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Abstract
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
1965) 17; K.M. Phillips, Jr., AJA 72 (1968) 3-4; P.H. von
Blanckenhagen,RM 75 (1968) 106-43; T.B.L. Webster,
31 (2nd ed. [1957] vol. 2, 553, n. 31); Handbookof the Classical Collection (New York 1927 and 1930) 318-19. The
medallionswere first mentionedby C. Alexander, in MMS
1 (1929) 176-86; the left one is illustratedas 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-Claudian house, which was in power when the third style was
prevalent"(p. 178). Following Alexander'sarticlein MMS,
the paintings were published in the following sources:G.E.
(Basel 1952) 189; M. Della Corte, Case ed abitanti di PomAmerican Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987)
127
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128
MAXWELL L. ANDERSON
[AJA 91
rated in part after his death in 12 B.C., and most likely 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 Postumus.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 unexplored, 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
mus (p. 133); and Schefold'sreview in AJA (1965). Alexander (1962) suggests again that they are likenesses of the
same man, but calls them "generalized,"and speculatesthat
"theymight allude to Agrippa"(p. 14); Blanckenhagenadds
later that they are portraits"ofeither Agrippaor of another
member of the imperial family" (p. 59). During a recent
conversation (April 1986) Prof. von Blanckenhagensaid
that he no longer believes them to be portraits,but rather
images of Apollo and Artemis.Schefold(1965) seems to assume that Blanckenhagenand Alexandershare his tentative
1962 identificationof the "medallion"as AgrippaPostumus,
not Agrippa, and expresseshis reservationsabout this identification(p. 286).
3 The most importantsources 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 concerningother villas around Pompeii, but the
section dealing with inscriptionsfrom the villa of Agrippa
Postumusis sound.
4 Rostovtzeff(supra n. 2) 496, n. 31; Blanckenhagenand
Alexander(supran. 2) 9-11 (also for the stylisticdifferences
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
Blanckenhagenand Alexander (supra n. 2) 10-11. But see
also M. Gigante, "L'Augustoirriso,"CronPomp2 (1976)
226-28.
6
Blanckenhagenand Alexander(supran. 2) 11, n. 8. Recent and unsubstantiatedattemptsto suggest a later date for
the decorationof the cubiculaare made in Bastetand de Vos
(supra n. 2) 8-9.
7 Agrippa Postumuswas only a few monthsold at the time
of the villa's completion.Schefold (supra n. 2, 1965) mentions this problem, and argues that the villa was therefore
decoratedbetween A.D. 4-7, when Agrippa Postumuswas
between 16 and 19 years old (see also Schefold[supra n. 2,
1962] 64-65). He reasonsthat if Tiberius had occupiedthe
villa along with Julia, the brick stamp from 11 B.C. should
have namedhim and not Agrippa.This placesaltogethertoo
much emphasis on the stamp, which was, in Blanckenha-
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1987]
129
have brought about plans to decorate the cubiculathe peristyle having been previously painted-was
Julia's marriage, that very year, to Tiberius.8
Julia's union with Tiberius was apparently not voluntary, 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 betrothal, 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
(Amsterdam1948) 3-21; I. Bragantiniand M. de Vos, Le
decorazioni della villa romana della Farnesina (Museo Na-
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MAXWELL L. ANDERSON
130
[AJA 91
The two portrait medallions mentioned at the outset 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 numerous 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
19Busts in
painted tondos are common in Roman wall
painting, but are ordinarily either mythologicalor generalized likenesses,and are shown in a frontalor 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. Portraitsin 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 Sponsoredby the ArchaeologicalInstituteof America, 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 medallionsis 11.7 cm. for the left, 11.5 cm. for the right.
A dottedline surroundsthe images.
22
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1987]
131
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;
17 (Heidelberg
1970)
120; H. Sichtermann,AntW 5.3 (1974) 41-51; H. Sichtermann, in Forschungen und Funde, Festschrift Bernhard
Neutsch (Innsbruck 1980) 457-61; Pitture e pavimenti di
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132
MAXWELLL. ANDERSON
strokes which may allude to the acanthus-leaf supports frequently given bust-length portraits in the
round, such as an under life-size bronze portraitbust
in the Metropolitan Museum.29
The medallionportraitat right has suffereda vertical crackrunning 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
shoulderlock down the side of the neck. The profileis
quite distinct: the nose projectsout slightly from the
bridgeon down, whereas in the portraiton the left, the
line of the nose is parallel to that indicatingthe forehead. 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 cornersvisible, whereas that of the lefthand portraitis shown in profile. In addition,the eyebrow arches, whereas that on the left is composedof 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 featuressuggest that the woman on
the left, with her longer, more tousled hair, slimmer
face, wide-eyed expression, and unarchedeyebrow, is
younger than the woman at right.
Once it has been acceptedthat these are portraitsof
two different women, the subjects'identities may be
considered.As mentionedabove,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-
29
and Freiburg 1961) 49-51, V. Poulsen, Les portraits romains I (Copenhagen 1962) 75.
30 See supra n. 12.
[AJA91
der augusteischen
Zeit (Munich
1963)
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1987]
133
Fig. 6. The Hague, KoninklijkKabinet van Munten Penningen en Gesneden Stenen. Cameo portrait of Livia.
(Courtesyof 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 Boscotrecase 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 hairstyle is nonetheless that of the right medallion, sharing
a nodus in front and shoulder locks. Alf6ldi-Rosen-
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134
MAXWELL L. ANDERSON
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
[AJA 91
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1987]
51 Della
135
and 9786. See also supra n. 50. For a fuller sense of the
importanceof imperial patronageboth at Boscotrecaseand
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
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