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Lot Essay
Marcus Annius Verus was born in 121 A.D. He had strong ties with the Imperial family – his father was the brother of Faustina the Elder and he was a nephew by marriage of Hadrian's eventual successor Antoninus Pius. In 136 A.D. Marcus was betrothed to Faustina the Younger, the second daughter of Aelius Caesar, Hadrian's first choice as successor. Following Aelius' untimely death, Hadrian adopted Antoninus and ordered that he in turn adopt Marcus, together with Aelius' son Lucius.
Hadrian fondly called him Verissimus (the "truest") and doted on the boy, gifting him titles and providing the best education. It was this education and his love in particular of the teachings of Stoic philosophy that guided his life and reign; history was to later call him one of the Five Good Emperors or the Philosopher-Emperor.
Stoicism was a Hellenistic school of philosophy which was based on ethics, accepting the balance of nature, time, and the workings of the world. Students were taught to treat others with justice and respect, working together in harmony, rather than letting oneself be controlled by fear or pleasurable desires. Marcus Aurelius was one of the three main leaders of Stoicism (along with Epictetus and Seneca), and wrote about compassion, humility, and restraint in his personal notes now known as his Meditations.
When Antoninus Pius died in 161 A.D., Marcus Aurelius and his adoptive brother Lucius Verus became joint rulers – the first time there had been co-rule in the Roman Empire. Only 8 years later, at the age of 38, Verus was dead. Marcus Aurelius ruled alone for almost 20 years until his death at the age of 58 in 180 A.D. due to natural causes in the city of Vindobona (modern day Vienna).
Portraiture of Marcus reflects the advancing stages of his life from full-lipped, curly-haired boy to care-worn, bearded philosopher. Divided into four main types, the young boy of Type One, c. 138-144 A.D., gradually acquires a wispy beard and moustache, categorized as Type Two (see fig. 235, p. 271 in Kleiner, Roman Sculpture). As Jucker notes, the Pestalozzi portrait sits comfortably within this second type where the still youthful head portrays Marcus from the time before his accession to the throne, from around 144 A.D. until the death of Antoninus Pius in 161 A.D. In the surviving examples of this type, the development of the youth to the mature man can be traced in the broader and fuller face, and above all to the growth of the beard, while the curl scheme of the hair remains basically unchanged. The earliest portraits show a light stubble on the chin and cheeks, whilst the later portraits, to which the above head belongs, shows a strong, short beard, in which the sideburns and beard are joined together. The moustache leaves the lips still uncovered, but its ends extend down to the chin-beard. At this time, Marcus Aurelius was about 35 to 40 years of age.
Jucker (op. cit.) goes on to suggest that the Type Two portraits of Marcus Aurelius were probably displayed together with those of his adoptive father Antoninus Pius, and that by keeping to the same types for such a long time, the unity of the two rulers would be emphasized; and by that association so too the unchanging existence of the Imperium Romanum.
Hadrian fondly called him Verissimus (the "truest") and doted on the boy, gifting him titles and providing the best education. It was this education and his love in particular of the teachings of Stoic philosophy that guided his life and reign; history was to later call him one of the Five Good Emperors or the Philosopher-Emperor.
Stoicism was a Hellenistic school of philosophy which was based on ethics, accepting the balance of nature, time, and the workings of the world. Students were taught to treat others with justice and respect, working together in harmony, rather than letting oneself be controlled by fear or pleasurable desires. Marcus Aurelius was one of the three main leaders of Stoicism (along with Epictetus and Seneca), and wrote about compassion, humility, and restraint in his personal notes now known as his Meditations.
When Antoninus Pius died in 161 A.D., Marcus Aurelius and his adoptive brother Lucius Verus became joint rulers – the first time there had been co-rule in the Roman Empire. Only 8 years later, at the age of 38, Verus was dead. Marcus Aurelius ruled alone for almost 20 years until his death at the age of 58 in 180 A.D. due to natural causes in the city of Vindobona (modern day Vienna).
Portraiture of Marcus reflects the advancing stages of his life from full-lipped, curly-haired boy to care-worn, bearded philosopher. Divided into four main types, the young boy of Type One, c. 138-144 A.D., gradually acquires a wispy beard and moustache, categorized as Type Two (see fig. 235, p. 271 in Kleiner, Roman Sculpture). As Jucker notes, the Pestalozzi portrait sits comfortably within this second type where the still youthful head portrays Marcus from the time before his accession to the throne, from around 144 A.D. until the death of Antoninus Pius in 161 A.D. In the surviving examples of this type, the development of the youth to the mature man can be traced in the broader and fuller face, and above all to the growth of the beard, while the curl scheme of the hair remains basically unchanged. The earliest portraits show a light stubble on the chin and cheeks, whilst the later portraits, to which the above head belongs, shows a strong, short beard, in which the sideburns and beard are joined together. The moustache leaves the lips still uncovered, but its ends extend down to the chin-beard. At this time, Marcus Aurelius was about 35 to 40 years of age.
Jucker (op. cit.) goes on to suggest that the Type Two portraits of Marcus Aurelius were probably displayed together with those of his adoptive father Antoninus Pius, and that by keeping to the same types for such a long time, the unity of the two rulers would be emphasized; and by that association so too the unchanging existence of the Imperium Romanum.