Marble portrait of the Empress Faustina the Younger, wife of the emper

A marble head of a young woman, her hair drawn under a veil and framed by rows of sculpted curls above the forehead. The eyes are deeply carved and the mouth is closed, while the nose is chipped and the surface is weathered, as in a Roman portrait.

Look closer: The nose is chipped and worn, with a small missing corner near the tip.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 161–180 CE

Medium

Marble

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3000 × 4000 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Shelby and Leon Levy, 1986