Imperial colors: the Roman portrait busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna
This generously illustrated, accessible study aims to offer the first in-depth detailed survey of the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art’s paired portrait busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna.
By
Julie Van Voorhis
Juliet Graver Istrabadi
Julie Van Voorhis, Mark Abbe, Juliet Graver Istrabadi, Imperial colors: the Roman portrait busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. Lewes, UK; Bloomington, IN: Giles Ltd, in association with the Eskenazi Museum of Art, 2023. Pp. 216. ISBN 9781913875275.
This generously illustrated, accessible study aims to offer the first in-depth detailed survey of the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art’s paired portrait busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna.It is a sumptuous volume in color featuring numerous full-page figures and two-page spreads, offering the reader not only the details and angles required for a thorough portraiture study, but many pertinent comparanda. The study, co-authored by Julie Van Voorhis (Indiana University) and Mark Abbe (University of Georgia) with contributions from Juliet Graver Istrabadi (Eskenazi Museum), was occasioned by an exhibition featuring the two busts, “Colors of Classical Art,” at the Indiana University Art Museum (now the Eskenazi Museum of Art) in 2014 and curated by Van Voorhis and Istrabadi. While the renovation of the museum (2017-2019) and Covid-19 pandemic significantly delayed its production, the volume still fits well into current scholarship on Roman portraiture, which has seen the release of several thorough studies centering on specific imperial figures in recent years.