How to Read Roman Republican Portraits of the Old Men

The portrait sculpture from the Republican era, better recognisable since the second century BC, although gaining in popularity particularly in the first century, constitutes one of the most unique portrait collections ever created. Variability of the portraits reveals combination of abstract features, expressed in an appropriate visual language, with definite physiognomic features and characteristics of persons being portrayed. A new type of portraiture was created at the time, different from the traditional Hellenistic one. Although it was the latter that was a source of the idea itself, and a provider of formal tools used to implement the idea. With this new concept the portraiture obtained an unprecedented capacity to articulate and project the interior processes of human experience. The Roman concept of portraying was most distinctive in so called veristic portraits, usually assumed to represent the essence of what was socially Roman. The collection consists mainly of the portraits of old men, frequently bold and toothless, with wry faces, full of wrinkles and scars – depicted in a stern manner, the manner that was not limited only to a persistent portraying of irregularities in physiognomies. Also emotional states were shown – almost with no exception these emaciated faces were gloomy and graceless. Looking at them might mislead viewers into assumption that they represented uncompromising images of their models. However, according to some studies, they were often just conventional types of representations, with features resulting from ideological motivation. And manipulating particular elements of physiognomy and character, these portrayed people – public images – were supposed to carry a particular message, to play desired and expected political and propaganda roles. What the role was remains a disputable issue, depending on various interpreting approaches. The papers dealing with the history of ancient art have been revealing, for the several years, various attempts made to extend interpretative interest beyond formal and stylistic interpretations of antique pieces of art and to look at these visual representations in a wider cultural and political context of their times. The study of the Republican portrait – traditionally explaining the origin of so called verism of these images in terms of the influence of the preceding realistic Hellenistic or Egyptian portraiture and images of ancestors – has been replaced by the approach promoting interpretation of these portraits as the signs existing in particular historical and political context which helps to explain their special visual expression. Such new interpretative perspectives significantly improved our understanding of forms and meanings of the portraits, although there are still several unclear issues, such as the social functioning of art. What is more, various researchers represent significantly different approaches. Thus, the portraits of the old men, especially popular towards the end of the republican era, on the one hand were interpreted as signs of protest against the contemporary reality, with which they argued, not allowing for what was approaching. While emphasising their age, the portrayed persons were supposed to emphasise their long-lasting service for the Republic, as well as the values they were devoted to, which were virtues, such as gravitas, dignitas, fides. On the other hand, these Republican portraits of old men are sometimes interpreted as efficient medium of social and cultural activities, and more precisely, as a result of relationships with authorities, and even as a tool used to build these relationships, especially if there was a patronage system functioning. In my paper, I confront various attitudes towards the portraits of old men and present the most convincing, in my opinion, interpretations, also trying to extend them