FLAVIAN PERIOD, REIGN 79-81 A.D.

Described as the “darling of mankind” by Suetonius in "The Life of Titus,” Lives of the Caesars, 1, Titus Flavius Vespasianus (r. 79-81 A.D.), was forty years old when he succeeded his father, the Emperor Vespasian. Despite being an unpopular heir, he gained one of the most distinguished reputations of any Roman emperor during his brief two-year reign.

During his time in power, he embarked on an extravagant building programme, finishing construction on various public buildings and erecting new imperial baths. The most significant was the completion of the Flavian amphitheatre, now called the Colosseum, which he built to its full height of four storeys. To inaugurate the Colosseum, Suetonius writes how Titus “gave a most significant and costly gladiatorial show… with gladiators exhibiting five thousand wild beasts of every kind in a single day.” (Titus, op. cit., 7). Although many unfortunate disasters occurred during his reign (the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., a fire in Rome in 80 A.D., and an epidemic of plague), he exploited the opportunity to gain public favour, generously donating vast sums of money and relief to ease the suffering of his people. Upon his unexpected death from fever in 81 A.D., he was deified by the Roman Senate and the people of Rome were said to have mourned him “as they would have for a loss of their own families” (Titus, op. cit., 11).
The family resemblance to Vespasian is strikingly apparent in his portraiture and is not just a matter of stylistic preference, leading D.E.E. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, p. 172, to note that he could be described as a younger version of his father. Like Vespasian, his distinctive facial characteristics include a broad, fleshy face and a furrowed forehead, close-set eyes and arched brows. Gone are the Julio-Claudian tendencies of depicting rulers idealized and eternally youthful, Flavian portraits are more realistic and capture a sense of intensity and determination, as can be seen with this present example.

This over life-sized portrait depicts the Emperor with his characteristic broad and fleshy face with double chin. According to Jucker (op. cit.), the head corresponds to the second type of portraiture associated with Titus, the Erbach type, after a replica in the Schloss Erbach Collection in Berlin, see fig. 142 in D.E.E. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, p. 174. This is owing to the three drilled ringlets visible on the left side of the face, which are all curved to the left. However, as Jucker reasons, the two portrait types for Titus are not clearly distinguishable from each other, possibly due to the lack of prominence placed on hairstyle during the Flavian dynasty in comparison with the Julio-Claudians. In addition, portraits of Titus were often reworked from other heads, and Jucker (op. cit.) argues that this present example can be identified as recut from a sculpture of Nero (r. 54- 68 A.D.), the hated predecessor of the Flavians, as part of the damnatio memoriae accorded to the him after his death. The upper left part of the back of the head has been restored in antiquity from three separate marble pieces, as evidenced by the irregular depressions and four preserved dowel holes. Likewise, Juker (op. cit.) notes the broadness of the forehead of this portrait may be due to the sculptor having to remove the long frontal sickle-shaped curls associated with the portraiture of Nero. For a related example of Nero recut to Domitian, Titus' brother, see Inv. no. 88.633 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Post Lot Text
This lot has been imported from outside the EU for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the hammer price.