Portrait of Emperor Augustus

Description After Augustus (reigned 27 BCE-14 CE) consolidated Roman power and established what became known as the Roman Empire, he attempted to re-create the grandeur of classical Athens in Rome. In his monuments, Augustus copied timeless Greek models with ideal forms. This portrait of Augustus combines the elements of an individualized likeness with the smooth, youthful appearance of a god. The top and proper left side of the head are flattened in order to join additional attributes that no longer survive, in this case, likely a section of his toga, which would have been pulled up to cover part of his head in order to indicate that the emperor was engaged in a ritual act.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
6/26/1961	Treatment	cleaned
7/06/1970	Treatment	cleaned
4/17/1979	Loan Consideration	examined for loan
4/26/1988	Treatment	cleaned; loss compensation
1/01/1992	Technical Report	x-ray diffraction; other
9/06/2007	Loan Consideration	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• I, Claudius: Art in the Age of Julio-Claudians. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1977-1978.
• Bilder vom Menschen in der Kunst des Abendlandes. Nationalgalerie, Berlin. 1980.
• The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland 1800-1934. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984.
• From Alexander to Cleopatra: Greek Art of the Hellenistic Age. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988-1989.
• Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001.
• Pompeii and The Roman Villa. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. 2008-2009.

Provenance Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [as "from Egypt"]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1913, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1913