1st c. statue of Agrippina the Elder restored

A larger-than-life statue of Agrippina the Elder from Veleia in northern Italy has been restored and returned to display at the Archaeological Museum of Parma with 11 family members. Conservators removed grime and thick oxidized wax and varnish from earlier interventions that had darkened the surface and obscured fine details. Restoration clarified Agrippina’s face and showed that her head was carved from a block of pure white marble, while the rest of the statue used veined marble. The statue belonged to a set of 12 Julio-Claudian portraits placed on a podium beside a basilica wall. The portraits were discovered during excavations ordered by Duke Philip of Bourbon beginning in 1760 and reflect strong imperial ties linked to Lucius Calpurnius Piso, believed to have commissioned the group.

"Conservators from the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma had to clean the surface of years of grime and carefully remove thick layers of wax and varnish used in previous interventions. The layers had oxidized, darkening the statue and obscuring the details of the fine sculpture. The restoration illuminated Agrippina's face, and archaeologists were able to see for the first time that the head was made of a block of pure white marble, unlike the rest of the statue which was made from veined marble."

"The statue was one of a group of 12 portraits of members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty placed on a long podium next to a wall in the basilica of Veleia. They were discovered when the site was excavated by order of Duke Philip of Bourbon starting in 1760. The statues were one of the earliest discoveries in the initial Bourbonic excavation of Veleia. They underscore the city's close ties to the imperial family, doubtless tightened by its patron, Lucius Calpurnius Piso who had been Julius Caesar's brother-in-law."

"Piso's portrait is one of the 12 Julio-Claudian sculptures and he is believed to have commissioned the group. The statues were created in three stages. The first group made during the reign of Tiberius included the portraits of Augustus, his wife Livia, her son and his heir Tiberius and Tiberius' brother Drusus the Elder and nephew Drusus the Younger. The statue of Piso was also in this first group."

"The second consisted of a portrait of Caligula, his sister Drusilla and mother Agrippina the Elder. After Caligula's assassination and damnatio memoriae, the head of his portrait would be replaced with a portrait of Claudius, a substitution seen frequently in imperial statuary."

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