The stately bust in white marble, complete and with the neck unbroken, is of a young man, with his head turned to the right. Large open eyes without carved irises or pupils; a strong, moderately aquiline nose; a small yet fleshy mouth with protruding upper lip; and smooth cheeks converging into a pointed, energetic chin characterize the man’s face. His hair is composed of crescent- and s-shaped curls, leaving the ears uncovered and forming a seemingly casual fringe of locks that fall halfway down his forehead. Long sideburns merge into a continuous chin beard, while the rest of the face appears cleanshaven or too young for the onset of facial hair. In the back, the hair reaches deep down the neck. Below the pronounced larynx, two “Venus rings” are incised around the neck. The naked bust is of semicircular cut, reaching down to above the sternum and out to the distal ends of the clavicles.

The bust depicts the young Germanicus before the depositio barbae, the Roman ritual first shaving of the beard. While the image, or portrait type, was created at the time of his adoption by Tiberius in A.D. 4, this bust is a posthumous portrait of the popular general, who was being groomed to be emperor but died young. Ten copies are known today of Germanicus' Adoption Type portrait--identified by the facial features and careful arrangement of the locks over the forehead. Germanicus (15 B.C.-A.D. 19) was a successful general and immensely popular with both the military and Roman citizenry, yet he never ascended the throne due to his death at the age of 33, five years into Tiberius' reign. Germanicus received extensive posthumous honors and was venerated as Rome's version of Alexander the Great.

This portrait was long part of the collection of the Earls of Elgin and Kincardine and may have been acquired in Rome as early as 1798 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841). It stayed with Elgin's heirs at Broomhall House in Scotland until 2012.

— J. Paul Getty Museum, in: getty.edu