Portrait of Lucius Vibius and Family

Description:

This marble funerary relief sculpture depicts three figures, consisting of an older husband and wife and their young son, who are framed by a rectangular niche with a Latin inscription of bold, capital letters incised at the base. In the foreground, the upper bodies and faces of the man and woman protrude from the surface with their son’s portrait bust hovering behind and in between their frontal forms. On their drapery, the carving appears a bit shallow, as it consists of linear, sometimes jagged folds that create stylized, geometric clothing that flattens the surface somewhat. However, this simplification works in contrast to the detailed, individualized faces, which lack the idealization of Greek portraits, even conveying age. As such, the husband, Lucius Vibius, bears the demeanor of an older man, with jowl lines on his sunken cheeks, skin folds on his neck and lines creasing on his forehead. His V-shaped chin and bulbous head with arched brows, narrow, squinting eyes, protruding ears and long, hooked nose convey a sense of individualism. Similarly, the young boy shares the father’s ear, jaw, and head shape, revealing familial resemblance. But unlike his father, the boy has smoother, youthful features, including a softer brow and shorter nose, as well as curly ringlets that shift direction and extend to his forehead, in contrast to the older man’s receding cropped style. In one sense, the boy’s eyes and slightly curved brow more closely relate to his mother’s eyes, as they are nearly the same distance apart. Aside from that, the woman’s face appears strikingly different than her husband’s and son’s as it includes a squarer jawline and sagging skin along the chin. Her shorter nose and rounder lips seem more feminine, although her curved jowls and sunken eyes dismiss any illusions of idealization. A piece of cloth drapes over her head and hair, which is tousled in the braided nodus style. Her left arm rests horizontally while the other forms a diagonal, the cloth pooling around it and highlighting the ring on the curled hand with a delicate pointer finger that brushes her lower cheek. As if in juxtaposition to these subtle curves, Lucius’ hand extends out of the drapery cascading around his shoulders, offering a firm contrast to his wife’s delicacy.

Significance:

Like many funerary reliefs of the late Republican period, this monument uses visual iconography to express Roman ideals and assert the citizenship of former slaves, who were part of a social class called the libertini. According to the inscription on the bottom, the relief portrays Lucius Vibius, a freeborn man of the Tromentina tribe, his wife, Vecilia Hila, a freedwoman, and their son, Lucius Vibius Felicio Felix. Having once been enslaved and devoid of Roman rights, Vecilia affirms her place in the Roman world as a citizen and Roman matron. Although her husband was freeborn, he could not have married her when she was a slave, so the relief represents their status as a Roman family after her freedom, which had been given by a woman. The couple succeed by depicting themselves as the Roman ideal types—a strong, guiding paterfamilias, in the togatus pose with his hands extended, wearing the toga reserved for citizens, which symbolized Roman public life, and the virtuous matrona, carefully covered in a palla garment and stola, a slip-like cloth, epitomizing the modesty prized in freeborn women. Additionally, her arm position, with one arm horizontal and the other touching her veil, appears to be a return to the Greek-derived pudicitia pose, which exemplifies the same virtue. The two figures together, in frontal position, emphasize the strength and stability of legitimate marriage, which was denied slaves and thus important to freedmen, as further accentuated by the woman’s ring. Proof of the union, their son, a natural born Roman, hovers between them in bust form, as the crowning glory that completes the perfect, mythical Roman family. When closely examined, the family’s features, although individualized in purposeful veristic style on the man and woman and more idealized on the young boy, reflect other notable Roman trends. For instance, the man’s balding head and stern gaze recalls Julius Caesar, while the boy’s hairstyle is distinctly Augustan, and his mother’s hair reflects a variation of the nodus coiffure popularized by Livia, this style including a braided element. These attributes, along with the large letters of the inscription, which appear almost monumental in the view of one scholar, render this former slave and her family as quintessentially Roman, as they sought to be remembered. Oddly enough, one peculiarity of the piece derives from the inscription, which describes a liberta named Vibia Prima, possibly a daughter of Lucius, although she is not depicted. The precise reason for this choice is unknown, but scholars point out that most funerary reliefs include boys solely if children are shown, perhaps due to a Roman preference for males. This sudden depiction of young boys in funerary portraiture likely resulted from a trend that began when Augustus adopted Caius and Lucius Caesar. In fact, the portrait of this boy resembles the classicizing, idealized style used in the Augustan court at the time, which is clearly visible when compared to the head of Lucius Caesar in the Museo Nationale of Naples. Regardless, the relief fulfills its aim, memorializing Lucius Vibius, ‘member of the Tromentina Tribe’, and his family, as Roman citizens.

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