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Marble portrait of the emperor Antoninus Pius

ca. 138–161 CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 162
Antoninus Pius was adopted by Hadrian as his successor when he was already fifty-one years old. His portraits thus represent him as a mature man in a sober but refined style that consciously echoes the imperial imagery adopted by Hadrian. At the beginning of his reign in A.D. 138, he had to impel a reluctant Senate to award Hadrian divine honors, and it is probably for this reason that he himself was given the title of Pius. Unlike his two immediate predecessors, Trajan and Hadrian, Antoninus did not embark on any major wars or travel widely through the Empire. Indeed, he was in effect the last emperor to spend most of his reign in the city of Rome itself. Regarded as a just and diligent administrator, Antoninus presided over the Empire at the height of its power—a time that the historian Edward Gibbon later famously referred to as the period when “the condition of the human race was most happy and most prosperous.”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Marble portrait of the emperor Antoninus Pius
  • Period: Antonine
  • Date: ca. 138–161 CE
  • Culture: Roman
  • Medium: Marble
  • Dimensions: H. 15 13/16 in. (40.2 cm)
  • Classification: Stone Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1933
  • Object Number: 33.11.3
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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Cover Image for 1095. Marble portrait of the emperor Antoninus Pius

1095. Marble portrait of the emperor Antoninus Pius

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This marble portrait was once part of a statue of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, who reigned between A.D. 138 and 161—a time of relative peace and prosperity in the Roman Empire. He’s portrayed here the way he thought of himself—a philosopher and calm, gentle man. Notice his upturned eyes and the deep shadows beneath his brow that add to his thoughtful pose.

Antoninus followed the style made fashionable by his predecessor and adoptive father, Hadrian—with a thick, curly beard and a frame of hair around the face. In this way, he constructed visually a familial connection. Hundreds of portraits of him, like this one, were distributed throughout the Empire.

If you stand back a bit from this marble head, you’ll be able to appreciate the dramatic interplay of light and shadow across the Emperor’s face. The smooth polished surface of his skin contrasts with the strong effects of light and dark in his thick locks of hair.

The emotive quality of this portrait of Antoninus foreshadows a stylistic trend that reached its fullest development during the reign of Caracalla in the early-third century A.D.

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