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The Portrait Medallions of the Imperial Villa at Boscotrecase Author(s): Maxwell L. Anderson Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 91, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 127-135Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/505462Accessed: 14-07-2015 15:35 UTC

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The Portrait Medallions of the Imperial Villa at Boscotrecase

MAXWELL L. ANDERSON

Abstract

Since their initial mention in 1929, the two painted portrait medallions in Cubiculum 15 of the imperial villa at Boscotrecase have been generally assumed to depict Agrippa, Agrippa Postumus, or another male member of the imperial family. Original photographs of the medallions before restoration suggest that they are in fact portraits of two different women. Proposed here are Julia,

the daughter of Augustus, and Livia, his wife, and evidence is presented to support these identifications.

Two small portrait medallions are part of the decorative scheme of the north wall of Cubiculum 15 in the imperial villa at Boscotrecase near Torre Annunziata (figs. 1-3).1 Since their initial notice in print, they have been described as likenesses of a single man.2

' The portrait medallions are each ca. 7 cm. in diameter, and are here illustrated from negatives of 1926, which pre- date restoration and overpainting by the Metropolitan Mu- seum's Department of Objects Conservation. New color photography showing the medallions after the removal of overpainting, as well as three hitherto unknown panels from Cubiculum 15 identified by the author in the storerooms of the Naples National Museum in May of 1985, will be published in a 1987 issue of BMMA.

2 The wall paintings from Boscotrecase were first published privately in Fouilles execute'es par M. le Chev. Ernest Santini a Boscotrecase, endroit nomme "Rota" (1905). This was followed by M. Della Corte, Sumbolae litterariae in ho- norem Iulii de Petra (Naples 1911) 216-21; M. Della Corte, Neapolis 2 (1914) 173-74; M. Della Corte, NSc 1922, 459-78; Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1925) 22 (1933 and 1941 editions, p. 26); M. Rostovtzeff, Social and Eco- nomic History of the Roman Empire (Oxford 1926) 496, n. 31 (2nd ed. [1957] vol. 2, 553, n. 31); Handbook of the Clas- sical Collection (New York 1927 and 1930) 318-19. The medallions were first mentioned by C. Alexander, in MMS 1 (1929) 176-86; the left one is illustrated as fig. 3 on p. 178. Miss Alexander there refers to the medallions as enclosing "male portrait heads in profile, apparently the two sides of the same face .... The face has the look of the Julio-Clau- dian house, which was in power when the third style was prevalent" (p. 178). Following Alexander's article in MMS, the paintings were published in the following sources: G.E. Rizzo, La pittura ellenistica romana (Milan 1929) 78 pl. 172, 173a; R.C. Carrington, JRS 21 (1931) 110-30; R.C. Carrington, Antiquity 8 (1934) 271, fig. 2; Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide 1 (1934) 34 (1939, 1940, p. 40); M. Della Corte, Studi Romani, Atti del V Congresso Nazionale 2 (Rome 1940) 67-68; B. Crova, Edilizia e tecnica rurale di Roma antica (Milan 1942) 68, fig. 7; Greek Painting (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1944) title page, p. 4; C.M. Dawson, YCS 9 (1944) 100-101, 114, 119, 145, 187; M. Della Corte, Cleopatra, M. Antonio e Ottaviano (Pompeii 1951) 65; K. Schefold, Pompejanische Malerei (Basel 1952) 189; M. Della Corte, Case ed abitanti di Pom-

pei2 (Pompeii 1954) 344-49; P.H. von Blanckenhagen and C. Alexander, The Paintings from Boscotrecase (RM-EH 6, Heidelberg 1962); K. Schefold, Vergessenes Pompeji (Bern and Munich 1962) 59-65, 69; M. Cagiano de Azevedo, ArchCl 15 (1963) 133-35; W.J.T. Peters, Landscape in Ro- mano-Campanian Mural Painting (Assen 1963) 69-73, 92, 93, 112-13, pl. 24, fig. 97; K. Schefold, AJA 69 (1965) 286-87; F. Birren, History of Color in Painting (New York 1965) 17; K.M. Phillips, Jr., AJA 72 (1968) 3-4; P.H. von Blanckenhagen, RM 75 (1968) 106-43; T.B.L. Webster, Monuments Illustrating New Comedy (London 1969) 191, 247; C.M. Dawson, ArtB 32 (1970) 307-309; J.H. D'Arms, Romans on the Bay of Naples (Cambridge, Mass. 1970) 85, 112, 213-14, 231-32; E. Simon, Gnomon 44 (1972) 195-99; K. Schefold, Wort und Bild (Basel 1975) 119; J.J. Rossiter, Roman Farm Buildings in Italy (BAR International Series 52, Oxford 1978) 41, fig. 12; J. Ward- Perkins and A. Claridge, Pompeii A.D. 79 (Boston 1978) 1, 26-27, II, 161-65; P.N. Boulter, in Studies in Classical Art and Archaeology (Locust Valley, N.Y. 1979) 254, n. 22; A. Casale and A. Bianco, Antiqua Suppl. 15 (1979) 33, fig. 7; F. Bastet and M. de Vos, Archeologische StudiMn van het Nederlands Instituut te Rome 4 (The Hague 1979) 8-9, 45-47; M. de Vos, L'egittomania in pitture e mosaici romano-campani della prima et

