Portrait of the baker Terentius Neo and his wife in formal dress, detail of the wife with stylus and open diptych from Italy, Campania, Pompeii, 55-79 AD [1200×900]
Portrait of the baker Terentius Neo and his wife in formal dress, detail of the wife with stylus and open diptych from Italy, Campania, Pompeii, 55-79 AD [1200×900]
Was a baker wealthy enough to commission such portraits? Or rather, were portrait commissions cheap enough that anyone could get them?
David_the_Wanderer on
Interestingly, they chose to be depicted as intellectuals – it’s not just that she’s holding a writing tablet and a stylus, and that he’s holding a scroll, but the *way* they hold those items (gently tapping the chin) was typical for portraits of philosophers and poets.
-Roger-The-Shrubber- on
Faces that still fill me with horror after being on the front of one of our Latin textbooks.
NeverBeenHereIDidIt on
I didn’t know that Lawrence Fishburn had Italian ancestors
6 Comments
Terentius Neo looks Mexican lol
Was a baker wealthy enough to commission such portraits? Or rather, were portrait commissions cheap enough that anyone could get them?
Interestingly, they chose to be depicted as intellectuals – it’s not just that she’s holding a writing tablet and a stylus, and that he’s holding a scroll, but the *way* they hold those items (gently tapping the chin) was typical for portraits of philosophers and poets.
Faces that still fill me with horror after being on the front of one of our Latin textbooks.
I didn’t know that Lawrence Fishburn had Italian ancestors
The crack makes it look like she is smoking…