63. Agrippina Minor

The designation of the subject as Agrippina Minor (15-59 A.D.), daughter of Germanicus, sister of Caligula, wife of Emperor Claudius (who was also her uncle) and mother of Nero is certain. The present portrait belongs to the third Agrippina portrait type and is closely akin to a portrait in Ancona (Trillmich, MM 15 (1974) Taf. 39). The coiffure, parted down the middle, with a dense mass of ringlets above the brow and exposed ears, is typically Claudian. Beneath a low forehead, there are the eyes with their deep lower lids. The nose is short and straight. The mouth is small, with a slightly protruding upper lip. Because of the diadem which has been engrafted around the top of the brow, the fourth row of ringlets (which is part and parcel of this portrait type) has not been rendered. With her large, deep-set eyes and her flourishing, prominent upper lip, Agrippina here resembles her brother Caligula to a great degree. Original: Claudian era. Copy: Claudian era.

I.N. 755
Head.
Marble. H. 0.36.

The surface of the hair and the back of the head are permeated with calcium disintegration. The diadem around the brow is slightly damaged. The neck is formed for insertion of the head into a statue.
Acquired in 1890 from Rome.

F. Poulsen 1951, Cat. 636; V. Poulsen 1973, Cat. 61; K. Polaschek, Porträttypen einer claudischen Kaiserin (1973) 15, n. 15; Trillmich, MM 15 (1974) 192, Taf. 39; Die Bildnisse des Augustus, München (1979) 10. 13; Fittschen & Zanker, Porträts III, no. 5; S. Sande, ActaAArtHist V (1955) 191, no. 125.