Bust of Lucius Licinius Nepos in the Getty Villa, June 2016

Title: Bust of L. Licinius Nepos

Artist/Maker: Unknown

Date: A.D. 1–25

Medium: Marble

Dimensions: 37.5 × 26 × 17.5 cm (14 3/4 × 10 1/4 × 6 7/8 in.)

Place: Rome, Lazio, Italy (Place Created)

Culture: Roman

Object Number: 85.AA.111

Inscription(s): Inscription: L LICINIUS NEPOS / QUI HANC CASULAM / FECIT

Alternate Titles: Bust of Lucius Licinius Nepos (Alternate Title)

Department: Antiquities

Classification: Sculpture

Object Type: Male portrait


An inscription identifies this stern-faced man with strong features and a receding hairline as L. Licinius Nepos. The back of the head was made from a separate piece of marble and is now lost. Two attachment holes are visible on the roughly finished surface of the large portion, as well as the remains of an iron dowel in one of them.

The bust was made for display in a family tomb, as the inscription asserts, L. LICINIVS NEPOS / QVI HANC CASVLAM / FECIT (This is L. Licinius Nepos who made this little house [for his ashes]). A longer funerary inscription found near Porta Pinciana, outside Rome, in 1756, also names Nepos as the builder of the tomb and indicates that he was a tradesman.

Text from: www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103VP9#full-artwork-details