The many faces of Julius Caesar
A study and reflexion on the representation of Julius Caesar in his lifetime and beyond. In this article, I propose to examine the earliest depictions of the Roman leader from roman coins to statues, and analyse its evolution from realistic rendition to idealized figure at the dawn of Roman Empire under his successor Empereur Augustus.
Julius Caesar is one of the most famous and popular historical figure in the western world, his image is easily identifiable for he has been depicted on uncountable times since antiquity until modern times and passed in popular culture through Shakespeare, movies and even comics (Asterix). However, his representation seems to have evolved in the course of the centuries, according to the various interpretations of successive artists, to the extent that no one really know for sure what he really looked in person.
Modern portraits appart- busts or statues — there are about twenty portraits of Caesar dating from antiquity that we know, but most were accomplished after his death. Those posthumous portraits are not a reliable source: completed after copies, sometimes many years after the subject’s death, the result proves often to be very far from reality.
This is especially true with a character like Caesar whose image was tremendously spread and used after its death for political aims. The Senate had Julius Ceasar deified as “Divus Julius” in 42 BC and his nephew Octavian, future emperor Augustus, used the prestige of Caesar and his nearly-divine appeal to the Roman people to legitimate his heritage and his progressive ascent towards absolute power (Caesar had appointed him as son and successor in his testament).It is not surprising to see under Augustus’s reign the circulation of highly idealized portraits of Caesar all over the colonized lands, showing him as an ageless, heroic figure. This is all about political propaganda, skillfully used by the young Augustus to establish his authority and position himself in the continuity of his predecessor. Augustus will later develop this artistic propaganda during his own reign, using largely idealized portraits of him in all the roman empire. See fig.1 Prima Porta sculpture.
So how to get as close as possible to a realistic representation of Julius Caesar? It is a difficult question to answer. A few existing portraits identified by specialists are said to date back from his lifetime but none of these portraits ever mention his name or a date, therefore they cannot be considered as a 100% valid piece of evidence. The only reliable source is roman coins: one year before his death the Senate authorized Caesar to have his portrait minted on roman denarii, a first which will later be used by all emperors.
These coins are a precious testimony for historians for there are as close as one can get to a lifelike representation of him at the end of his life (See fig 1 and 2).
On fig.2 one can see his profile looking to the right, the nose is straight, the cheeks sunken, the neck is wrinkled, the hair is brought back forwards and he is carrying a laurel wreath. The latter symbolizes at the same time victory and religious power. One can read “Caesar dict perpetvo”, i.e.: “César, dictator for life”. On the other side of the coin, one can see a woman who represents the goddess Venus whose Jules Caesar claimed to be descendant.
What’s interesting about these coins is that they were certainly all derived from an original copy (bronze or wax portrait).
Let’s take a look at some of the most famous busts of Caesar: the one from the Museum of Naples, the Vatican Museum and the “Caposanto” one , all of three posthumous .
As mentioned earlier, these three beautiful marble busts are nothing but one “evocation” of the founder of the Roman empire, idealized and “frozen”. Atfer the death of Caesar, in the context of panic which followed his assassination, most of his effigies were replaced, lost or destroyed. Only the coins and some intaglios escaped and got to us. /////
However two portraits deserve a special attention, because they are regarded by the specialists as dating from Caesar’s lifetime.
For a long time, the bust of “Tusculum” (see below) has been considered one of the rarest representation of Caesar during his lifetime ( made just before or right after his death), this marble bust is preserved at the archaeological Museum of Turin was discovered in 1825 by Lucien Bonaparte.
It was not until the 1940’s that the Tusculum portrait was definitely labeled as Caesars the historian Mauricio Borda, who compared it with to the existing coins struck by Mettius and noted the resemblance. One can see a man in his fifties, wrinkled, a high forehead, hollow temples, pronounced baldness, sunken cheeks, a piercing gaze and the wrinkled neck. It’s a very veristic “no concession representation, no idealization in this portrait. Its rendering makes it very “individualized” and alive. Certain sources think that this portrait could derive from the funeral mask of Caesar or could be the copy of a preexistent bronze (**)
Arles Portrait:
In 2007, a team of french underwater archeologists lead by professor Luc Long found a marble bust in the river Rhône. This discovery soon generated a great deal of buzz among the archeoloists and historian community. Unlike most other posthumous portraits, the Arles head — just like the Tusculum one — shows a realistic representation of its subject. Luc Long, director of the team which excavated the Rhone, suggested that this portrait of Julius Caesar could date back to approximately 49 BC, which makes it the oldest known representation of the roman general. Caesar founded the roman colony of Arles during the Gallic conquest in BC as a consequence it is not surprising that a portrait of its founder on site.
Why was it found in the Rhone? Luc Long suggested that this bust was discreetly eliminated after the assassination from Caesar around 44BC, when possession of his portraits would have been regarded as politically suspect “I suspect the bust of being thrown in the river after he had been assassinated because he would not have been good at the time to be regarded as one of his partisans”, he declared.
One can note that like the portrait of Tusculum referred to above (Tusculum portraits) the portrait of the Rhone approaches the physical descriptions described by Suétone and Plutarque: “a high stature, white dye, members well done, the face a little too full, black and sharp eyes…
In 2012 the 2 busts were exhibited side to side at the Louvre in Paris. An interesting confrontation! Some facial similarities are obvious: the rather full shape of face, wrinkles of the neck, the naso-labial furrow, the high cheekbones, the exaggerated baldness…
Despite all that, 10 years after its discovery the Rhone portrait still divides specialists… However impressive, both Tusculum and Arles portraits cannot be 100% scientifically attributed to Caesar, as to this day no one ever found a dated and inscribed portrait of him.
My personal view is that both Tusculum and Rhone portraits are indeed very remarkable, revealing the face of a man bearing many resemblances to the contemporary coins of Caesar, a man of striking authority and charisma, most certainly the same man . Let’s hope that future archeological finds will lead us to finally solve this 2000 years old enigma.