'

imperiale. Etudes prdliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain 24 (Leiden 1980) 5-8, pl. 2.2; E.W. Leach, RM 88 (1981) 307-27; LIMC 1 (1981) 778, pl. 629; H. Mielsch, ANRW 11, 12.2 (1981) 173, 196; H.B. Van der Poel, Corpus Topographi- cum Pompeianum, Pt. 2: Toponymy (Rome 1983) 207-208, 211; V. Kockel, AA (1985) 512. The sources specifically mentioning the portrait medallions after Alexander's 1929 article are Dawson's 1944 monograph (p. 100: "we have here portraits of some members of the imperial family"); the monograph by Blanckenhagen and Alexander (1962), where they are discussed by Alexander and Blanckenhagen respectively on pp. 14 and 59; Schefold (1962), in which Agrippa Postumus is suggested on pp. 64-65; M. Cagiano de Azevedo's 1963 review of Blanckenhagen and Alexander, in which he misinterprets Blanckenhagen's identification of the medallions as portraits of Agrippa and Agrippa Postu-

American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987) 127


128 MAXWELL L. ANDERSON [AJA 91

Planning for a new installation of the wall paintings from Boscotrecase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art occasioned a re-examination of the portraits, with a surprising result. Before turning to these images, a summary of the villa's history and occupants will be useful.3

That the villa originally belonged to Agrippa was proven by Rostovtzeff in 1926; Blanckenhagen established that it was built in Agrippa's lifetime but deco-

rated in part after his death in 12 B.C., and most like- ly in the year 11.4 This date is supported by amphoras inscribed with the names of slaves of Agrippa and of his posthumously born son, Agrippa Postumus, as well as a graffito apparently referring to Julia through her relation to Augustus and Agrippa Postu- mus.5 There is every reason to accept the date of ca. 11 B.C. on epigraphical grounds, as well as on the stylistic evidence that the wall paintings of the cubicula are early examples of the Third Style, which probably originated around 15 B.C.6

One implication of this date seems to have been un- explored, and it may be critical in interpreting the villa's wall paintings. In 11 B.C., the completion and decoration of the cubicula would have been overseen by Agrippa's widow Julia.7 The event which may

Fig. 1. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund acc. no. 20.192.10. Central panel of the north wall of the Black Room (Cubiculum 15) of the imperial villa at Boscotrecase.

mus (p. 133); and Schefold's review in AJA (1965). Alexan- der (1962) suggests again that they are likenesses of the same man, but calls them "generalized," and speculates that "they might allude to Agrippa" (p. 14); Blanckenhagen adds later that they are portraits "of either Agrippa or of another member of the imperial family" (p. 59). During a recent conversation (April 1986) Prof. von Blanckenhagen said that he no longer believes them to be portraits, but rather images of Apollo and Artemis. Schefold (1965) seems to assume that Blanckenhagen and Alexander share his tentative 1962 identification of the "medallion" as Agrippa Postumus, not Agrippa, and expresses his reservations about this identification (p. 286).

3 The most important sources for the villa's history and contents are (supra n. 2) Della Corte (1922); Della Corte (1954) and Blanckenhagen and Alexander. Della Corte (1954) should be used with caution, since it includes some mistakes concerning other villas around Pompeii, but the section dealing with inscriptions from the villa of Agrippa Postumus is sound.

4 Rostovtzeff (supra n. 2) 496, n. 31; Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 9-11 (also for the stylistic differences between the Second Style peristyle and the Third Style cubicula). I For the inscriptions, see Della Corte (supra n. 2, 1922) 477-78; Della Corte (supra n. 2, 1954) 344-49, and Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 10-11. But see also M. Gigante, "L'Augusto irriso," CronPomp 2 (1976) 226-28.

6 Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 11, n. 8. Re- cent and unsubstantiated attempts to suggest a later date for the decoration of the cubicula are made in Bastet and de Vos (supra n. 2) 8-9.

