The Getty Commodus: Roman Portraits and Modern Copies June 1, 2009

The Getty's marble bust of the Roman emperor Commodus was acquired in 1992 as an Italian work of the 1500s, but specialists later proposed that it may be from the second century A.D. Putting the object in context with Roman portraits and modern copies from the Mannerist and Neoclassical periods, this exhibition shows how curators and conservators have determined the sculpture's date.