Marcus Aurelius as a young man

This is a copy of a bust of a young Marcus Aurelius, housed in the Capitoline Museums (Inv. Scu 279). The work is cut off under the chest and dressed in a tunic and military cloak (paludamentum).
The portrait belongs to the so-called “first type”, known from about 25 copies and likely created right after AD 139, when the prince took the title of “Caesar”.
Busts with paludamentum were in fashion and widespread from the Antonine period, while the use of a thin line to indicate the pupil without u