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Dietrich Boschung
Art Bulletin, The, Dec, 1999 by John Poluni
Interesting for the problem of the portraiture of Gaius and Lucius Caesar are three portraits that Boschung (p. 50) believes form a "replica string" (his "Genf-Koln Replikenstrang") of portraits of Augustus that are variants of the Prima Porta type. These portraits he believes were influenced by the portraiture of one of his grandsons and adopted sons (Lucius). [86] Of the three portraits, only a head in Geneva (cat. no. 102, p1. 94) bears a very strong resemblance to Augustus, and this one only in profile view. In frontal view he looks quite different, more idealized and youthful. Boschung does not note, however, that the Geneva head resembles physiognomically in profile and even somewhat in frontal view a portrait, now in the Uffizi in Florence (cat. no. 100, p1. 106), which Boschung takes as a variant of the Prima Porta type. The pincer effect and forking of the hair in relation to the eyes and nose are similar in these portraits, even if the reverse-comma-shaped locks over the right eye are reduced in nu mber as compared with the Geneva head. Nevertheless, the pattern of hair locks on both sides of both heads is remarkably similar. One distinctive hair pattern found in both, as well as in other examples of Augustus's portrait types, is a forking of the locks above the right ear. Interestingly, too, this feature is found in some of Gaius's mature portraits, no doubt because of the influence of Augustus's hairstyle on that of Gaius. [87]
The Geneva portrait is seen as being closely related to a poorly preserved head in Cologne (cat. no. 109, p1. 95) and a much better-preserved one in Patras (Fig. 12), which Boschung does not illustrate (cat. no. 154). [88] The heads in Cologne and Patras are obviously related to one another not only in general facial features but also in hairstyle. In the better-preserved Patras head, there is little physiognomic resemblance to the Geneva head, and the patterns of locks on the sides of the head are also different. And although there is a general resemblance to the Geneva head in the fringe of locks over the forehead, the pincer is tightly interlocked in both the Patras and Cologne heads, in contrast to the open pincer of the Geneva head. Is this hairstyle really meant to reflect the Type V (Prima Porta) hairstyle, as Boschung suggests? Perhaps it was meant to recall Augustus's Type II hairstyle, especially as seen in the London head (cat. no. 3, p1. 4), under the influence of Type V. Supporting this supposit ion is the youthfulness of the Patras and Cologne heads (as well as the Geneva head). However, it is not clear that at least the Patras and Cologne heads were in fact meant to represent Augustus. These heads may have been intended to portray one of his adopted sons, most likely Lucius, on the basis of a comparison with his portrait statue in Corinth ("Corinth 136"). [89] Lucius's portrait features, including the deep-set eyes and the fringe of locks over the forehead, find a close comparison in the Patras head. In short, the Patras and Cologne heads may show not the influence of Lucius's portraiture on Augustus's portraits, as Boschung suggests, but vice versa.
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