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The Origin of Verism in Roman Portraits1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Gisela M. A. Richter
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Was the verism of Roman Republican portraits due to Italic, Etruscan, Roman, Egyptian, or Greek influence? This question has been much discussed, especially of late. Of particular interest is the recent theory that late Egyptian portraits played a decisive part. In this article I want first to discuss the evidence for the various influences that have been considered potent in the creation of Roman verism, and then try from this evidence to deduce which factor, or which factors, were the most potent. I shall examine in particular the Egyptian and the Greek theories, for in these fields I may perhaps have something new to say, whereas the Italian side has been thoroughly explored.

The question at issue is an important one; for, as Schweitzer has said, the birth of Republican Roman portraiture was as momentous a happening in the history of art as was the birth of individualistic representation in Greek art. The many different views that have been held regarding the origin testify to the complexity of the question. If a convincing solution could be obtained, it would clarify, I think, our whole understanding of that great phenomenon—the origin of Roman art.

First I must define the word ‘verism’, which has only comparatively recently entered our archaeological vocabulary. Verism I take to mean a somewhat dry realism, a realism which shows the person portrayed as he really is, without idealizing tendencies, with wrinkles and warts and other physical defects, and also, what is more important, with an expression not of a philosopher or poet or visionary, but of what might be called a man of affairs.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 1-2 , November 1955 , pp. 39 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Gisela M. A. Richter 1955. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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Footnotes

1

This article is based on a talk I gave at the ‘Sodalizio tra Studiosi dell' Arte’, in Rome on 24th April, 1955.

References

2 Of the extensive literature it is sufficient to cite the two recent fundamental contributions by Vessberg, Studien zur Kunstgeschichte der römischen Republik, 1941 (henceforth quoted as Studien), and Schweitzer, Die Bildniskunst der römischen Republik, 1947 (henceforth quoted as Bildniskunst). The subject of the origin of Republican Roman portraiture, however, has still not been solved to everybody's satisfaction. Many will agree with Langlotz when he said, in his article in the Schweitzer Festschrift (1954): ‘Die Geschichte der spätrepublikanischen Plastik liegt noch weithin im Dunkel.’

3 I had the opportunity in the early months of 1955 of studying the Egyptian portraits in the Museum of Cairo, where a wealth of material is presented. I also had the privilege of discussing many problems with Bernard V. Bothmer, of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Director of the American Research Centre in Cairo. He is engaged in the important task of preparing a Corpus of late Egyptian sculptures, some of which can be dated by inscriptions.

4 Bildniskunst 3 f.

5 Schweitzer, in the two first chapters of his Bildniskunst, has treated them at length. To the literature on the subject, cited by him on pp. 19ff. (articles by Anti, Bianchi-Bandinelli, Magi, Kaschnitz-Weinberg, Zadoks-Jitta, Sieveking, Boëthius) may now be added, in particular Laurenzi, , ‘Problemi della ritrattistica repubblicana romana,’ in Aevum xiv, 1940, 367 ff.Google Scholar; Herbig, , ‘Die italische Wurzel der römischen Bildniskunst,’ in Das neue Bild der Antike 11, 1942, 85 ff.Google Scholar; Levi, D., ‘L'Arte romana,’ in Annuario xxiv–xxvi, 1940, 367 ffGoogle Scholar.

6 cf., e.g. Levi, D., ‘L'arte etrusca e il ritratto,’ Dedalo XIII, 1933, 232 ffGoogle Scholar.

7 cf. now the fine illustration of the heads of the group in the Catalogue of the Mostra dell' arte e della civiltà etrusca (Milan, 1955)Google Scholar pl. CI.

8 Schweitzer, I think, expresses this well when he calls the ‘mittelitalische Porträt der hellenistischen Zeit’ a ‘landschaftlich modifizierter Ableger der griechischen Bildniskunst’ (I f.).

9 cf. especially Vessberg, Studien 40 ff., 97 ff.; Schweitzer, Bildniskunst, 19 ff.

10 ‘I Romani e l'arte greca,’ L'Urbe X, 1947, 3 ffGoogle Scholar.

11 Studien 46 ff., and passim.

12 ‘Some Notes on Artists in the Roman World,’ Collection Latomus VI, 1951, 5 ffGoogle Scholar.

