Agrippa Postumus, Rome showcases never-seen portrait of Augustus' forgotten heir

A new light is being shed on Agrippa Postumus, the repudiated and ultimately exiled adoptive heir of Augustus, with the opening of an exhibition in the Tapestry Room of the Capitoline Museums. Running from Nov. 29, 2024, to April 27, 2025, the exhibition, titled Agrippa Iulius Caesar, the repudiated heir, curated by Laura Buccino, Eugenio La Rocca and Valentina Nicolucci, brings together for the first time three marble portraits attributed to the son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, Augustus’ daughter. Prominent among the works is the recently identified portrait from the Sorgente Group Foundation, displayed alongside a bust from the Uffizi Galleries in Florence and another preserved in the Capitoline Collections. The Sorgente Group work is being shown to the public for the first time.

The exhibition is promoted by Roma Capitale, Assessorato alla Cultura, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali with the organization of Fondazione Sorgente Group and the support of Sorgente Group and Condotte 1880, while museum services are provided by Zètema Progetto Cultura.

The three sculptures on display represent the best-preserved replicas of a type of portrait that critics attribute to Agrippa Postumo. The portraits can be dated between the adoption of AD 4 and the condemnation of AD 7, during the period in which Agrippa Postumus received honors and statuary dedications in Rome and throughout the territories subject to the empire.

A life marked by intrigue and power

Agrippa Postumus, born in 12 B.C. shortly after the death of his father Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (hence the name “Postumus”), was adopted in 4 A.D. by Augustus, who included him in the line of succession along with Tiberius Claudius Nero. The name “Agrippa” was chosen by Augustus himself, as the child was born shortly after his father’s death. His adoption came at a time of dynastic crisis, marked by the untimely deaths of Marcellus, Lucius and Gaius Caesars, previous designated heirs. Taking the name Agrippa Iulius Caesar, the young man seemed destined for a glorious future as successor to the princeps.

However, Agrippa Posthumus’ fate changed dramatically. Historical sources, including Suetonius and Tacitus, tell of a difficult relationship with Augustus, which led to his repudiation and exile, officially for his restless and problematic character. In reality, the context of the Augustan court, steeped in conspiracies and rivalries, may have played a decisive role in his fall from grace. After a brief exile in Sorrento, Agrippa was confined to the island of Pianosa, where he remained until his mysterious death in 14 CE, which occurred shortly after Tiberius ascended the throne.

The Sorgente Group Foundation portrait: a work of great historical value

The centerpiece of the exhibition is the Fondazione Sorgente Group’s marble portrait, identified as Agrippa Postumo through careful stylistic and iconographic analysis. The sculpture, which retains part of the neck and shows traces of restoration, stands out for its expressive and naturalistic rendering. Physiognomic details-such as deep dark circles under the eyes, a frowning forehead, narrow sunken eyes, and marked dimples-reveal a serious and focused youthful face.

The head, tilted noticeably to the right, is that of a teenager. The oval face is unlined downward, the forehead is broad and trapezoidal, and the eyebrows, contracted at the root of the nose, arch after the initial straight line, the right one more markedly than the left. Asymmetries are also observed in the area of the eyes, narrow and elongated, deeply sunken into the orbits and bordered by thin, raised eyelids. The soft bulge of the orbital skin is rendered naturally in the outer part of the eye. With skillful shaded naturalism the dark circles, such as the nasolacrimal canals and nasolabial folds, are reproduced. Of the nose, the upper back, wide and flattened, and the right nostril remain. The cheekbones are rounded and the cheeks hollowed; the mouth has lips set close together, the upper lip wavy, slightly protruding over the lower, fleshier one; the corners are marked by the drill and two diagonal folds, rendered in a very plastic manner. The dimple visible below the lower lip preludes the triangular chin, broad and flattened at the front. On the right side of the neck the diagonal band of the sternocleidomastoid muscle remains strongly protruding, due to the original decided twisting of the head to the right.

The fringe is ordered in a sequence of strands of roughly all the same length, interrupted at the corners by two “scissors,” one noticeable at the center of the right eye and a smaller one above the outer corner of the left eye. Between these two scissors, the locks are arranged symmetrically toward the center of the forehead, where they meet, giving rise to a barely noticeable “pincer”; the left half of the forehead is followed by a series of four locks curved to the right, thick, bulging and separated by short drill furrows. The rest of the hair is articulated in long, thick, sickle-shaped locks, distinguished within them by lines made with the chisel. The locks are rendered with a plastic sense and tend to overlap each other. Short sideburns curving upward descend in front of the ears. The strands along the left side of the neck form an obvious pincer at the end.

The head represents a good-quality replica of a portrait type attributed for stylistic reasons and because of its close resemblance to Agrippa the father to Agrippa Postumus. The official model was likely made at the time of his adoption by Augustus in 4 CE, when Agrippa Postumus was 16 years old, and used for the honors dedicated to him as heir designate, under the name Agrippa Iulius Caesar, at least until his removal from the family and exile in 7 CE.

Together with the bust from the Sorgente Group Foundation, the exhibition presents two other works of extraordinary importance: a portrait from the Uffizi Galleries and one from the Capitoline Collections. These three masterpieces share stylistic features that link them to the period when Agrippa Postumus was adopted (4-7 CE), when he received honors and statuary dedications throughout the Empire.

The portraits on display share a number of distinctive details: the trapezoidal forehead, the contracted eyebrows, the small, tight mouth, and the protruding chin. But it is above all the gaze, described as “grim” by scholars, that characterizes the young man’s intense, almost restless expression.

An exhibition that delves deeper into the figure of Agrippa Postumo

The exhibition not only showcases the three portraits, but offers an in-depth look at the figure of Agrippa Postumo in the context of Augustan politics. His rise and fall reflect the tensions of a crucial period for the Roman Empire, marked by the need to ensure a stable succession and the growing influence of Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius.

“It fills us with pride to have promoted the monographic exhibition dedicated to presenting, for the first time to the public, the face of the young Julio-Claudian prince, identified by Prof. Eugenio La Rocca with Agrippa Postumo,” said Valter Mainetti, president of Fondazione Sorgente Group. “The exhibition of the three portraits, reunited for the first time, is an important opportunity for knowledge and study, and above all an opportunity that involves our Foundation, as a private institution, and the prestigious Capitoline Museums, led by the Capitoline Superintendent, Claudio Parisi Presicce, whose relationship of esteem and collaboration has enabled the realization of many cultural projects.”

“An important part of our Foundation’s archaeological collection,” said Paola Mainetti, vice president of Fondazione Sorgente Group, “concerns precisely the portraiture of the protagonists of the Julio-Claudian gens, especially the heirs appointed by Augustus to his imperial succession. In recent years, the Sorgente Group Foundation has continued its activities with the aim of implementing the collection of imperial portraits, promoting and enhancing them through exhibitions and scientific studies, as was also the case with the faces of Lucius Caesar and Gaius Caesar, brothers of Agrippa Postumus himself in the exhibition; then Germanicus, son of Drusus and Antonia Minor, whose portrait is present in the collection.”

Agrippa Postumus, Rome showcases never-seen portrait of Augustus' forgotten heir

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