Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics Framing Portraits and Persons: the Small Herculaneum Woman statue type and the construction of identity Version 1.0 May 2013 Jennifer Trimble Stanford University Abstract: This paper explores the framing of portraits of women in the second century CE through three examples of the so-called Small Herculaneum Woman statue type. Relevant juxtapositions include head and body, image and text, sculpture and setting, singularity and replication. Over the long histories of these portraits, their viewing frames have also changed drastically, reshaped by re-use, spoliage, damage or abandonment, colonialist archaeologies, and museum practices that now privilege a very modern, contemplative viewing of “art”. © Jennifer Trimble.
[email protected] Framing Portraits and Persons: the Small Herculaneum Woman statue type and the construction of identity1 Jennifer Trimble Written for Verity Platt and Michael Squire, eds. Framing the Visual in Greek and Roman Art (forthcoming). Roman portraiture is famously veristic. Its sculpted faces depict wrinkles, lines, bumpy noses, compressed lips and other idiosyncratic features, creating a vivid impression of individual physiognomies and characters. However, this impression is constructed by the anachronistic frames through which we look at Roman portraits. Modern accidents of discovery and collection mean Roman portrait heads are often presented alone, without the bodies to which most were originally attached. They are displayed in the contemplative, analytical setting of a museum gallery, or in detailed, closeup photographs viewed in a university class, textbook or research library. These modern frames and viewing technologies produce an individualism and identity far removed from the portraits’ ancient settings, contexts and effects.