Part 2 Galerie des portraits

Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass

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Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass
Biographic data
121 - 180
Emperor from 161 to 180
Date de création
Between 170 and 180
Type
of the "IV (variant A)" type
Material
Dokimium marble (Turkey)
Dimensions
H. 76,5 x l. 53,5 x P. 29 (cm)
Inventory number
Ra 61 b

This second bust of Marcus Aurelius belongs to type IV of the emperor’s iconography, generally thought to date from around 170/180, that is to say from the last years of his reign. One of the most likely reasons for the creation of this portrait seems to be the important change brought about by the completely unexpected death of Lucius Verus in January or February 169, after eight years of joint reign with Marcus Aurelius, and the fact that the latter now found himself alone at the head of the Empire. But there is more: the coins minted in 171 contain clear allusions to the celebration of the decennalia (ten years of reign) on 7 March 170, and introduces the epithet Germanicus into the Emperor’s title, which crowned his military campaigns in the provinces of Germania. Could type IV have been created at this point in time?

During these same years, Marcus Aurelius was certainly not in Rome: having left the Urbs in September-October 169 for a first expedition, he was not to return until November 176. It must therefore be admitted that the official portrait was created outside Rome, probably during the army’s winter quarters at Carnuntum in Pannonia (present-day Austria), and subsequently sent to Rome, where the main official workshops copied and distributed it.

When seeking, as did Marianne Bergmann - whose subdivision of this fourth iconographic type into two subgroups was not, however, retained by Klaus Fittschen - to distinguish between variant A portraits, with their softer-looking and broader beard, and variant B, with their more compact beard, it is in the first subgroup that the Toulouse portrait should be placed, as she herself did. Furthermore, the Chiragan bust has two characteristics that distinguish it from almost all other known statues and cuirass-wearing busts: the part of the armour that is supposed to protect the nape of the neck seems to be almost glued to it, which makes it look as if the cuirass was too small for the wearer, and appears to be « strangling » him, but this is probably just a clumsy mistake on the sculptor’s part. More curiously no doubt, the upper part of the right arm was attached via a large mortise (a technical detail often encountered in statues, and which can obviously be explained, in this case, by the desire to avoid wasting material by working on the arm separately, as it is not an integral part of the body) and the perimeter of that mortise is encircled by a sort of toothed collar that has not been found on any of the other armoured busts found so far. This collar cannot be the beginning of the leather straps that covered the sleeves of the tunic and the upper arms, as these are usually made to look much more flexible, and are sometimes given a certain appearance of movement (these « teeth » are in fact complete and therefore not broken straps). These elements seem to be attached to the edge of the armour. Were they made of metal, like the armour, or leather (?), like the straps (as their rather stiff aspect, which differs from the rest of the armour, seems to suggest)?

Although very similar in terms of workmanship to a fine copy at the Palazzo Braschi in Rome, which Klaus Fittschen is tempted to attribute to the same workshop, the work in Toulouse differs greatly from it on a technical level, as seen in the stiffness of the bust and the aforementioned details. So much so in fact that, whereas it is possible to imagine that the head was made by the same sculptor, who had apparently mastered the head-making technique to perfection, it is just as easy to admit that the bust was entrusted to a less skilled or less experienced craftsman. It would therefore seem that tasks were shared by several sculptors working for the same workshop, a fact that tends to be corroborated by similar observations regarding other portraits.

According to J.-C. Balty 2012, Les portraits romains, 1 : Le siècle des Antonins, 1.2, Toulouse, p. 220-232.

Bibliography

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To cite this notice

Capus P., "Bust of Marcus Aurelius, older and wearing a cuirass", in The sculptures of the roman villa of Chiragan, Toulouse, 2019, online <https://villachiragan.saintraymond.toulouse.fr/en/ark:/87276/a_ra_61_b>.