Buste van Faustina de Jongere 1646 - 1670

Hubert Quellinus created this print, “Buste van Faustina de Jongere”, the bust of Faustina the Younger, a Roman Empress, sometime in the 17th Century. During the 17th Century, the Dutch Golden Age saw a booming interest in classical antiquity. Prints such as this one, therefore, served as visual compendiums of classical sculpture. The choice of subject, Faustina, raises questions about gender, representation, and power. As the wife of Emperor Antoninus Pius, Faustina was a powerful figure in Roman society. Quellinus’ print, however, reduces her to a bust, a fragment, devoid of agency. There’s a melancholic sense of loss, as if to ask: what does it mean to remember and represent a woman of power through the lens of history? Does this depiction honor her legacy, or does it further objectify her?