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The Digital Sculpture Project

Portrait of a Roman Man

The Digital Sculpture Project has digitized a 1st century BCE Roman portrait sculpture, along with two plaster copies made in the 20th century. Using digital tools, we are able to measure and analyze the variations between the copies and the marble original. Further information about the works as well as the interactive 3D models are available below:

Catalog Entry: Portrait of a Roman Man (Original)

Name: Portrait of a Roman Man

Collection: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Inventory Number: Hm 329

Date Created: Last third of the first century BCE

Date Acquired: Between 1723 and 1726 donated to Augustus the Strong by Friedrich Wilhelm I (ex-Brandenburg Collection).

Sculptor: Unknown

Material: Marble

Dimensions: Height 34.5 cm

Description: The portrait shows a beardless old Roman man with a closely-cropped head of hair and showing clear signs of age. The head, which is slightly turned to the right, was made to be inserted into a sculpture, presumably a togate statue. As individualized as the portrait of the man might appear to be, it is not a straightforward realistic rendering. The brutally charming reproduction of the marks of old age is typical of male portraits of the late Republic. The point of these images is to emphasize certain features and to praise the subject's virtues. Thus the verism of the Republican male portraits should be read as an image-based code which refers to the subject's strength of character and endurance. In an expressly unpretentious way the portraits show unadorned personalities who apply their conservative values to themselves and those around them.

Exactly who is portrayed in this bust can no longer be determined with any certainty. But it is probable that this individual belonged to Rome's middle class, which to a large extent consisted of former slaves (liberti).

Bibliography:

  • West, R. Römische Porträtplastik 1 (München, 1933) Nr. 42, figure 11.
  • Koch, H. Römische Kunst (Weimar, 1949) 1287, figure 44b.
  • Zanker, P. "Rezeption der hellenistischen Individualporträts", Abhandlungen der Wiss. I. Göttingen, phil. Hist. Klasse 1976, 594n61.
  • Raumschüssel, I., in Kordelia Knoll, Heiner Protzmann, Ingeborg Raumschüssel, Martin Raumschüssel, Die Antiken im Albertinum. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Skulpturensammlung (Mainz, 1993) 52f. Nr. 29.
  • D`Apuzzo, M. G. I segni del tempo. Metamorfosi della vecchiaia nell`arte dell`Occidente (Bologna, 2006) 85, fig. 65.
  • Bestandskatalog der Kunstsammlungen. Antiken I. Kurfürstliche und Königliche Erwerbungen für Schlösser und Gärten Brandenburg-Preussens vom 17. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert, Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin, 2009) 47 (catalog nr. 26) with illustration.

Photographs:

Front Back Left Right

3D Models:

Scanned 3D Model (2,191,110 polygons)

Click image to view model using the ScanView viewer.

Catalog Entry: Portrait of a Roman Man (Cast 1)

Name: Plaster cast of the Portrait of a Roman Man (cast #1)

Collection: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Inventory Number: ASN 3450

Date Created: Created ca. 1900 in the cast department of the Königliche Skulpturensammlung Dresden

Cast-Maker: Unknown

Material: Plaster, shellac

Photographs:

Front Back Left Right Front-right

3D Models:

Scanned 3D Model (1,690,197 polygons)

Click image to view model using the ScanView viewer.

Catalog Entry: Portrait of a Roman Man (Cast 2)

Name: Plaster cast of the Portrait of a Roman Man (cast #2)

Collection: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Inventory Number: (None)

Date Created: Created in the 1980s in the cast department of the Staatliche Skulpturensammlung Dresden

Cast-Maker: Unknown

Material: Plaster

Photographs:

Front Back Left Right

3D Models:

Scanned 3D Model (1,950,388 polygons)

Click image to view model using the ScanView viewer.

Credits & Acknowledgements

The digitization of the the Portrait of a Roman Man was a project of the Digital Sculpture Project in collaboration with the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. See the Digital Sculpture Project "Credits" page for more information about the contributors to the overall project.

The digital data acquisition was performed by Christiane Bathow (Breuckmann GmbH), David Koller, Chad Keller, and Bernard Frischer. Data processing was performed by Christiane Bathow, David Koller, Nick Kyger, and Kim Dylla.

The catalog entry text was contributed by Kordelia Knoll (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), and translated by Bernard Frischer.

This work was made possible with the support of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Equipment was kindly shared by Breuckmann GmbH and FARO Europe GmbH & Co. KG.

Copyright © 2009-13. Last updated: March 22, 2013.

The Digital Sculpture Project is an activity of the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory.