This marble bust of Lucius Verus is about 2 or 3x life-sized and located in the Louvre Museum.
The Museum's webpage (
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"This colossal head takes a type well known portraits of Lucius Verus, associated with the imperial power by Marcus Aurelius in 161 to 169 AD. AD The monumental dimensions are serving a glorification of the then deceased prince, in which an effigy of the sensitivity antonin style becomes a baroque profusion.
Lucius Verus
This colossal head mounted on a modern bust is one of the finest portraits preserved of Lucius Verus, co-emperor associated with power from 161 and a victim of the plague in 169 AD. BC is recognized because of the features present in many portraits of the prince - including hair and luxuriant beard, deeply dug processed loops.
A portrait to celebrate a dead husband
The effigy formed during similar size with that of Marcus Aurelius, emperor from 161 to 180 AD. BC Both come from a villa of Lucius Verus at Acqua Traversa, near Rome. Magnified representation, greater than the natural size, suggesting that this is a posthumous portrait that was commissioned by Lucille, wife of Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius's daughter. We can therefore assume that the portrait was executed between the death of Marcus Aurelius, AD 18O. AD, and that of Lucille, in 183 AD. J. C-.
The virtuosity of the Antonine portraits
This portrait, by the exceptional state of preservation and dimensions is also one of the most striking expressions of the baroque style, popular in the Roman Empire in the late second century. It is indeed a complete break with classical tradition. Excessive swelling of the hair and beard, deeply excavated by the drill bit of the sculptor, is opposed to the polished end face of the flesh. These effects are included virtuosos to excess during the reign of Commodus (180-192 AD..), Before a return to greater moderation in the portraits of the Severan era."
Wikipedia (
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"Antoninus died on 7 March 161, and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius. Although Marcus had no personal affection for Hadrian (significantly, he does not thank him in the first book of his Meditations), he presumably believed it his duty to enact the man's succession plans. Thus, although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers. The senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus. Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus' family name, Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus. It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors."