Sculptuur van het hoofd van keizer Nero te Rome before 1882

Curator: Here in the Rijksmuseum, we're looking at an image dating from before 1882, cataloged as "Sculptuur van het hoofd van keizer Nero te Rome" – a photograph, a print really, capturing a sculpture of Emperor Nero's head. Editor: It looks strangely...staged? Almost like a prop head waiting for its cue in a school play about ancient Rome. It’s striking, though; a study in the detached gaze. There's a sort of theatrical severity about it. Curator: I think that's partly due to the photographic style of the time, wouldn't you say? It also frames important discussions around representation of power. Think about Nero's image throughout history: How has it been shaped and reshaped? This portrait engages directly with those shifting narratives of leadership, excess, and tyranny. Editor: Absolutely, history loves a villain—it makes for better stories, right? And to have this stone-cold rendering, amidst the layers of interpretation… well, it’s pretty captivating. There’s something unsettling in the smoothness of the marble too; as if attempting to smooth away history's sharper edges. It also reminds you how even a cruel personage had admirers... the portrait must have served somebody at one point in time. Curator: Exactly. And if we consider portraiture itself, the Roman ideal was about projecting authority. It also opens conversations on gender roles. Historians have talked about how Nero challenged those ideals; and how even images of him served in a way to undermine what power meant in Rome. What happens when someone attempts to be both adored and feared, as an individual but also the center of an empire? Editor: Right. So, this photograph prompts us to reexamine more than just Nero's face, doesn't it? It forces a question... What exactly are we choosing to immortalize? What qualities of leadership do we champion or condemn? Curator: It is about power, the construction of identity, and how we choose to engage with those difficult historical narratives. Editor: Precisely. Maybe after all it does not teach us something new, but makes us remember an eternal aspect of society... Curator: Yes. It provides layers that demand more complex readings of an often very simplified account of historical figures and moments.