13 cf., e.g. Poulsen, F., ‘Die Römer der republikanischen Zeit und ihre Stellung zu Kunst,’ in Die Antike XIII, 1937, 125 ff.Google Scholar; Chamoux, L'antiquité classique 1955 (to appear presently); my Three Critical Periods in Greek Sculpture (1951), 37 ff.; my article entitled ‘Who made the Roman Portrait Statues, Greeks or Romans?’ in American Philos. Soc. Proc. vol. 95, 1951, 184 ff.Google Scholar; and my forth coming Ancient Italy. To the signatures by Greek sculptors on Roman works cited in Three Critical Periods, may now be added that of Publius/Licinius Demetrius, freedman of Publius, who made a relief with two portraits in the early Empire. On it are represented his own portrait and that of a fellow freedman, with the tools of his trade. The relief was found at Tusculum and is now in the British Museum. cf. Fifty-first Annual Report of the National Art-Collection Fund: 1954 no. 1749; Vermeule, , Numismatic Circular LXI, no. 11 (Nov., 1953)Google Scholar, and LXII, no. 3 (March, 1954).

14 On this subject cf. especially L'Orange, , Röm. Mitt. LIV, 1929, 167Google Scholar; Brendel, , Die Antike LX, 1933, 130ff.Google Scholar; Poulsen, F., ‘Probleme der römischen Ikonographie,’ Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab., Archaeologisk-kunsthistoriske Meddelelser 11, 1, 1937, 6 ff.Google Scholar, and From the Collections of the Ny-Carlsberg Glyptothek 11, 1938, 30 ff.Google Scholar; Snijder, , Mnemosyne ser.III, vol. VII, 1939, 241 ff.Google Scholar; Boëthius, , Acta Archaeologica XIII, 1942, 228Google Scholar; Drerup, Aegyptische Bildnisköpfe griechischer und römischer Zeit 1950; Vessberg, Studien 255; Schweitzer, Bildmskunst 76 f.; Kukahn, , ‘Sobre les origines del retrato romano,’ Archivo español de Arqueologia XXVI, 1953, 249 ff.Google Scholar; Bothmer, B. V., Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston XLIX, 1951, 69 ff.Google Scholar; Andrén ‘Greek and Roman heads in the Malmström Collection’, Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Rom, 4°, xx, Opuscula romana, 11, 1955Google Scholar.

15 From Sakkara. Height, without restored legs, I·10m. Maspero, Guide du visiteur au Musée du Caire 3rd ed., 1914, no. 13; von Bissing, Denkmäler ägyptischer Skulptur pl. 11.

16 Ijib and Chawet, fifth dynasty. H. 74 cm. University, Leipzig. Inventory no. 3694. Junker, Gizah V, Die Mastaba des S. n. f. (Seneb) und die umliegenden Gräber, Wien und Leipzig, 1941 (= Akad. d. Wiss. in Wien, Phil.-hist. Kl., Denkschr., vol. 71, 2 Abh.), 146 f., pl. 13.

17 Grey-green stone. Height 95 cm. From the pyramid of Mykerinos at Gizeh, Maspero, Guide nos. 224–6; von Bissing, Denkmäler, pp. V, VI; Lange, Ägyptische Kunst, pl. 19.

18 Limestone. Height 30 cm. From Sakkara. Sixth dynasty. Maspero, Guide no. 159. Schaefer and Andrae, Die Kunst des alten Orients 241, 1 (there assigned to the fifth dynasty; the height there given is 46 cm.).

19 Limestone. Sixth dynasty. Vandier, La sculpture égyptienne pl. 35; Breasted, Geschichte Ägyptens (tr. Ranke, 1936) fig. 74.

20 Brown stone. Height 9 cm. Berlin, 20, 175. Schaefer, Das altägyptische Bildnis pl. 14; Lange, Ägyptische Kunst no. 42.

21 Red granite. Height of statue 3·15 m. From Karnak. In the Cairo Museum. Evers, Staat aus Stein pls. 80, 81; Breasted, o.c. fig. 96.

22 Black granite. Height c. 1 m. In Cairo. From Tanis. Bissing, Denkmäler pls. 25, 26.

23 Grey granite. Height I m. In Cairo. From the the Fayûm. Bissing, Denkmäler pl. 30; Schaefer, Bildnis pl. 18.

23a Burlington Fine Arts Club Cat. of Ancient Egyptian Art, 1922, p. 46, no. 24, frontispiece, and p. 81, no. 41, pl. IV.

24 Reddish brown limestone. Height of statue c. 4 m. In Cairo. From Karnak. Schaefer and Andrae, o.c. 346; Lange, Ägyptische Kunst no. 78.

25 Dark granite. Height of statue 2·70 m. Nose and lower part of face restored. Found in Rome in the gardens of Sallust. Bissing, Denkmäler pl. 47.

26 Granite. From Karnak. A Brief Description of the principal Monuments, The Egyptian Museum, Cairo (1951) no. 459. cf. also Maspero, Guide nos. 12, 586.

27 Granite. Height 1·42 m. From Karnak. Brief Description …, no. 461; Schaefer and Andrae, o.c. 338; Maspero, Guide no. 462.

