Classification
Dimensions
69 x 49 x 34 cm
Date
early 20th century
Period
Material
Iconography
Inventory
Ag.322
ID
Hyp-6416
References
The marble bust in London originally represented the younger Antonia (36 BC — 37 AD). Her father was Marcus Antonius, and her mother Octavia, the sister of Emperor Augustus, the deadly enemy of Marcus Antonius. Antonia’s son, Claudius, himself became an emperor (41—54 AD). The portrait was heavily reworked in the eighteenth century. The thick dress befitting a Roman matron was made to look transparent, leaving the left shoulder bare. The bust emerging from a floral chalice thus came to represent the nymph Clytie. Clytie was the deserted lover of Helios, who, in her grief, transformed into a turnsole with its chalice always towards the Sun.
