Plate 10: Vespasian with his head turned slightly to the left, from "The Twelve Caesars"
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 20 1/4 × 14 1/2 in. (51.5 × 36.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.5006
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold Plate 10 from the renowned series *The Twelve Caesars*, a 17th-century etching engraving depicting Roman Emperor Vespasian. head turns slightly to the left, rendered with striking detail that captures the gravitas of imperial portraiture. Produced between 1610 and 1640, this print draws from ancient Roman busts and coins, immortalizing Vespasian (r. 69–79 CE), founder of the Flavian dynasty builder of the Colosseum. The anonymous design, possibly after Raffaello Schiaminossi, reflects the era's fascination with classical antiquity during the Baroque period. Etching and engraving techni...
About the Artist
Anonymous|Raffaello Schiaminossi
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...