7 Agrippa Postumus was only a few months old at the time of the villa's completion. Schefold (supra n. 2, 1965) mentions this problem, and argues that the villa was therefore decorated between A.D. 4-7, when Agrippa Postumus was between 16 and 19 years old (see also Schefold [supra n. 2, 1962] 64-65). He reasons that if Tiberius had occupied the villa along with Julia, the brick stamp from 11 B.C. should have named him and not Agrippa. This places altogether too much emphasis on the stamp, which was, in Blanckenha-


1987] THE PORTRAIT MEDALLIONS OF THE IMPERIAL VILLA AT BOSCOTRECASE 129

Fig. 2. Detail of fig. 1 showing the left medallion Fig. 3. Detail of fig. 1 showing the right medallion

have brought about plans to decorate the cubicula- the peristyle having been previously painted-was Julia's marriage, that very year, to Tiberius.8

Julia's union with Tiberius was apparently not vol- untary, but dictated by Augustus in order to set the stage for imperial succession.9 Livia, we may assume, was involved in the Emperor's decision to have his

daughter marry Livia's son.10 Soon after the betroth- al, Tiberius was sent off to the Danube to confront the Pannonians.1'

Given Augustus' fondness for his daughter, her close ties to his wife would certainly have been encouraged by the Emperor. Augustus was in fact at this very time seeking to link Julia and Livia in official art: on

gen's words, "apparently a sporadic find and not in context" (Blanckenhagen and Alexander [supra n. 2] 10-11).

8 It would have been unseemly to decorate and furnish a house during a period of mourning. On the circumstances of the marriage between Julia and Tiberius, see Suet. Aug. 2.63; Dio Cass. 54.31; E. La Rocca, Ara Pacis Augustae (Rome 1983) 35-38. Concerning the suggestion that the Villa Farnesina was decorated on the occasion of Julia's wedding to Agrippa, see H. Beyen in Studia C. Vollgraff

(Amsterdam 1948) 3-21; I. Bragantini and M. de Vos, Le decorazioni della villa romana della Farnesina (Museo Na- zionale Romano, Le Pitture, II.1, Rome 1982) 23, n. 11, and references therein.

9 See Suet. and Dio Cass., supra n. 8. 10 For an example of Livia's sway with Augustus, see Dio

Cass. 55.14-22. 11 Dio Cass. 54.31.



the Ara Pacis, Julia and Livia are, according to some, arranged as symmetrical opposites on two different sides of the monument.12 In a contemporary aes struck in Pergamon, Livia is shown on the obverse in the guise of Hera, and Julia is on the reverse in the guise of Aphrodite (fig. 4).13 Livia, in turn, can only have profited from Julia's union with her son, since she thereby furthered his interests. Dio Cassius informs us that Livia and Julia gave a dinner party jointly in 9 B.C. to celebrate a triumph of Tiberius. 14

Augustus' physical presence at the villa cannot be proved, but Dio Cassius informs us that he inherited most of Agrippa's estate, and Suetonius makes mention of the fact that Augustus ordinarily held such property in trust if the children of the deceased were too young to assume responsibility for it.I5 Since this is the case with regard to Boscotrecase, as D'Arms points out, Augustus would have been the trustee of the villa after Agrippa's death.16

Fig. 4. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, no. 1195. Cast of an aes from Pergamon, showing Livia as Hera on the obverse and Julia as Aphrodite on the reverse. (Courtesy of the Met- ropolitan Museum of Art)

The two portrait medallions mentioned at the out- set adorn the north wall of the villa's Bedroom 15.17 They rest on top of two slim columns framing a landscape in the center of the wall, and support an ornate canopy. Since the medallions are the only imperial portraits known in Roman wall painting, they merit close attention, and the sitters' identities should be considered with the overall decorative program and its authors in mind.18

While decorative medallions with generalized likenesses are common in Roman wall painting, portrait medallions of heads alone are rare. There are numer- ous medallions with bust-length images of male and female figures, often divinities, generalized likenesses, or portraits, but these are almost always shown frontally or in a three-quarter view, and have not been identified as specific individuals.19 Images of full figures, such as the painted portrait often taken to be of Menander in the Pompeian house that today bears his name, form a different class.20 A small panel from Herculaneum, now in the Naples Museum, has medallions including heads in strict profile, terminating at the base of the neck.21 A panel from Stabia, also in the Naples Museum, shows a bust-length portrait of a woman on a black background.22 None of these examples is as refined as the medallions from Boscotrecase, and the Herculaneum medallions are not portraits, since the bearded figure at the right appears to have two horns.

Close in setting to the Boscotrecase portraits are a pair of bust-length images of women in profile, framed in squares in the triclinium of the Casa dei

12 La Rocca (supra n. 8) 34. This is predicated upon the acceptance of the identifications proposed by E. Simon; see infra n. 31.

13 W.H. Gross, Julia Augusta (AbhGiatt 3, no. 52, 1962) 29, n. 17; pl. 4, figs. 6-8.

14 Dio Cass. 54.2. 15 Dio Cass. 54.29.5; Suet. Aug. 66.4. 16 D'Arms (supra n. 2) 232. 17 See figs. 2-3. The medallion on the left is illustrated in

Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) color pl. B, after retouching undertaken in 1959. See infra ns. 18-19.

