Inv. Scu 817

Bust of the Emperor Hadrian depicted young and with the chubby face.

Although it represents the Emperor’s first portrait type, it is already marked by some innovative features that will later become peculiar to Hadrian’s images: his short, well-groomed beard, in the same way as philosophers and intellectuals and the refined hairstyle composed by wavy and skillfully curled locks.

In this portrait, the elegant hairstyle of the realistically wavy locks and the beard rendered by plastic quiffs are noteworthy. The bust wears a lorica with a right shoulder strap decorated by the head of Gorgon in the centre.

The paludamentum (military cloak), characterized by realistic drapery, is fastened on the left shoulder by a rounded brooch.

The work, datable to the early Hadrianic period, was found in Anzio. The piece is recorded in the Capitoline collections from the mid-18th century.