Harvard Art Museums > 1976.36: Emperor Lucius Verus Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Emperor Lucius Verus , 1976.36,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 26, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/287370. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text Following the death of Antoninus Pius in 161 CE, Lucius Verus ruled as co-emperor with his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius until his own death in 169 CE (see coin 26). As an heir to the emperor, he was a popular subject in imperial portraiture from childhood, and production of his portraiture continued after his death and deification. Befitting his reputation for decadence, Lucius Verus is said to have highlighted his hair and beard with gold dust. Beards become an important feature of Roman imperial portraits beginning with the emperor Hadrian (r. 117–38 CE; see coin 21), who is thought to have worn one as a mark of his philhellenism (love of things Greek). Hadrian’s successors also wore beards, perhaps out of the same sentiment or to create the appearance of continuous dynastic succession among unrelated men, a central imperial ideology in the era of the adoptive emperors. Identification and Creation Object Number 1976.36 Title Emperor Lucius Verus Classification Sculpture Work Type head, sculpture Date second half of the 2nd century CE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe Period Roman Imperial period, Middle Culture Roman Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/287370 Location Location Level 3, Room 3700, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Roman Art View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium Greek island marble Technique Carved Dimensions 28 cm h x 19 cm w x 20 cm d (11 x 7 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Private collection. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Anonymous Gift Accession Year 1976 Object Number 1976.36 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990139 Head of Lucius Verus The head is from a statue or bust slightly smaller than lifesize. Much of the nose is restored .There are slight damages to the upper lip, the hair, and the beard. The slightly incised pupils gaze straight ahead. Hair and beard are carved out with gouges, and there are traces of the drill, especially in the latter. Despite a relatively short reign as co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-169), Lucius Verus was a popular subject of portraiture from childhood (as son of Aelius Verus) to beyond his death (as he was deified). This head, simple and almost summary in treatment, appears to depend on models made in Greece about A.D. 161-163.The surviving Athenian versions have more drillwork and, in one instance, a fuller beard, but this may indicate a later recension. As Lucius Verus advanced in years, his hair was arranged in a larger mass of puffy curls, and his beard grew longer. If the Sicilian provenance for the Harvard head is correct, the portrait was probably carved in a workshop on an island such as Naxos or near the Piraeus and imported into Sicily. A battered marble bust of Lucius Verus—a masterpiece from a luxurious Roman house at Patras—was undoubtedly carved in an Attic or Cycladic workshop and gives the point of aesthetic departure from the Greek models for the head at Harvard. Hair and beard are arranged in identical fashion, manifesting more detail and the characteristic drillwork (Catling, 1974, pp. 17-18, fig. 28). Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer Publication History George M. A. Hanfmann, An Exhibition of Ancient Sculpture, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1950), p. 16, no. 47 George M. A. Hanfmann, "Observations on Roman Portraiture", Latomus, Revue d'Etudes Latines (Brussels, Belgium, 1953), XI, pp. 9ff., figs. 1-2 [Unidentified article], Fogg Art Museum Newsletter, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, June 1977), vol. 14, no. 4, p. 6 George M. A. Hanfmann and David Gordon Mitten, "The Art of Classical Antiquity", Apollo (May 1978), vol. 107, no. 195, pp. 362-369, p. 366. David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 15, no. 50. Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Amy Brauer, Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 152, no. 139 Carol C. Mattusch, The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1996), no. 52. Exhibition History Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982 Roman Gallery Installation (long-term), Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/1999 - 01/20/2008 Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/22/2007 - 01/20/2008 32Q: 3700 Roman, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050 Subjects and Contexts Google Art Project Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