18 On the medallions' uniqueness, see Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 59. Blanckenhagen there cites what he believes to be the only other example of imperial portraiture on Roman walls: Augustus as Novus Mercurius in the stucco ceiling of the Farnesina. The identification of No- vus Mercurius as a portrait of Augustus by O. Brendel (RM 50 [1935] 231-59) has been challenged, with the suggestion that it represents M. Claudius Marcellus instead. For references to the controversy surrounding the Farnesina Mer- cury's identification, see I. Bragantini and M. de Vos (supra n. 8) 294 n. 14 (pl. 200).

19 Busts in painted tondos are common in Roman wall painting, but are ordinarily either mythological or generalized likenesses, and are shown in a frontal or three-quarter view; see, e.g., O. Elia, Pitture di Stabia (Naples 1957) 65, pls. 41-42, and A. Allroggen-Bedel, RM 84 (1977) 52, pls. 22, 23.1. Portraits in profile, like that from Stabiae (see infra n. 22) are quite rare. See especially D.L. Thompson, in Pompeii and the Vesuvian Landscape (Papers of a Sym- posium Sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of Ameri- ca, Washington Society, and the Smithsonian Institution 1979) 78-85.

20 For the Casa del Menandro (1.10.4), see A. Maiuri, La Casa del Menandro e il suo tesoro di argentaria (Rome 1933); A. and M. de Vos, Pompei Ercolano Stabia (Bari 1982) 90-96.

21 Naples, Museo Nazionale inv. 9091. The diameter of the medallions is 11.7 cm. for the left, 11.5 cm. for the right. A dotted line surrounds the images.

22 Naples, Museo Nazionale inv. 9077, Pompeii A.D. 79 (Boston 1978) 123, no. 18; color plate, vol. I, p. 20. The bust is ca. 14 cm. in height.



Fig. 5. Pompeii, Casa dei Cubicoli Floreali (I.9.5). Detail showing the left portrait from the north wall of the triclinium. (Courtesy of the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione, neg. no. 34979)

Cubicoli Floreali in Pompeii (fig. 5).23 The busts face each other across a canopy similar to that resting on the Boscotrecase portraits.24 The triclinium of the Casa dei Cubicoli Floreali has been dated variously, but most convincingly to a late phase of the Third Style, and thus postdates the villa at Boscotrecase.25 The decorative elements of the room, including the likenesses of women, are so close to elements of the Boscotrecase paintings that they may have been directly inspired by the imperial commission. Such examples of small likenesses in profile are nonetheless few, and none of the faces represented may be asso- ciated with any known figure of the early Empire.

To return to Boscotrecase's portrait medallions, one may begin by reassessing the suggestion, offered by Alexander in 1929, that they might depict Agrippa.26 A portrait of Julia's recently deceased husband would surely have been inappropriate for the villa if it was decorated on the occasion of or after Julia's marriage to Tiberius.27 Concern over the implausibility of this suggestion prompted a close re-examination of the portraits and an unexpected result.

The authors of the 1962 monograph may have studied the medallions themselves rather than the original 1926 photographs of the portraits before restoration and overpainting (figs. 2-3).28 Clearly visible in these photographs is the long hair of both heads, which can only be that of women, since it is combed up in front, and trails in thick locks down the neck of each. A nodus and shoulder locks have always been visible in the portrait on the right. The portrait on the left was retouched in 1959 with the effect that the hair and features were changed: the chin line was painted out, the tip of the nose and the mouth were brought closer together, and part of the long hair was covered over, resulting in a masculine appearance. There are, nonetheless, no contemporary images of men in the imperial family or inner circle who arranged their hair in this way, and the conclusion that both heads are female seems unavoidable.

Further examination makes it apparent that these are not likenesses of a single person, but of two women, a younger woman on the left, and an older woman on the right. The medallion portrait on the left shows a face looking right. The sitter's blonde hair is puffed up in front, swept back loosely behind the ears, and allowed to fall about the neck, almost as far down as the clavicles. The wide, doe-like eyes and weak chin combine with the hair to give the woman a youthful appearance. The bust of the sitter is scallop-shaped below, and in front is a pair of light, yellow brush-

23 On the Casa dei Cubicoli Floreali (I.9.5), also known as the Casa del Frutteto, see A. Maiuri, BdA 37 (1952) 6-12; K. Schefold, Die Wiinde Pompejis, Topographisches Ver- zeichnis der Bildmotiv (Berlin 1957) 38; K. Schefold (supra n. 2, 1962) 140-41, 155, 196, 199; W.J.T. Peters (supra n. 2) 85-86, 112-13; 179; H. Eschebach, Die Baugeschichte der stabianer Thermen, RM-EH 17 (Heidelberg 1970) 120; H. Sichtermann, AntW 5.3 (1974) 41-51; H. Sichter- mann, in Forschungen und Funde, Festschrift Bernhard Neutsch (Innsbruck 1980) 457-61; Pitture e pavimenti di Pompei I (Rome 1981) 97 (III style phase IIB).

