so much so that some archaeologists have tried to give him the name of one of these ephemeral rulers.
World History
