Art Museum Journal

July 29, 2009

One of the finest examples of Roman stone portraiture in existence, the famous Head of Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (42 B.C.-37 A.D., Emperor 14-37 A.D.) resides in the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

The bust, taken from a larger-than-life-size statue, is illustrative of art’s use in promoting the political agendas of classical Rome’s rich and powerful. A sculpture of such dimensions would have stood in a bath or gymnasium in much the same way public gathering places today display the American flag – as a symbol and reminder of loyalty and patriotism as well as a point of identification for Tiberius’ subjects. The back of its head, carved separately, may have included a veil that identified Tiberius, the second Roman emperor, as pontifex maximus or chief priest.

Romans in general, and their public figures in particular, made use of portrait busts as a sort of publicity tool or advertisement, communicating through them specific virtues or ideologies the subject was supposed to have embodied. None understood this form of visual communication better than the Julio-Claudian emperors, particularly Augustus (63 B.C.-14 A.D., Emperor 27 B.C.-14 A.D.). During his reign, portraiture began to turn away from the veristic style, which had flourished in the Republican era and emphasized the sitter’s every wrinkle and flaw, towards a more classicizing form that was idealized and reminiscent of earlier Hellenistic sculpture.

In the case of Tiberius, the emperor deliberately adopted Augustan forms of portraiture because they promoted him most directly as the legitimate heir not only to the empire but to the entire classical Greek tradition which Augustus preferred and promulgated during his reign. We see this idealization continuing and being expanded upon throughout the Imperial period, coming to its apogee with the famous colossal Head of Constantine (272-337 A.D., Emperor 306-337 A.D.) which now stands at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

It happens that we have a contemporary physical description of Tiberius written by Suetonius (69 A.D.-after 130 A.D.) in De Vita Caesarum (The Twelve Caesars). The author’s text is quoted in the captioning of the Carlos Museum’s bust:

Tiberius was strongly and heavily built, and above average height. His shoulders and chest were broad, and his body perfectly proportioned from top to toe. His left hand was more agile than his right, and so strong that he could poke a finger through a sound, newly-plucked apple or into the skull of a boy or young man. He had a handsome, fresh-complexioned face, though subject to occasional rashes of pimples. The letting his back hair grow down over the nape seems to have been a family habit of the Claudii. Tiberius’ eyes were remarkably large and possessed the unusual power of seeing at night and in the dark, when he first opened them after sleep; but this phenomenon disappeared after a minute or two. His gait was a stiff stride, with the neck poked forward, and if ever he broke his usual stern silence to address those walking with him, he spoke with great deliberation and eloquent movements of the fingers.[1]

This account provides an excellent context to the piece as displayed and lends a certain first-hand connection to this calm, idealized image in marble.