24 For the painted busts in profile, see Gabinetto Fotogra- fico Nazionale, neg. nos. N34971 and N34979. The painted squares containing the busts are 21 cm. high, and 2.245 m. from the floor.

25 Most scholars agree that the triclinium dates to the late Third Style; Schefold (supra n. 2, 1962) 199 considers it a Vespasianic copy of a painting from the millennium's turn.

26 Alexander (supra n. 2, 1929) 178. 27 On the inappropriateness of including portraits of past

members of the imperial family in the Ara Pacis, see J. Pol- lini, Studies in Augustan "Historical" Reliefs (Diss. Univer- sity of California at Berkeley 1978) 121.

28 The left medallion (fig. 2) was, as mentioned above (n. 2), illustrated in Alexander's article of 1929; the right medallion (fig. 3) was heretofore illustrated only in Schefold (supra n. 2, 1962) pl. 42. Since their cleaning in the spring of 1985, the medallions have regained some of their original appearance.


132 MAXWELL L. ANDERSON [AJA 91 strokes which may allude to the acanthus-leaf sup- ports frequently given bust-length portraits in the round, such as an under life-size bronze portrait bust in the Metropolitan Museum.29

The medallion portrait at right has suffered a vertical crack running to the left of its center, which slightly disfigures the image of the sitter. This figure has her hair arranged in a nodus in front, somewhat shorter hair combed back behind the ear, and a long shoulder lock down the side of the neck. The profile is quite distinct: the nose projects out slightly from the bridge on down, whereas in the portrait on the left, the line of the nose is parallel to that indicating the fore- head. Allowing for the portrait's separation into halves because of the vertical crack, the sitter's face is rounder and slightly more heavy-set than that of the medallion at left. The jaw line is longer and the bust below, although scallop-shaped, appears more solid. The eye is shown almost frontally, with both the inner and the outer corners visible, whereas that of the left- hand portrait is shown in profile. In addition, the eyebrow arches, whereas that on the left is composed of a single diagonal line extending down from the bridge of the nose.

In sum, the hairstyles show the medallion heads to be female, and the features suggest that the woman on the left, with her longer, more tousled hair, slimmer face, wide-eyed expression, and unarched eyebrow, is younger than the woman at right.

Once it has been accepted that these are portraits of two different women, the subjects' identities may be considered. As mentioned above, it was in 11 B.C. that Julia was wed to Tiberius, an event in which Livia must have had a hand. These two women were at the time 28 and 47 years old respectively. After consider-

ing the limited number of women whose portraits would be appropriate in this setting, it is my conten- tion that the portrait medallions of Boscotrecase depict Julia and Livia.

Julia and Livia may be linked on the Ara Pacis of 13-9 B.C., as mentioned above.30 The monument is unfortunately of limited use in making a comparison with the painted portraits of Boscotrecase, since, apart from its being an official monument rather than a private one, the portrait presumed to depict Julia lacks the head.3' More pertinent to the painted portraits are works on a smaller scale. The aes from Pergamon (fig. 4) is apt, but the portraits of Livia and Julia are not sufficiently detailed to provide more than an indi- cation that the nodus coiffure was then in use by both women, and that Livia wears the shoulder lock, while Julia does not.32 For comparanda we must turn to in- dividual portraits of each, bearing in mind the fact that Augustus was encouraging their association in public portraiture during this period.33

Images of Livia in profile are abundant.34 We may look among coins or gems; the latter provide larger, more detailed likenesses, and are private rather than official portraits."3 They thus offer a surer basis for comparison. Gem portraits generally acknowledged to depict Livia in Berlin, Florence, The Hague (fig. 6), Boston, Paris (fig. 7), and Rome all share the facial features of the right Boscotrecase medallion.36 In the gems, as in the painted portrait, the profile shows a large nose, an arched eyebrow, a large eye often shown frontally, with both corners visible, fleshy cheeks and a full neck, pursed lips, and a small chin. For the whole portrait, the cameo in The Hague (fig. 6) is useful, since it shares much in the features of the face, and has the hair brushed up into a nodus in

29 Acc.no. 52.11.6; C. Alexander, BMMA 11 (1952-1953) 168-71; H. Jucker, Das Bildnis im Blidtterkelch (Lausanne and Freiburg 1961) 49-51, V. Poulsen, Les portraits ro- mains I (Copenhagen 1962) 75.

30 See supra n. 12. 31 The figure identified as Julia on the Ara Pacis by E. Simon is no. 35 of the north frieze according to Pollini's

numbering system; see E. Simon, Ara Pacis Augustae (Til- bingen 1967) 21; Pollini (supra n. 27) 112; La Rocca (supra n. 8) 34. The identification is still open to question.

