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Portrait of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Portrait of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Portrait of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Artist Unknown
Datecirca 160–180
MediumMarble, Parian lychnites
Dimensions27 3/4 x 18 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (70.5 x 47 x 31.8 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LinePurchased with funds from gifts by Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hanes, Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, and various donors, by exchange
Object number92.1
On View
Not on view
ProvenancePrivate collection, Aachen, Germany; by descent through family; sold to McAlpine Ancient Art, London; sold to Robert Haber & Co., New York, 1991; sold to NCMA, 1992.Published ReferencesSteve Swindell, "Art museum's directors OK $767,000 to buy three works," Raleigh: The News and Observer (March 14, 1992), 6B, illus.

North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Autumn 1992), illus. (b-w) 22.

Artemis 91-92, Annual General Meeting: January 22, 1993, 12, illus. fig. 3.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 33.

Gazette des Beaux-Arts no. 1490 (March 1993), 40, illus.

"Med in Latin: Department of Classical Studies" (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1994-94), illus. back panel of flyer.

Mary Ellen Soles, entry for Portrait of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 38, illus. (color).

Fred C. Albertson, "The Creation and Dissemination of Roman Imperial Portrait Types: The Case of Marcus Aurelius Type IV," in Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 119 (2004), briefly discussed 297, illus (b-w) 296.

John M. Riddle, A History of the Middle Ages, 300-1500 (Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008), illus. (b-w) 16, fig. 1.2.

Mary Ellen Soles, entry for Portrait of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 78, illus. (color) 79.

Christopher Davis, "Portrait of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 168.

C. Niederhuber, Roman Imperial Portrait Practice in the Second Century AD: Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 97, no. 21 (“Appendix, Marcus Aurelius Type III”).
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Art for the People: Recent Museum Acquisitions,” September 14, 1997-January 4, 1998. (Closing date extended to January 25, 1998)

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–May 29, 2024.
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