LOT 0290

Roman Head of Gaius Caesar

1ST CENTURY BC-1ST CENTURY AD

11" (28 cm including stand).

A marble portrait head of a noble Julio-Claudian boy, possibly the prince Gaius Caesar, with short hair falling in delicately incised waves, deep-set eyes, small, full lips and a distinctive, narrow chin; supplied with a custom-made stand.

Property of a gentleman; previously from a German collection formed in the early 1980s.

Accompanied by an Art Loss Register certificate.

The short, wavy hairstyle, deep-set eyes and narrow chin bear similarities with a Julio-Claudian marble portrait head held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 2011.376, that is commonly identified as Gaius Caesar. Close parallels, in terms of facial shape and features, can also be made with the portrait of Gaius held by the University of Innsbruck, inv.no. I/507; see F. Krinzinger, Das Bildnis des "jugendlichen Augustus" von Velia, AA 1976, 91-101 for parallels.

The child of Julia Augusta and Marcus Agrippa, Gaius was adopted by his maternal grandfather Augustus, who designated him (alongside Gaius' younger brother Lucius) as his heirs. At the age of 14, Gaius was granted the honorific title of 'Princeps Iuventutis' (Prince of Youth), and at 20 became a consul. Embarking on a military career, Gaius died whilst on campaign in Lycia at the age of 24, leaving no heirs. According to Tacitus (Annals, 1.3), Augustus' wife Livia was suspected of foul play in his death, seeking as she did to install her son Tiberius as Augustus' successor.