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Marble portrait of the emperor Caracalla
Marble
Roman
Severan
A.D. 212–217
H. 14 1/4 in. ( 36.2 cm)
Samuel D. Lee Fund, 1940
40.11.1a

This head is from a statue, other fragments of which survive. Caracalla abandoned the luxuriant hair and beard of his predecessors for a military style characterized by close-cropped curls and a stubble beard. Often finely carved, his portraits look compact but convey an explosive energy.