32 See Gross (supra n. 13) pl. 4, figs. 6-8, and p. 29, n. 17. I wish to thank M. Amandry of the Bibliotheque Nationale for having casts of the coins made.

13 Especially following Julia's marriage to Tiberius, when Livia's relation to Julia was strengthened. Augustus di- vorced Scribonia in 38, "pertaesus ... morum perversitatem eius" (Suet. Aug. 62.2); from that point on, Julia's relation to Livia must have been encouraged by the Emperor.

34 On portraits of Livia, see especially: J.J. Bernoulli, R6-

mische Ikonographie: Die Bildnisse der r6mischen Kaiser II.1 (Berlin and Stuttgart 1886) 83-109; Poulsen (supra n. 29) 65-75; Gross (supra n. 13); H. Bartels, Studien zum Frauenportrdt der augusteischen Zeit (Munich 1963) 29-72; H. von Heintze, rev. of Gross, AJA 68 (1964) 318-20; B. Freyer-Schauenburg, BonnJbb 182 (1982) 209- 24, and references therein.

35 See esp. M.-L. Vollenweider, Die Steinschneidekunst und ihre Kunstler in spaitrepublikanischer und augustei- scher Zeit (Baden-Baden 1966).

36 For the cameo in The Hague, see Vollenweider (supra n. 35) pl. 84.1; for the cameo in Boston, pl. 86.1; for the sardonyx in Rome, pl. 73.7; for the sardonyx in the Cabinet des Medailles, pl. 74.1; for the carnelian in Berlin, pl. 75.1, 3; for the cameo in Florence, pl. 76.4. The fact that both painted portrait busts are undraped is not surprising, since they may play on the theme of Livia and Julia as Hera and Aphrodite, promulgated at this time by Augustus in the aes from Pergamon (fig. 4). Bust-length images of female divin-



Fig. 6. The Hague, Koninklijk Kabinet van Munten Pen- ningen en Gesneden Stenen. Cameo portrait of Livia. (Courtesy of The Hague)

front, and back over the top of the ears, with locks against the side of the neck, although it lacks the shoulder lock present in the painted version, which is present in other images of Livia, such as the cameo in the Bibliotheque Nationale (fig. 7).37

Portraits of Julia are rare, owing largely to her banishment, in 2 B.C., for licentious conduct.38 The few portraits which deserve consideration were published by Grimm in 1973. One example which is sufficiently clear to permit comparison with the Boscotre- case medallions is a bone gaming chip in Alexandria's Greek-Roman Museum (fig. 8).39 The profile on the gaming chip has in common with that of the left painted medallion of Boscotrecase a straight line running from the brow to the tip of the nose. The hair- style is nonetheless that of the right medallion, sharing a nodus in front and shoulder locks. Alf6ldi-Rosen-

baum identifies the woman on the gaming chip as Livia, relying on the fact established by Gross that it is only Livia, in this period, who wears a shoulder lock. This is therefore additional evidence for the identification of the painted medallions as Livia and Julia, since the right portrait bears the shoulder lock, and the left one does not.40

The lead tessera of Julia in Rome's Museo Nazio- nale has deteriorated to such an extent that her profile is difficult to make out; since it is, by virtue of its in- scription, the only securely identified portrait of Julia other than on coins, we are left to compare images of Julia's father Augustus in profile, as first recom- mended by Bernoulli, but this is an unsatisfactory

Fig. 7. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Bab. 232a. Cameo portrait of Livia (the Cam&e Roger). (Courtesy of the Bib- liotheque Nationale)

ities on Augustan gems are routinely shown undraped; see, for example, Venus, Ceres and Artemis (Vollenweider [supra n. 35] pls. 8.7, 44.1, and 52.4). In any event, bust-length female portraits are occasionally undraped at this time, as in the case of a bronze portrait in the Metropolitan Museum (supra n. 20).

37 Vollenweider (supra n. 35) 73, n. 58; 64, n. 90. I thank Dr. J.P.A. van der Vin of The Hague for providing a photograph. For portraits of Livia with the shoulder lock, see Gross (supra n. 13) 63.

38 On Julia's life, see Macrobius Sat. 2.5; Dio Cass. 54.10; Suet. Aug. 63-65; E. Meise, Untersuchungen zur Geschich- te der julisch-claudischen Dynastie (Vestigia 10, 1969)

3-34; L.F. Raditsa, ANRW 11.13 (1980) 290-95. A close comparison may be found in a denarius of 13 B.C., with a portrait of Julia on the reverse in the guise of Diana: M.D. Fullerton, in AJA 89 (1985) 476, pl. 55, fig. 10. On epigraphical references to portraits of Julia, see C. Hanson and F.P. Johnson, AJA 50 (1946) 394-95.

