marble or bronze?
Most statues that have survived from
antiquity are made of marble, though bronze statues were probably more
common in the ancient period. The type of marble chosen to make a
sculpture was one of the ways that a patron demonstrated their wealth and
their importance. In Italy, the white marble quarries at Carrara
(near Pisa) were opened under Julius Caesar and the use of this marble
became very common under the reign of the emperor Augustus. From
that point on, Carrara marble was the most readily available and the least
expensive marble, so many Romans living on the Italian peninsula chose to
use it for their portraits.
