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CultureRoman
Titles
  • Portrait Head of Plautilla
Date202–205 AD
MediumMarble
Dimensions14 1/4 × 8 × 8 7/8 in. (36.2 × 20.3 × 22.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Laurence H. Favrot Bequest
Object number70.39
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
203 Crane Gallery
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Antiquities
Object Type
Provenance[Jeannette Brun, Zurich, by 1970]; purchased by MFAH, 1970.
Exhibition HistoryDidactic comparison with similar head from J. Paul Getty Museum (72.AA.118), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 13–May 13, 1978 and J. Paul Getty Museum, August–December 1978 (LN: 78.14).

"A Permanent Heritage: Major Works from the Collection," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 23 October 1980–4 January, 1981.

Exhibited: "I Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome," at Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, September 6 to December 1, 1996; San Antonio Museum of Art, January 3 to March 9, 1997; and North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, April 6 to June 15, 1997 (LN:96.3).

Published References The Art Quarterly, Vol. XXXIV, No. 3, 1971, pg. 371, ill. pg. 370. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Bulletin, November 1971, p. 100 (illus.). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Bulletin, Vol. II, No. 10, Februrary 1972. Pg. 168-171. Nodelman, Sheldon. Severan Imperial Portraiture, A.D. 193-217. New Haven: Yale University, 1972. Two volumes. Wichita Eagle and Beacon, February 24, 1973. Pg. 5c. "The Severan Princess: An Art Exchange." The Houston Post, February 24, 1978. Pg. 10E. Nodelman, Sheldon, et al. Roman Portraits: aspects of self and society, first century BC - third century AD. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980. Fig. 15. [entry by Jack L. Schrader and John Minor Wisdom, Jr.]. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: A Guide to the Collection. Houston: MFAH, 1981. No. 23. Vermeule, Cornelius C. Greek and Roman Sculpture: Masterpieces in Public Collections in the United States and Canada. Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1981. Page 355, cat. no. 306. Frel, Jiri. Roman Portraits in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, Calif.: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1981. 92. Nodelman, Sheldon. "A Portrait of the Empress Plautilla." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 10 (1982): 105-120. pp. 108-109, 111-112, figs. 6-9. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston with an introduction by Dr. Peter C. Marzio. A Permanent Legacy: 150 Works from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989. Pg. 86. Kleiner, Diana and Susan B. Matheson. I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1996. Fig. 46. Landay, Janet. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: visitor guide. London: SCALA, 2000. Fig. 1.7. Varner, Eric R. and Sheramy D. Bundrick. From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny and Transformation in Roman Portraiture. Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2000. Fig. 8. Varner, Eric R. “Portraits, Plots, and Politics: ‘Damnatio Memoriae’ and the Images of Imperial Women.” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 46 (2001): 41–93. Here: Fig. 21, pp. 81-82. https://doi.org/10.2307/4238780. Varner, Eric R. Monumenta Graeca et Romana: Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture. London: Brill, 2004. No. 7.1, pp. 165-166, 188, 275, illus. cover and Figs. 162a-b, Attanasio, Donato, Matthias Bruno, and Walter Prochaska. "The Marbles of Roman Portraits: New Data on the Marble Provenance of 261 Imperial and Private Urban Portraits Dating from the Mid 1st Century B.C. to the Early 6th Century A.D." Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 134 (2019): 167-277, p. 228, no. 29.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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