Julius Caesar, Perpetual Dictator, from Twelve Famous Greek and Roman Men

Peter Paul Rubens’s series of important Greek and Romans reflected the antiquarian culture in which he participated as a collector, as a scholar, and as an interpreter of Classical forms. Rubens’s drawing for this engraving may in fact copy an antique sculpture bust he personally owned. Julius Caesar was one of a dozen figures he selected for the series, along with other Romans such as Caesar’s assassin, Brutus, and the emperor Nero. Despite his learned appreciation for the past, Rubens misinterpreted another bust of Julius Caesar and published it as a portrait of Caesar’s contemporary the writer, orator, and politician Cicero.