Portrait Statue of a Man, Possibly Emperor Trajan
late 1st-early 2nd century
- Medium
- Marble
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 119.3 × 58.4 × 27.9 cm (47 × 23 × 11 in.)
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Credit line
- Anonymous loan
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This fragmentary statue depicts a man in full military regalia. He wears body armor (called a cuirass) that imitates the torso’s musculature, the front side of which is adorned with figural motifs intended to ward off evil. Specific motifs on the front, including the Gorgon’s head below the neck and the lion-griffins flanking an incense burner in the center, also appear on some portraits of Emperor Trajan (reigned 98–117), who expanded the empire to its greatest geographic area through successful military campaigns.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
