Rad se bavi umjetničkom ostavštinom vezanom uz Marka Aurelija, pritom tražeći poveznice između njegova života i njegovih misli sa vizualnim predodžbama njegova lika. Započinje elaboracijom četiri portretna tipa, pri čemu je od ukupno 150 sačuvanih portreta izdvojeno njih 29, unutar kojih su zastupljeni i portreti sa spomenika obrađenih u radu – s konjaničkog spomenika i stupa Marka Aurelija
te s tri reljefna panela koja se nalaze u Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori. U radu je analizirano i osam reljefnih panela s Konstantinovog slavoluka, na kojem su Aurelijevi portreti preklesani kako bi nalikovali Konstantinu. Spomenicima i reljefnim panelima (koji su nekad jednako tako bili dijelovi spomenika), zajednička je svrha podizanja vezana uz Aurelijeve vojne uspjehe u Prvom (i Drugom)
markomanskom ratu. Njihova ikonografija prikazuje ga kao cara predanog dužnosti, etici, milosrđu, pravednosti i pobožnosti, odnosno kao cara-filozofa koji se dokazao i kao jednako uspješan carvojskovođa, zbog čega je u povijesti ostao upamćen kao uzor kojeg je poželjno slijediti.The paper addresses artistic legacy of Marcus Aurelius, trying to find links between his life, his thoughts, and the visual perceptions of his figure. It begins with elaboration of the four portrait types, whereby between more than 150 preserved portraits, 29 of them have been selected. Some of them are portraits from monuments that have been analyzed further in this paper – the Equestrian Statue and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, and the three relief panels that are held in the Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori. On the eight panel reliefs from the Arch of Constantine,
that are also represented in the paper, the Aurelius' portraits have been re-carved to resemble and to present the likeness of Constantine. Monuments and panel reliefs (which were once part of the monument(s) too) had been built to celebrate Marcus Aurelius' victories in the First (and Second) Marcomannic War. Their iconography presents him as the emperor dedicated to his duty, ethics, mercy, righteousness and devoutness, and as the emperor-philosopher who proved that he is equally successful as the emperor-warrior, therefore the history remembers him as a role-model
that should be followed
