Tusculum portrait
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The Tusculum portrait or the Tusculum bust is one of the two main portrait types of Julius Caesar, alongside the Chiaramonti Caesar.[1] Being one of the copies of the bronze original,[2] the bust is dated to 50–40 BC and is housed in the permanent collection of the Museo d'Antichità in Turin, Italy.[3] Made of fine grained marble, the bust measures 33 cm in height.
The portrait's facial features are consistent with those on coins struck in Caesar's last year, particularly on the denarii issued by Marcus Mettius.[2] The bust's head is prolonged, forming a saddle shape which was caused by Caesar's premature ossification of the sutures between the parietal bone and the temporal bone.[1] The portrait also exhibits dolichocephalia.[1] According to several scholars, the Tusculum portrait is the only extant portrait of Caesar made during his lifetime.[4]
The Tusculum portrait was excavated by Lucien Bonaparte at the forum in Tusculum in 1825 and was later brought to Castello d'Aglie, though it was not recognised as a bust of Caesar until Maurizio Borda identified it in 1940. The portrait was exhibited in the Louvre alongside the Arles bust. There are three known copies of the bust, in the Woburn Abbey and in private collections in Florence and Rome.[3][5]
References
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