Object type
statue, portrait head
Culture/period
Roman world
Materials
Paros marble
Technique
sculpting
Mint
Production date
1 / 25
Current location
Exposició permanent
Archaeological site
Tàrraco
Township
Tarragona (Europa, Espanya, Catalunya, Tarragona, Tarragonès)
Dimensions
31 x 20 x 16 cm
Description
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Official portrait of Augustus' second wife, Livia. The overly youthful features of her face indicate this is an iconographic, almost deified idealisation, which can be explained if we take into account that it was probably made when her son Tiberius was already emperor. We do not know where this piece was found, although it has been suggested that it came from the area of the Roman theatre or, perhaps, the Forum of the Colonia, where there was a gallery of portraits of members of the Julian-Claudian imperial family. Although the back of the head —which would have been carved separately and added later— has been lost, we can suppose, in accordance with the best known parallels, that her hair was tied up in a bun at the nape of the neck, contrasting with the toupee (nodus) she wore on her forehead (lost due to fragmentation).
Image
3D Model
© Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona
Omeka ID
1825