Bust of a matron

From Alexandria. The sitter is colorless; the modeling is excellent. From the end of the first half of the second century A. D.

Antonine woman

On an eighteenth century bust. From the 80s of the second century A. D.

53 Contrary to most Alexandrian sculpture, the bust of a woman has little of the native Egyptian in her style or appearance. She demonstrates how the overwhelming Roman ideal shaped both art and “likeness” in Roman Egypt. It is in the matronal style, going back to prototypes in late Republican times and revived under the Flavians. Without any embarrassment, the artist reproduced the sagging flesh of her cheeks and dewlap, the unappealing but still interesting personality, the shrewdness masked by a cowlike passivity. There are more details that were possible only in Alexandria: the care given the sophisticated hairstyle, for instance, shows not only the elaborate pattern but also the relaxed verism of Italian modeling. The strands of hair are not just incised but also carved in relief. The whole spirit of the piece shows the confident atmosphere of the early second century when the pax romana made most people’s lives and looks happy.

54 Another example from an old English collection is the female bust formerly in the Lonsdale collection, Lowther Castle. Its interest as an ancient sculpture is reduced almost to nothing, for not only the basic support but the whole bust is modern, together with the top of the head, nose, and both ears. The surface of the ancient part has been completely repolished, drastically affecting the ancient modeling, and even the details of the crown-shaped coiffure which corresponds to fashions from the reign of Commodus (180-192) have been redrawn. What remains of the portrait is enough to confirm its date in the well-advanced Antonine period. Its importance today rests much more on its role as a document from an eighteenth century Grand Tour than as an example of Roman portraiture.