3" G. Grimm, RM 80 (1973) pls. 86.1 and 87.1. I thank Dr. Youssef El-Ghiriami of the Greek-Roman Museum for sending a photograph. See E. Alf61di-Rosenbaum in Eiko- nes, Studien zum griechischen und ramischen Bildnis (Basel 1980) 29-39, esp. 29, no. 8, pl. 9.1, where an identification of the counter as Livia rather than Julia is favored.

40 These seem at first to be the ends of a taenia or fillet, but



Fig. 8. Alexandria, Greek-Roman Museum, inv. no. 23869. Bone gaming chip with a portrait of Livia. (Courtesy of the Greek-Roman Museum)

method.41 Other portraits, such as a gem cited by Ber- noulli and one in Hannover cited by Vollenweider, re- main no more than candidates.42

Alternative identifications for portraits in this setting cannot include Julia's mother Scribonia, since Augustus' loathing of Scribonia makes this improbable, although we have no firmly attested images of Scribonia.43 Antonia Minor might be considered for the portrait medallion on the left, but she does not be- long in this setting, and the profile of the medallion bears little relation to that of her portraits.44 In any event, the medallions seem clearly to be of women from the imperial family of this period, and attempts to identify them as divinities, such as Apollo and Diana, cannot explain the unmistakable allusion to the coiffure and features of the Empress Livia in the right medallion. In this private setting, the distinctions between portraiture and personification are blurred, just as they are in contemporary cameo portraits and

in the equally decorative stucco likeness in the Villa Farnesina, and we cannot expect a clear and literal likeness in a small painted image.45 But since the right medallion, at least, shares so much with extant portraits, and since there are no other women in the imperial family whom we would expect to find commemorated in this villa, the first suggestion, of Julia and Livia, is the most attractive.46

These new identifications of the portrait medallions, if accepted, would provide fascinating insight into the private lives of the imperial family, since we are here projected back to a time nine years before Ju- lia's disgrace and exile for adulterous conduct in 2 B.C. It should not surprise us that Julia's portrait was not removed in 2 B.C.; by then the villa may have been administered for the imperial family by freedmen.47 This is no official portrait but a small private image which would not have attracted attention outside the family.

Bearing these suggested identifications in mind, we may note their connection to the other decorative elements of Cubiculum 15, the Black Room. Alexander rightly mentions the relation of the Black Room to the so-called Casa di Livia and Agrippa's Villa Farnesina in its reliance on a single unifying color-black, in this case-which is accented by delicate architectural elements.48 In its decorative scheme as well it recalls wall paintings in Augustus' house on the Palatine and the Villa Farnesina.49 Blanckenhagen also notes the presence, in the Black Room, of "swans holding a fillet in their beaks like those in the acanthus scrolls of the Ara Pacis"; this is an early and perhaps seminal use of the motif which later appears in the Casa di Cerere (I.9.13) at Pompeii.50

In reviewing the Black Room's decoration, one should call attention to Della Corte's original descrip-

are almost certainly just stylized locks of hair, since women did not wear fillets this long; Alf6ldi-Rosenbaum (supra n. 39) 31.

41 Grimm (supra n. 39) 279-82, pl. 87.2; Bernoulli (supra n. 34) 128.

42 Bernoulli (supra n. 34) 127, pl. 27.10; Antike Gemmen in deutschen Sammlungen 4 (Wiesbaden 1975) 216, no. 1092; Hannover inv. no. K813.

43 On Scribonia, see Suet. Aug. 62.2; R. Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford 1939) 213, 229; E.F. Leon, TAPA 1951, 168. Scribonia might have died before a canonical likeness of her was made; in any case, Augustus detested her so much by 11 B.C. that it is inconceivable that she should be commemorated in the villa where he and Livia were welcome.

44 On portraits of Antonia Minor, see K. Polaschek, Stu- dien zur Ikonographie der Antonia Minor (StArch 15, Rome 1973); K. Fittschen, Katalog der antiken Skulpturen

in Schloss Erbach (AF 3, 1977) 58-62; K.P. Erhart, AJA 82 (1978) 193-212.

45 See supra n. 18. 46 There are no other women in the imperial family who

bear a direct blood relation to Julia, the mistress of the house, since she was an only child, except her aunt Octavia Maior, who, according to Plutarch (Ant. 87), orchestrated the marriage of Julia and Agrippa, and would have had no great investment in Julia's new bethrothal to Tiberius.

47 See Della Corte (supra n. 2, 1954) 345. 48 Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 53, n. 81. 49 Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 20, 26-29,

30, 34, 54. See, on the House of Augustus, F. Coarelli, Roma2 (Guide archeologiche Laterza, Bari 1981) 129, and infra n. 53.

