Female Bust (probably Antonia Minor)

Female bust with a portrait of a noblewoman, with well defined physiognomy traits, along with a serious and dignified look. It has the heavy face, with big eyes and open, slightly sunken, the yield mouth with a long cut and distinctive, muted nasolabial depressions. The noblewoman shows a type of simple and elegant hairstyle, with slightly wavy hair which extend from a median parting, covering the ears and will collect on the nape in a small bun. The bust, modern renovation, is wrapped in a robe. The portrait depicts a noblewoman whose iconographic features, especially the hairstyle, is thought to represent Antonia Minor, mother of Emperor Claudius. The figure is similar to the one in the Ara Pacis slab, but also in the coin effigies of Claudian era. The most valuable typological and formal comparison is with the bust n. 743 of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen and with a head of the National Roman Museum. Despite concordances, discernible in the rendering of certain traits, however, is difficult to recognize in these sculptures the same person. The identification of the Venetian portrait with Antonia Minor must remain uncertain and it is preferable to assume that it is a private lady lived in the period between Tiberius and Claudius. The portrait of Venice fits perfectly into the idealized current of the claudian age, but it also presents a certain intimacy, as it appeared from the contrast between the plastic-pictorial character of the face in broad surfaces and soft and subtle shading of the hair.