Venustus
artist. This name is found on the celebrated marble of Antium, as that of a freedman of the imperial family, in the time of Claudius, whose profession is described by the letters SPEC, which Vulpi interprets Speculator, but which, according to Raoul-Rochette, should be read Speclarius, that is, a manufacturer of the glass ornaments employed in the decoration of houses. M. R. Rochette brings forward strong arguments in support of his opinion, showing that there was a distinct class of such artists, speclarii, speculorum or speculariorum fabri, and that they existed at Rome as a body corporate, Collegium Speclariorum. (Tabul. Antiat. 5.23. p. 15, Rom. 1726, 4to; R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 422-425, 2d ed.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.