Capitoline Brutus 4th-3rd C. BCE

April 11, 2020

Capitoline Brutus 4th-3rd C. BCE

"Marcus Brutus was descended from that Junius Brutus to whom the ancient Romans erected a statue of brass in the capitol among the images of their kings with a drawn sword in his hand, in remembrance of his courage and resolution in expelling the Tarquins and destroying the monarchy. But that ancient Brutus was of a severe and inflexible nature, like steel of too hard a temper, and having never had his character softened by study and thought, he let himself be so far transported with his rage and hatred against tyrants, that, for conspiring with them, he proceeded to the execution even of his own sons."

—Plutarch's Life of Brutus 1:1-2

The head is from the 4th-3rd C. BCE, the bust was made during the Renaissance. A bronze portrait head (modern bust) widely known as Brutus but with no evidence it is that figure. It is now considered to be of Etruscan manufacture c. 300 BCE. Height: 69 cm (27.1 in). (Capitoline Museums, Rome).