28 Greyish granite. Height of statue of Rameses 90 cm. In Cairo. From Karnak. Maspero, Guid no. 743; Bissing, Denkmäler pl. 55, b (= my pl. III, II); Breasted, o.c. fig. 162.

29 Granite. Height of head 11 cm. In the temple of Luxor. Lange, Ägyptische Kunst pl. 105.

30 Black granite. Height 46 cm. In Cairo. From Karnak. Bissing, Denkmäler pls. 62, 63; Schaefer, o.c. pl. 40; Breasted, o.c. fig. 167.

31 Black diorite. Height 35 cm. In Cairo. From Luxor. Bissing, Denkmäler pls. 60, 61.

32 Red sandstone. Brief Description … no. 824 (acc. no. C.G.M. 726). From Memphis. About half life size. Illustrated in text of Bissing, Denkmäler pl. 108, a (= my pl. IV, 14). The other example (my pl. IV, 14a) is from Karnak, Brief Description … no. 895 (acc. no. 4, 6, 24).

33 The scribe Horus. Black granite. Height 86 cm. From Alexandria. Maspero, Guide no. 972; Schaefer, Bildnis pl. 46.

34 Eirenaos. Black basalt. Height 90 cm. From Dimeh. Graindor, Bustes et statues portraits d'Egypte romaine 127, no. 65; Snijder, o.c. pl. XIII, fig. 6 (= my pl. v, 18).

35 Snijder, o.c. pl. XII, fig. 5 (= my pl. v, 19); Schaefer and Andrae, Kunst des alten Orients, p. 427, b.

36 Bissing, Denkmäler pl. 108, b ( = my pl. v, 20).

37 Basalt. Height 37 cm. Breccia, Alexandria ad Aegyptum (1922), 171, no. 42.

38 Basalt. Height 22 cm. In Munich. From Dimeh. Furtwängler, Beschreibung der Glyptothek, Nachtrag, no. 45, a; Bissing, Denkmäler pls. 109 ( = my pl. iv, 15), 110.

39 As Bissing says (I.c.): ‘Der Kopf unterscheidet sich aüsserlich wie innerlich von seinen Genossen.’

40 I have treated this particular argument at greater length in an article in the forthcoming volume in memory of Guido Libertini.

41 30 by 35 mm. Furtwängler, Antike Gemmen pl. XXXIII, 15. Breglia Catalogo delle oreficierie del Museo Nazionale di Napoli no. 152, pl. XVIII, 8; Siviero, Gli ori e le ambre del Museo Nazionale di Napoli no. 344, pls. 211, 212, 213 ( = my pl. VI, 22).

42 Furtwängler, , A.G. pl. XXXIII, 9Google Scholar.

43 Furtwängler, , A.G. pl. XXXIII, 16, 14Google Scholar; Beazley, , Lewes House Gems no. 101, pl. VIGoogle Scholar; Walters, , Catalogue of Engraved Gems in the British Museum no. 1190 (15 by 14 mm.)Google Scholar.

44 Beazley, l.c.; Lippold, , Gemmen und Kameen 178, pl. LXIX, 2Google Scholar.

45 Furtwängler, , Jb.d.I. III, 1888, 208, 211 fGoogle Scholar. Professoressa Guarducci, whom I consulted on this point, agrees with Furtwängler's findings.

46 cf., e.g. Imhoof-Blumer, Porträtköpfe auf antiken Münzen hellenischer und hellenisierter Völker pls. VI, VII; Waddington, , Receuil des monnaies grecques d'Asie Mineure I, I, pl. I, nos. 2–13Google Scholar; Catalogue of Greek coins in the British Museum, Pontus, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Bosporus, pl. VIII, 2, 3; Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age figs. 310, 314–16, 321–6.

47 E 438. Life-size. From Lefkoniko. The front view was published in the BSA XLI, 1946, 64, no. 403, pl. 15Google Scholar.

48 Height 36 cm. From Athens. National Museum, Athens, no. 320. Exhibited in the Hellenistic Room and labelled ‘second century B.C.’ Vessberg, Studien 215 (beginning of first century B.C.); Buschor, Das Hellenistische Bildnis 46 (c. 40 B.C.); Hafner, , Späthellemstische Bildnisplastik A, 15, p. 68Google Scholar (= my pl. VI, 21).

49 Karuzos, Τὸ Μουσεïο τῆϛ Θἡβαϛ no. 48, figs. 40, 41; Buschor, o.c. 46; Hafner, o.c. A 18, 70.

50 ll.cc. cf. on this subject also Hekler, Die Bildniskunst der Griechen und Römer p. XXVII.

