Old man from Orticoli

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This male figure is quite complex and well detailed. The interpretation of the Emperor shows evident traces of time in his skin, this contributes to make the sculpture very realistic. Servius Sulpicius Galba ruled for a very short time, even so the sculpture transmits great austerity and suggests a certain degree of respect towards the man. He was in fact considered to be an Emperor with strong traditional values, one able to bring the best example of the ancestor’s way of living and behaviour. For these reasons the bust is thought to be modeled after the so-called “imagines maiorum” which literally means “ancestral image. These were wax masks modeled after the deceased in the most truthful way possible, to reach the high level of detail, the sculptor would manually add additional details to the wax mold.