This
highly
distinctive
hairstyle
We also know of similar sculpted marble
also appears in a mosaic in Capua
portraits of these long-haired young men,
that represents young paedagogiani
such as the bust conserved at the Uffizi
accompanied by their professor, a freed
Gallery in Florence (Ill. 4) or the head
slave (Ill. 3).
exhibited at New York’s Metropolitan Museum (Ill. 5).
Ill. 4. Bust of an adolescent, late Neronian early Flavian period, marble. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
Ill. 3. Mosaic with paedagogiani, Capua. Museo Provinciale Campano, Capua.
As for our sculpture, a fold of drapery is covering their left shoulders. Their hairstyle, consisting entirely of round ringlets, was also worn by women in portraits executed during the Flavian period (see portraits of Julia, daughter of Titus), enabling us to trace both the mosaic and our portrait back to the second half of 1st century AD.
Ill. 5. Head of a man, Flavian period, 69–96 AD, marble. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York, inv. no. 13.229.5.