The overall affect the facial configuration gives the gazer is of wise man in repose of thought. But the piece is not beautiful in the conventional sense. It is realistic in its slightly unbalanced facial formulation. The emperor Marcus Aurelius is slightly bearded, with unruly, curly hair. His small and slightly bulbous nose is not the idealized, hawk like profile favored by the elites in their portraiture. His thick, curly hair also stands up from the forehead, making the subject look more ordinary than domineering, as might a more prominent and protruding skull shape. If the gazer did not know the subject's identity, the depicted emperor would seem like an ordinary, rather unattractive man.
Thus, despite the fact he was an emperor, evidently the Stoic Aurelius eschewed idealism in his official stone portrait. He had no need to lionize himself in image -- his face was already on every coin of the real. Thus, it is interesting to compare this man with the "Portrait Bust of a Woman" also likely from the same period in Roman History. This portrait of an anonymous Roman matron was sculpted to convey the impression of a woman with an evident artistry and draped beauty to her form and features. The woman looks both decorous as befitting a married woman, yet lovely to the gazer's eye. She is perhaps part of the aspiring class of wealthy elites, as described in Roman Art, for the portrait evidently desires to say something positive about the woman's character and her social position, rather than to merely convey her image. She is not haughy in appearance, because humility was valued in Roman women, but clearly because of her clothing and her soft facial features she is a woman of leisure, of good birth, and with enough financial resources to commission a portrait, even if she is anonymous.
Works Cited
D'Ambra, Eve. Roman Art. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1998. "Marcus Aurelius." Rome, Italy. Anonymous sculptor. a.D. 144-145. http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/aurelius.html
Portrait Bust of a Woman." Rome, Italy, Anonymous sculptor. a.D. 138-192. http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/ancient/classicalsociety.html
Sample Source(s) Used
Works Cited
D'Ambra, Eve. Roman Art. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1998. "Marcus Aurelius." Rome, Italy. Anonymous sculptor. a.D. 144-145. http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/aurelius.html
Portrait Bust of a Woman." Rome, Italy, Anonymous sculptor. a.D. 138-192. http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/ancient/classicalsociety.html
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