100. Augustus of Prima Porta, Villa ad Gallinas

which belonged to Livia, Rome, 14 C.E. copy of a

Roman bronze, Imperial style, 20 B.C.E. Marble,

height: 204 cm. Vatican Museums, Vatican City.

 

 

Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, transformed the way art and image were used by the Romans. He rejected the “veristic” style of Roman portraiture, preferring instead to emulate the High Classical style of fifth-century Greece. In this portrait, found at the villa of his wife Livia at Prima Porta, Augustus is shown in a pose that directly quotes Polykleitos’ Doryphoros, the best-known statue of the fifth century. In doing so, Augustus called upon all the associations the High Classical period carried: empire and power, but also democracy. Augustus was trying to appease those who might resent his absolute rule and the end of the Republic. He was at once advertising his strength, and also his role as a fair, democratic leader who would represent the senate and the people of Rome.