The portrait of “L’Arringatore,” alternatively titled “The Orator” and “Aule Metele,” depicts a standing male figure in the adlocutio pose of oratorical address with a gently tilted head and extended arm. The composition is frontal with the body of the figure shown in contrapposto posture. The right arm is slightly bent and extends in front of the body. The left arm rests against the body, with the hand slightly clasped at the side of the toga. The third finger on the left hand wears a rounded ring. The figure wears the toga praetexta, a draped toga with a thick border over a loose striped tunic. It is believed that the stripes on the tunic were originally inlaid in a darker color of bronze. He wears calcei, formal laced shoes that cover the entirety of the foot, often worn by Roman senators with the toga in public settings. The face of the figure is modelled into an expression of somberness with a measure of Roman Republican verism in its truthful and non-idealized representation of the figure’s facial features. He has a furrowed brow line, lined and wrinkled neck, and close-cropped hair that begins to recede near the temples. The face sags slightly with age around the cheeks and chin, and the outer corners of the eyes show heavy crow’s-feet. The figure has a slightly bent aquiline nose and accentuated nasolabial folds in the fleshiest area of the face. On the hem of the toga, a retrograde inscription in Etruscan letters identifies the figure’s title, familial ties, and the sculpture’s role as a votive offering to “Sans” or Semo Sancus, the Roman god of trust and oaths.  

Significance:

There is little known of the life of Aule Metele, the figure represented in the portrait of “L’Arringatore,” though the bronze portrait itself remains significant in showing the Romanization of art in the Italian peninsula during the Republican period. Roman rule expanded rapidly during the first century BC, and many groups of people, including the Etruscans, were directly impacted by Roman influence in all aspects of life. At the time of creation of “L’Arringatore,” all inhabitants of Italic nations became official Roman citizens under the dominion of the Republic. While it is believed that Aule Metele was an Etruscan citizen, as evidenced by the lettering on the hem of his toga and the possibility that the bronze was cast by an Etruscan artist, the clothing of the figure and his facial structure explicitly suggests the influence of his Roman citizenship as well. The figure’s costume depicts his status as a Roman citizen of equestrian rank, a political and administrative class and the lower of the two aristocratic classes of Rome. The sculpture is originally believed to have been placed within a temple as a public exhibition by public decree, erected as a votive offering by either Aule Metele or his family, though for reasons unknown. Metele wears the toga praetexta, the calcei, and the striped tunic associated with honorary and symbolic Roman dress for knights and magistrates—clothing that originated in Etruscan civilization and was absorbed into Roman culture. Scholars have expressed doubts in working to properly date the sculpture of “L’Arringatore” because of the length of the toga within honorary dress contexts of Roman and Etruscan civilization during the first century BC. The toga of “L’Arringatore” has been noted as being either too long or too short in context of its original placement. In viewing the portrait from a Roman context, by a Roman artist for exhibition in Rome, it has been suggested that the portrait belonged to the period of 150 BC before Romans substantially lengthened their togas in the later first century. However, if viewed from an Etruscan context, designed by an Etruscan artist for exhibition in Rome to show the merging of the two cultures, the shorter length of the toga indicates that the portrait dates from between 100-75 BC. Scholars commonly associate the sculpture with the latter date, though its definitive date is still uncertain. His right arm extended in oratorical address represents what scholars have termed “the appendage aesthetic” in Roman portraiture, in which a part of the body is emphasized by the artist for its ability to accentuate the meaning of the sculpture. Metele’s facial features are created in the veristic style of Roman portraiture: the face, features, and style follow the Republican model of portraits that suggest the “truthfulness” of the subject’s representation. Similar to the merging of Roman and Hellenistic customs seen in other portraiture from the period, Metele’s representation in “L’Arringatore,” shows the impact of the convergence of culture, customs, and influences between the Romans and other Italic civilizations, like the Etruscans, in Republican art.

The portrait of “Livia as Ceres” depicts a standing female figure in contrapposto posture with the weight distributed on the left side of the body and the right knee softly bent. The right arm is bent at the elbow and extends forward; the hand clasps a small sheath of wheat. The left arm is held closer to the body, cradling an abundantly filled cornucopia. The figure wears a draped chiton, a rectangular Greek costume stitched on the sides and pinned along the arms and shoulders. She has a matronly body with prominent, full breasts and a waist emphasized by cording visible from the overfold of the chiton. A square mantle, a palla, drapes over the chiton and also serves as a partial veil to cover the figure’s hair. The palla wraps over the head of the figure and around the waist; it drapes over the left wrist before falling and hanging down the length of the body. On her head, the figure wears a floral wreath and an infula, a woolen headpiece knotted into bead-like shapes to be worn under the veil. The figure’s hair is styled with side waves and a nodus above the crown of her head, and small wisps of hair fall over the forehead from the coiffure. The face is unlined, fleshy, and idealized, yet features a narrow jawline and chin with a pouting mouth, small eyes, and a broad Julio-Claudian forehead that show similarities to portraits of Livia’s son, Tiberius, during his reign as emperor.

Significance:

The portrait of “Livia as Ceres” serves to display Livia’s importance in the worlds of Augustus and Tiberius, yet it varies greatly in the meaning of its imagery and functions. Scholars have noted that the portrait was heavily restored in the late 18^th century—the arms, cornucopia, part of the floral crown, and pieces of veil around the neck were all later additions to the sculpture, calling into question its function during Julio-Claudian times. It has been suggested that before restoration, the attributes original to the sculpture could have indicated Livia’s imperial roles rather than priestly duties or the guise of a goddess. However, it would not be uncommon to depict her in the guise of Ceres—similar imagery also exists in examples of Livia’s portraiture found in Madrid and Tripoli. The goddess Ceres was known to Romans as symbolizing agriculture and motherhood, concepts featured in the attributes of a full cornucopia, floral crown, and sheath of wheat that suggest the fertile and nourishing nature of a mother figure. Some scholars have proposed that the portrait presents Livia as a priestess of Ceres because of the symbol of the cornucopia, but historic evidence does not account for her religious roles at this time outside of the designation as a priestess of the deified Augustus. The costume worn by the figure has also been challenged: it has been suggested that Livia is dressed in the chiton, a common costume found in many of her other full-bodied portraits, though it can also be construed as a stola, a pleated robe often worn by Roman matrons. If the costume is understood as the stola, it would function to define Livia in her role as the wife of the late emperor, Augustus, and as the mother of the new emperor, Tiberius. In the costume of the stola, particularly with the head covering of the palla, Livia embodies the dignity and modesty of matrons in Augustan ideology. In Ceres’ guise, Livia takes on the role of the nurturer with her success at providing not only a male heir to Augustus, but for the new hope for Rome’s future under the rule of Tiberius. At the time of Tiberius’ accession as emperor, the figures of Livia and Ceres were assimilated in art, possibly caused by Tiberius’ refusal to provide Livia with the designation of mater patriate, the mother of Rome. In representing Livia so vastly in the portrait of “Livia as Ceres,” it is possible that the sculpture was meant to help the viewer dwell on Livia’s imperial and priestly roles throughout her life, particularly as a mother to Tiberius and therefore to all of the empire —and her impact on the governing and growth of Rome far into the future.