Portrait of a young woman
The portrait was discovered in Veleia on April 28, 1760, near the staircase of the basilica’s western entrance, not far from the location where the Tabula Alimentaria had been found.
It depicts a young woman with her head slightly inclined to the right and finely rendered facial features. The eyeballs, of which only one is preserved, were originally inlaid with chalcedony.
Her distinctive hairstyle—natural short hair combed back and held in place by an unfinished band across the forehead—has been interpreted as a variant of the so-called “Octavia” style, characterized by a roll of hair on the forehead, wavy locks at the sides of the face, and a knotted curl at the nape. These elements were likely added separately to the sculpture, as suggested by chisel marks on the forehead.
The bronze sculpture, a hollow indirect lost-wax casting, was produced in workshops from the western Emilia region. It belongs to a provincial artistic current that emphasizes physiognomic accuracy and naturalistic detail, in keeping with the Central Italian tradition and rooted in Hellenistic art.
The portrait has been linked to Baebia Bassilla, a woman mentioned in an inscription on a large marble slab—broken into four pieces—found in 1760 in the forum area of Veleia, near the basilica. The inscription reads:
Baebia T. [iti] f.[ilia] Ba[silla] calchidicum municipibus suis dedit
It records an act of private evergetism by a woman of the Baebia family, also mentioned in the Tabula Alimentaria and well documented in the region.
The practice of donating private wealth to support the poor or to construct and restore public buildings was widespread in the Roman world. However, the extraordinary gift of an entire portico to her city, offered by a generous matron, may have earned her the honor of a portrait displayed in the forum.
For this reason, scholars have long proposed identifying the young woman celebrated in bronze as Baebia Bassilla, although no conclusive archaeological evidence supports this attribution.