50o Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 14. For the Casa di Cerere (I.9.13) see Bastet and de Vos (supra n. 2) 30-31, and M. de Vos, Meded 38 (1976) 37.



tion in his 1922 excavation report of the Black Room."I The mosaic floor was quite simple: altogether white, with a 92 cm. square pattern in the cubiculum's center composed of nine hexagons demarcated with black tesserae. There was another plain black geomet- ric pattern, smaller still, at the bedroom's entrance.52 The contents of Cubiculum 15, described by Della Corte, are not especially illuminating, since they date not from the time of the villa's occupation by the imperial family but from the succeeding generation.53

Apart from the cubiculum's decorative simplicity and its important situation in relation to the other bedrooms, being the easternmost, it includes the only two portraits of members of the imperial family iden- tifiable as such in all of Roman wall painting. It also incorporates, on the north wall, the above-mentioned swans, a distinctive emblem linked directly to Augus- tus after his victory at Actium and to the Ara Pacis, a monument under construction at the time of the pre-

sumed decoration of the Boscotrecase cubicula by a workshop from the capital.54 The painted Egyptianiz- ing plaques of the Black Room reveal the contemporary concerns of fashion and imperial iconography in the same informal way as the medallions; the Egypto- mania that swept Campania in the first century B.C. is here especially appropriate, given Augustus' construction of the Solarium Augusti in front of the Ara Pacis, which effectively marshalled Egyptian culture and science in the service of Rome.55 The decorative details of Cubiculum 15 thus cohere in a playful man- ner with the intentionally limited perspective, minia- ture landscapes, and improbable architectural forms, creating a teasing ensemble which must have de- lighted visitors to this sumptuous imperial residence.

DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN ART THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART FIFTH AVENUE AT 82ND STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10028

51 Della Corte (supra n. 2, 1922) 468-70. 52 Della Corte (supra n. 2, 1922) 469. 53 Della Corte (supra n. 2, 1922) 470. 54 Swans are sacred to Apollo, and are symbols linked spe-

cifically to Augustus following his victory at Actium: Blanckenhagen and Alexander (supra n. 2) 14; Schefold (supra n. 2, 1962) 64. For the relation of Augustus to Apol- lo, see E. Simon, JdI 93 (1978) 202-27. See also the swans in the House of Augustus on the Palatine: G. Carettoni, RM 90 (1983) 405, figs. 12-13, color pl. 14.2. Swans are later a common decorative motif in Pompeian painting; examples in the Naples Museum are inv. nos. 8715, 8774, 9597, and 9820. An additional pair have the inventory numbers 8560

and 9786. See also supra n. 50. For a fuller sense of the importance of imperial patronage both at Boscotrecase and in neighboring villas, see Della Corte (supra n. 2, 1954) 344-74, and E.W. Leach, in Literary and Artistic Patronage in Ancient Rome (Austin 1982) 135-73. On the problem of "Studius" or "Ludius" and the Roman workshop which was probably responsible for the decoration of this villa, see Peters (supra n. 2) 4; R. Ling, JRS 67 (1977) 1-16; Bragantini and de Vos (supra n. 8) 22-23, 337.

55 On Egyptomania, see de Vos (supra n. 2, 1980). On the Solarium Augusti, see E. Buchner, Die Sonnenuhr des Au- gustus (Mainz 1982).


Article Contentsp. 127p. 128p. 129p. 130p. 131p. 132p. 133p. 134p. 135

Issue Table of ContentsAmerican Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 91, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 1-160Volume InformationFront MatterArchaeology in Anatolia [pp. 1-30]The Hellenistic Shipwreck at Sere Liman, Turkey: Preliminary Report [pp. 31-57]The Early Helladic II Corridor House: Development and Form [pp. 59-79]... : In Defense of Furtwngler's Athena Lemnia [pp. 81-84]Presigillata from Morgantina [pp. 85-103]The Chronology and Function of Ceramic Unguentaria [pp. 105-122]A Note on the Architecture of the Theatrum Pompei in Rome [pp. 123-126]The Portrait Medallions of the Imperial Villa at Boscotrecase [pp. 127-135]Book ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 137-138]Review: untitled [pp. 138-140]Review: untitled [p. 140]Review: untitled [pp. 140-141]Review: untitled [pp. 141-142]Review: untitled [p. 142]Review: untitled [pp. 142-143]Review: untitled [pp. 143-144]Review: untitled [pp. 144-146]Review: untitled [pp. 146-147]Review: untitled [p. 147]Review: untitled [pp. 147-148]Review: untitled [pp. 149-150]Review: untitled [pp. 150-151]Review: untitled [pp. 151-153]Review: untitled [p. 153]Review: untitled [pp. 153-154]Review: untitled [pp. 154-155]Review: untitled [pp. 155-156]Review: untitled [pp. 156-157]Review: untitled [pp. 157-158]

Books Received [pp. 158-160]Back Matter

505462

Documents

imperial villa

boscotrecase maxwell

jstor terms

painted portrait medallions

small portrait medallions

jstor archive

boscotrecase authors

imperial family