Golden Faces of Power: Ancient Rome’s Icons on Display in Florence

Until April 9, 2026, the National Archaeological Museum of Florence is internet hosting Icons of Power and Beauty, an exhibition exploring how photographs had been used to convey and reinforce imperial authority within the Roman Empire in the course of the third century AD.

Curated by Daniele Federico Maras and Barbara Arbeid, the museum’s director and curator, the exhibition gathers twenty historical objects of symbolic significance, together with 4 life-sized gilded bronze heads: three portraits of emperors from the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia and a Venus head from Florence’s historic Medici collections, lately restored by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.

The show additionally options cash and medallions—aurei, sesterces, denarii and asses—that when carried the emperor’s picture throughout the empire as a mark of legitimacy and continuity, along with gems, gold rings and necklaces supposed for personal use however equally charged with which means. Among the highlights is a bronze eagle’s head, a logo of Jupiter’s majesty.

The initiative kinds a part of a broader institutional collaboration between the Fondazione Brescia Musei and the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, below the patronage of the Directorate-General for Museums of Italy’s Ministry of Culture. It accompanies the dual exhibition Victoria Mater. L’idolo e l’icona in Brescia’s Roman Capitolium, the place artist Francesco Vezzoli has created a up to date set up pairing Brescia’s Winged Victory with the Idolino di Pesaro on mortgage from Florence.

The joint mission, titled Idoli di bronzo (“Bronze Idols”), celebrates the bicentenary of the invention of the Capitolium’s bronze treasure, the place the Winged Victory was present in 1826.

In Florence, the exhibition traces how the imperial portrait developed in a interval of political stress and succession crises. The heads of Septimius Severus, Probus and Claudius II Gothicus from Brescia exemplify the aesthetics of energy: the emperors are depicted as mature, reflective and commanding, their distinctive hairstyles and beards reinforcing their recognisable picture throughout the empire.

The present additionally highlights the function of girls in shaping imperial imagery, corresponding to Julia Domna, spouse of Septimius Severus, whose cash depict her with elaborate hairstyles that turned symbols of authority and influenced vogue for many years.

Beyond portraits, guests will discover different emblems of imperial id—objects linked to faith, navy command, prosperity and the safety of the humanities—illustrating how private charisma and divine favour mixed to maintain the picture of rule.

The exhibition design was developed by the Florence-based studio Deferrari+Modesti, with visible id by Tassinari/Vetta. The catalogue, printed by Allemandi, contains essays by students from throughout Italy and new images by Alessandra Chemollo.

(Cover photograph by Alessandra Chemollo)

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