Augustus (Gaius Octavius) - First Roman Emperor 31BC - AD14
Marble bust of Augustus with crown of oak leaves, the corona civica. A portrait of the emperor in middle life.

Such artistic skill was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire for over a thousand years. With the rise of Christianity and the incursion of the barbarians a long night descended on Europe until the bright dawn of the Renaissance.

(Hand held digital photo taken by me of a photogravure plate by Emery Walker of a photograph taken by Bruckmann from the 1912 edition of J. C. Stobart's The Grandeur That Was Rome. The bust is in room XI-I, Saal der römischen Bildnisse, in the Glyptothek in Munich. Take the panoramal tour of room XI-I and you will see the bust. The tour starts with Augustus facing you.)