Marble portrait of Livia

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This well-executed head does not seek to be a lifelike portrait but depicts Livia as an idealized, youthful figure. Born in 58 B.C., Livia would have been in her 70s or 80s when it was carved, probably in the reign of her son, Tiberius. As the emperor Augustus' wife, she exerted enormous influence over the imperial court and, even after his death in A.D. 14, she retained her prestige by association with the deified Augustus, the ruling emperor Tiberius, and her other descendants, who included the future emperors, Gaius (Caligula), Claudius, and Nero.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.

Metropolitan Museum of Art