In the Late Republican era a new style of portraiture arose called verism. Sculpture in this style differs from the Greek example that preceded it, in that it apparently attempted to show the subject ‘warts and all'. Instead of idealising a youthful, unblemished face, the statesmen and generally men and women of stature are depicted with the wrinkles they have collected through the years. That sometimes leads to odd contrasts as seen in the so-called Tivoli general. His head is sculpted in true verism style, as an older man, who has learned the hard lessons of war, but his torso shows no signs of ageing, and looks like that of a young athlete. Undoubtedly, the idea was to exude the power of his position, but it is interesting to note…
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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XVII.6