AN ITALIAN WHITE MARBLE BUST OF THE FIRST ROMAN EMPEROR CAESAR AUGUSTUS (63 BC- 14 AD) LIKELY 17TH CENTURY BUT POSSIBLY EARLIER 50cm high Provenance: The Simon Neal Collection This monumental and imposing head of the first Roman emperor Caesar Augustus (63 BC - 14 AD) was likely carved in the 17th century, or perhaps earlier, originating from a provincial Roman workshop. At some point in its history it would seem to have had a cast taken from it to judge from a remnant of plaster in one nostril. As founder of the Roman Principate, Augustus has been much lauded as one of the founders of western civilisation and his image celebrated and reproduced in Italian art since the start of his reign in 27 BC.