Head of a girl

The rather plain sitter is represented with fine psychological analysis. First decade of the third century.

The separately carved hair provided the opportunity to update a lady's portrait with the current fashion. Beginning of the third century A. D.

The earliest Severan piece in the collection, which exhibits very little spirituality, is just a simple hair-dress, a wig, unbroken and in nearly perfect condition. As mentioned in the introduction, Roman ladies did not like the thought that their effigies could become dated with the change of fashions in hairstyles. Thus the head and hair could be made separately, making it possible to follow the latest creations of the hairdressers. Our heavy, helmet-like wig is parted in the middle with ribbed waves corresponding exactly to the hairstyle preferred by Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. As the scale is not over life-size, an empress is less probable as the owner than a private lady trying to be up to date with court fashions.

Looking at these reflections of Julia Domna, the wife of Septimius Severus, we may turn to her daughter-in-law Plautilla (d. 212), short-term wife of Caracalla (nos. 77-78), The identification is due to Sheldon Nodelman and is based on the fact that there are one or possibly two replicas of this same type. The better preserved one is in Houston. Our example, which suffered from centuries of exposure to sea water, was originally of superior artistic quality. The modeling is soft not only in the face but even in the formation of the hair: we can see this in the waves terminating in the elaborate chignon and in the little curls on the sides of the neck. Plautilla wears her intricate hair style like a crown. A disturbing contradiction exists between the sitter and the style: the girl is clearly oriental with opulent flesh and melancholy eyes, while the fine carving reveals a court sculptor in Rome (or rather an excellent copy after a Roman original). A second dichotomy is deep in the sitter herself. It is not because of her external situation: the official artist would surely eradicate any indication of marital or family strife reflected in her face. Married to the fourteen-year-old Caracalla in 202 to further her father Plautianus’s ambitions, she was banished after his murder in 204, and protected by Septimius Severus until his death in 211, when Caracalla had her executed with the rest of her family, going so far as to erase her image from public monuments. '