Industry of Beauty

Statues of Roman emperors and empresses were ubiquitous in the cities of the empire. With the emergence of the Principate under Emperor Augustus (27 BC–14 AD), a serial reproduction of portraits of male and female members of the imperial family developed. From then on, statues of Roman empresses and princesses established a conventional ideal of beauty that had a lasting impact on the representation of Roman femininity – comparable to the effect of modern Barbie dolls.

The exhibition Industry of Beauty uses the example of the women of the Julio-Claudian imperial family to shed light on the techniques of serial statue production in marble, plaster, and, using 3D printing, in plastic from antiquity to the present day. It is the result of a collaboration between the ERC project The Roman Emperor Seen from the Provinces at the University of Verona and the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen and can be seen from February 6th to May 5th, 2026, at the MUT | Museum of Ancient Cultures at Hohentübingen Castle.

The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the ERC project The Roman Emperor Seen from the Provinces at the University of Verona and the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen. It is accompanied by an English publication, which is available at the ticket office of the MUT | Museum of Ancient Cultures.

The Statue Industry of Beauty. Creating a Roman Princess Then and Now. Ed. by Lenaghan, Julia/ Kovacs, Martin/ Murer, Cristina. Contributions by Calomino, Dario and Lenaghan, Patrick. 2026. ISBN 978-3-7749-4496-1 (Print).

Thursday, February 5th, 2026, at 6 p.m.

Knights' Hall | Hohentübingen Castle
Burgsteige 11 | 72070 Tübingen