Julius Caesar, Perpetual Dictator, from Twelve Famous Greek and Roman Men
c. 1633
Medium
Engraving on buff laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 27 × 20.7 cm (10 11/16 × 8 3/16 in.); Sheet: 28.5 × 21 cm (11 1/4 × 8 5/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
39277
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Peter Paul Rubens’s series of important Greek and Romans reflected the antiquarian culture in which he participated as a collector, as a scholar, and as an interpreter of Classical forms. Rubens’s drawing for this engraving may in fact copy an antique sculpture bust he personally owned. Julius Caesar was one of a dozen figures he selected for the series, along with other Romans such as Caesar’s assassin, Brutus, and the emperor Nero. Despite his learned appreciation for the past, Rubens misinter...