Bust of a Roman Man (so-called "Cicero")

Around 50 BC, with Rome months away from the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, a sculptor portrayed a man whose name has not come down to us. This bust is a later copy of that portrait, carved under Augustus, between about 30 BC and AD 14. A generation on, someone still wanted this face.

The bust is often called Cicero, after the orator and statesman. The museum does not use that name, and its record calls it simply the bust of a man. Cicero's own features are known from a marble bust now at Apsley House in London, which carries his name in an ancient inscription. Other heads are recognised as Cicero by comparison with it, and the museum makes no such identification here.

The bust is 37 centimetres high. It was bought in Rome in 1821 for Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, from an owner named Sposino.