PORTRAIT OF EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS (161—180 AD)
This is the plaster cast of a larger than life portrait, which was carved of spongy limestone. It was found in a fort commonly known as Contra Aquincum, which lay opposite Aquincum already outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire. It belongs to the third portrait type of the emperor. The image breaks with the classicizing Greek style; it must have been the creation of a local sculptor. The artist did not aim at anatomical precision (the ears, for example, are not marked). The face is summarily treated, but the arrangement of the locks over the forehead still makes it clear that a portrait of Marcus Aurelius was intended.
The exhibited plaster cast was made of the limestone portrait held in the Aquincum Museum, Budapest in 2020.
