Bronze portrait of a man

1st half of 1st century CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 166
The bronze head was discovered on August 11, 1904 near the Arch of Augustus at Susa, a town in northern Italy, not far from Turin, together with some small fragments of one or more bronze statues and a fragment of a marble inscription belonging to an honorific statue. The statue had been donated for Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (63–12 B.C.), one of Octavian's (later Augustus) closest friends and supporters, by a member of the Cottii family, but nothing suggests that the bronze head and the inscription belong together. Traditionally, the head has been identified as Agrippa, although it cannot be related to Agrippa’s normal portrait type. Nevertheless, the head clearly belonged to an impressive, full-length statue of a high-ranking Roman.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bronze portrait of a man
  • Period: Early Imperial, Julio-Claudian
  • Date: 1st half of 1st century CE
  • Culture: Roman
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: H. 12 3/8 in. (31.4 cm)
  • Classification: Bronzes
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1914
  • Object Number: 14.130.2
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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Bronze portrait of a man - Roman - Early Imperial, Julio-Claudian - The Metropolitan Museum of Art