Denarius (Coin) Portraying Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Date:
50-49 BCE, issued by Roman Republic, P. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus (moneyer)
Artist:
Roman, minted in Rome
About this artwork
The purpose of the first portrait coins was to identify the ruler. The front side became a mirror of the sovereign’s self-image. The back was often used to communicate the ruler’s accomplishments or intentions. The profile portrait was used because it suited the very shallow depth and limited surface of the coin. The tiny images were carved by engravers into bronze dies, one for the front and another for the back. The coins were then struck, one by one, in a process similar to how modern coins are created today.
Portraits as Publicity Coins were an efficient form of publicity, particularly when new rulers needed to legitimize their succession or strengthen their reputation. Forbidden by Roman law to picture a living person on coinage, the politician Marcellinus pictured his famous ancestor Marcellus.
Denarius (Coin) Portraying Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Place
Rome (Minted in)
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
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Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Roman Art” in Museum Studies: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 1 (1994), pp. 76-77.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.
Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Cat. 29 Denarius Portraying M. Claudius Marcellus: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 156, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 152, July 2013 - present.
Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.
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