Le prince et le courtisan. À propos de deux portraits d'époque antonine du Musée Calvet (Avignon)

Two portraits of the Antonine era, belonging to the Musée Calvet in Avignon, display such close similarities in workmanship that one can safely assume that they have been sculpted in the same workshop. The first portrait represents Marcus Aurelius according to his second iconographie type (around 140-150 A.D.), and supposedly originates from Méthamis (Vaucluse). The second one, which is particularly interesting, is said to have been found in Vaison-la-Romaine. Its iconography, which cites that of the god Helios, had led its first editors to identify it as an Apollo. However, the portrait shows a type of representation of young men, which was quite popular during the Antonine era and common throughout the Empire, examples having been located in Rome and Asia Minor. We are lucky to have an exact replica of the head of Vaison. It is a piece of high quality and was produced in one of the best workshops of the Urbs. Both the existence of this last portrait and parallels of "stadtromisch" workmanship for the group of the Musée Calvet suggest that the latter have been sculpted in Rome and that the young man, whose portrait was found at Vaison, must have been an influential person of the court around the middle of the 2nd century

Art · Art history · Humanities · Iconography · Parallels · Politics · Portrait · Visual arts · Workmanship · Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Law