Portraiture: What are some of the extraordinary examples and their accomplishments please develop your descriptive and stylistic analysis.
The Romans truly transcended in their in portrait sculpture. The ancestors of the Roman portrait bust can be traced to the stylized heads on Etruscan funerary jars and urns, and especially to portrait sculptures such as the bronze "Brutus" bust Rome. Each imperial dynasty sought to emphasize certain aspects of their representation or portraitures. Starting with the Republican period the portraitures, which served to portray the political and social prowess of the patrician class. One of the best examples for this period would be the Head of a Roman, portraits like these were of grim-faced, middle-aged men or public officials that commissioned portrait busts that reflected every wrinkle and imperfection of the skin. They believed in verism which was to show each imperfection such as warts, wrinkles and furrows. These wax masks served to advertise the family's illustrious history of public service and hope to inspire younger generations to strive for such achievements and also to elevate the family’s standing in the Roman society. At the beginning of the Imperial period the portraitures took more of a propagandistic role. Almost thousands of imperial portraits were produced in this time with the purpose that each person should be able to recognize their emperor on sight and they were displayed in public places.
Verism was still important to these portretures but sometimes blemishes or wrinkle were omitted. For example the portrait of the Emperor Augustus, This portrait of the Emperor Augustus (27 B.C.-A.D. 14) shows curly locks of hair, no wrinkles, softened bone structure; these features indicate is an idealized image influenced by Greek statues of athletes and athletic gods. Like Commodus for example, this emperor compared himself to the demigod Hercules and such images are intended to be official portraits, projecting those qualities the emperor and his advisors think are those that will have the widest public and political appeal which is why his portrait had a god feel to it.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
“Analyze an example of a self portrait painting by one artist through the Subjective and Structural Frame.”…
- 674 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Sheldon Nodelman in his article “How to Read a Roman Portrait” explores the new ‘language’ of Roman portrait. He highlights the unusual realism of the new Roman portrait genre. Also, he further proposes that the highly individualistic characteristics of the portraits reflects the men’s real life.…
- 46 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
The portrait of Trajan Decius is a full bust of a soldier emperor from 249-251 BCE. This portrait has defined lines on the eyebrows, forehead, and cheek area to illustrate an older man. The eyebrows of this portrait seems to be pressed together, giving off a negative mood rather than a triumphal mood. The pressed eyebrows seems to give off the feeling of being conflicted and burdened. It conveys a sense of anxiety, stress, and tiredness. The clear lines under the eyes that depicts heavy eye bags shows that this portrait does not represent a youthful and victorious person. The lines under his eyes shows that this man was not young and confident, but older and more insecure. Adding on, in this portrait, it shows etched lines that resembles a…
- 349 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Big or small the image invoce an emotion in the person. During this time small painting were popilr amaong the people. People would have an image of a saint or of a certin virgin they related to in their homes. Some would have very detail paiting. Others would have a copy or print of the sacroed image with them.…
- 987 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
3. Explain, if important, the role and function of artists in general in the art object’s cultural and time period setting.…
- 3879 Words
- 16 Pages
Best Essays -
A sense of royal dignity, composure, and stability are created by the facial expression, the fixed pose, and the rectangular throne and high base from which the proportioned and frontal figure emerges. Cracks in the face, neck, and torso indicate ancient damage sustained by the sculpture.…
- 700 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The Statue of a kouros and the Portrait statue of a boy both depict similar subjects, however are greatly different in how they accomplish this task. Through detail, or lack there of, the Greeks and Romans are able to display a certain value they have in its members. These two statues were made about 500 years apart and approach the sculpting process quit differently. The Greek statue seems to use geometric exaggerated lines to form the body while the Romans use a more realistic approach and sculpt the body with a more rounded finish. Statue of a kouros, from about 590 B.C and Portrait of a boy, from about the first century, do not share any great technical aspects and are basically nothing alike.…
- 786 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Working in Spain from 1577 onward, this painter’s style was greatly affected by Byzantine influences.…
- 696 Words
- 6 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Second, the bust resembles other works of Julius Caesar. The hair line is very similar to that of the…
- 196 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
In the Fourth Dynasty the art consisted of mainly architecture and sculptures. The famous pyramid structure during this time were more smooth on the sides because of their new layering technique, a good example in our book is figure 3.8 Model of the Great pyramids on page 57. One additional feature of the landmark of the Great pyramids is the Great Sphinx which is the following figure, figure 3.9 that is made from the same material as the pyramids. When it comes to statues and sculptures many of their human figures at this time were simply ageless and in an upright standing position or sitting on a throne for watching rituals and showing power. These statues were typically of royals such as a king and queen as you can see from figure 3.10 through 3.12 on pages 59 and 60. The characteristics in the statues were that they had wide…
- 535 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Art can be expressed and represented in many different ways. Art had been used to represent different themes all throughout history from prehistoric caveman times to even the present now and surely for the future. In older times many different kinds of rulers would use art for their people to relate and follow him depending on how the art was represented. One of these pieces of art is the Augustus of prima porta as well as the shield jaguar and lady xoc piece during later times. Both are art pieces but can represent different ideals in different ways. One of the biggest representations of these pieces is the representation of political authority power. Political/authority power has been used since people started interacting with each other. This can give the people who see art pieces conveying authority power many feelings. With the Augustus of…
- 1418 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
Adding family values to art that depicted a Roman ruler’s kin instilled trust into the emperor’s regime and was a very common practice. The Romans were notorious for their murder of their own family members in order to gain power, which aroused question of the empire in its citizens. Of course the last thing a ruler would want to happen is to be overthrown by his people so Roman rulers quickly devised a way to reestablish the citizen’s faith in the emperor, which just happened to be the integration of propaganda into art pieces. One prime example of this is the Tellus panel on the Ara Pacis. On this panel we can see Tellus, the Earth, who represents the fertility of the royal family and perhaps hints at the godly power that the royal family held. Another example of the addition of family values to a piece of art is Painted portrait of Septimus Severus. This work depicts the royal family with one member of the family, Geta, with his face rendered unrecognizable. The story behind Geta is that he was murdered by his brother, Caracalla, so that Caracalla would have ultimate ruling power. Oddly enough etching out Geta’s face was a form of propaganda that incorporated family values because it made its audience “forget” about Geta so that the general population would not remember the tragedy…
- 879 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
I have chosen two statues from different eras to make a comparison, Marble statue of Dionysos leaning on an Archaistic Female Figure from the Roman era and Bronze statue of Artemis and a deer from Greek or Roman, late Hellenistic or early Imperial periods. The reason why I have chosen these two objects are that both of them have one big figure and one small figure which makes eyes of viewers move around. They also depicted gods with smaller figures. These two statues have many differences as they are made of different materials and have different poses even though these have similar composition.…
- 863 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Augustus effectively uses personal relations, background composition and vibrant colours to successfully capture the essence of his subject. F.H. Varley attempted to do the same in The study of Joan but in comparison to The Marchesa Casati the subtle differences create a negative impact showing us how successful Augustus really was.…
- 1162 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
beauty.“Greek and roman culture is known for its sculpture of what has become the ideal of male…
- 2166 Words
- 9 Pages
Good Essays