51 Ny-Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen, no. 458a. Height 30 cm. From Athens. Vessberg, Studien 229, pl. Lv, 2; Schweitzer, Bildniskunst 73 ff.; Hafner, o.c. A 13.

52 National Museum, no. 152. About life size. From Athens. A three-quarter view is published in Arndt-Bruckmann, Porträts no. 813, and a front view in Hafner, o.c. A 3.

53 National Museum, Athens, no. 472. About life-size. Found at Eleusis in excavations of the Archaeological Society. Mentioned in Arch. Delt., 1888, 177 f.

54 National Museum, no. 3294. About life-size. From Athens. This head and no. 472 are here published for the first time, with the kind permission of Mr. Karouzos (who has in preparation a catalogue of Roman portraits in the National Museum).

55 Harrison, E., Athenian Agora I, IGoogle Scholar, Portrait Sculpture pl. 43, c.

56 Thasos Museum, no. 101. Height 37 cm. Thasian marble. Chamoux, , Mon. Piot XLVII, 1953, 131 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar, fig. 2.

57 About life-size. Dikaios, Guide to the Cyprus Museum pl. XXIII, 4; Vessberg, , Opuscula Romana 1, pl. 1, 2Google Scholar.

58 Winter, , Altertümer von Pergamon VII, 2, 230, no. 278Google Scholar; Hafner, o.c. A 7.

59 Michalowski, Délos XIII.

60 cf. Laurenzi, , Clara Rhodos IX, 59 ff.Google Scholar, figs. 37–40, pl. v.

61 Roussel, Delos, Colonie athénienne (1916), 288, n. 4; Roussel, and Launey, , Inscriptions de Délos IV, 2, 330 ff., nos. 2489 ffGoogle Scholar. The large number of Roman portraits erected in the East in pre-Imperial times can also be gauged by the list given by Raubitschek, , JRS XLIV, 1954, 65 ff.Google Scholar, of inscribed pedestals made for statues of Julius Caesar. They come from the mainland (Athens, Megara, Thespiai, and Demetrias), the Islands (Delos, Keos, Chios, Samos), and Asia Minor (Ephesos and Pergamon).

62 cf. on this subject the illuminating discussion by Vessberg, Studien 115 ff.

63 Vessberg, Studien pl. I, I (= my pl. VII, 30). Struck by C. Mennius, probably 60–51 B.C.

64 ibid., pl. in, 7 ( = my pl. VII, 31). Struck by his grandson C. Coelius Caldus about 61 B.C.

65 ibid., pl. IV, 1 (= my pl. VII, 32). Struck by C. Antius Restio, about 46 B.C. cf. also the coins with portraits of Julius Caesar and of the second Triumvirate, ibid. pls. VI–X.

66 This problem will doubtless be clarified by the results of the researches by B. V. Bothmer (see above, p. 39, n. 3).

67 cf., e.g. F. Poulsen, Probleme 19: ‘So stossen wir immer wieder in unseren Untersuchungen so zu sagen auf den hellenistischen Felsengrund’; and Schweitzer, Bildniskunst, II: ‘Diese (late Hellenistic portraiture) hat die neue Grundlage für das römische Porträt gegeben’; also Buschor, Das hellenistische Bildnis 54 and passim; Hafner, Späthellenistische Bildnisplastik, passim.

My pls. I–III, figs. 1, 2, 5, 7, 12, reproduce photographs by K. Lange; fig. 10 a photograph of the Archivio fotografico of the Vatican Galleries; pl. IV, 15, a photograph of the Marburg Bildarchiv. Pls. VIII, IX, 34–6, reproduce photographs by Alison Frantz; pl. x, 37, 38, photographs by J. L. Caskey. The photographs reproduced in pls. IV, VI, VIII, IX, 14, 14a, 16, 25, 40, 39, 33, were sent me by Messrs. Khashab, Ghirkas, Dikaios, Chamoux, and V. Poulsen. Pls. 1, 11, 4, 8, reproduce prints of the Oxford University Press by permission of Cairo Museum. Pls. III–VIII, 11, 14, 16, 20; 18, 19; 22; 21; 25, 26; 30–2, reproduce illustrations in von Bissing, Denkmäler ägyptischer Skulptur; Snijder, Mnemosyne 1939; Siviero, Ori e ambre; Hafner, Späthellenistische Bildnisplastik; Imhoof-Blumer, Porträtköpfe; Vessberg, Studien (the references are given in the footnotes). Pls. VI, VII, 23, 27–9, are from enlarged photographs (by Mr. Felbermeyer), made from the impression of a gem and from casts of coins in the British Museum kindly sent me by Mr. Ashmole and Mr. Jenkins. Pl. VII, 30, 32, are from enlarged photographs of coins in the Ashmolean Museum.