Roman Sculpture

Revision on Roman Sculpture

1. Roman Sculpture
Revision

2. Introduction
•Roman sculpture had a public target:
–Make known Roman heroes
–Reflect Rome’s History
•The main characteristics are:
–Detail
–Fidelity to the model
–Respect of the canon
–Beauty is lost in favour of the truth
•The two main genres were:
–Portrait
–Historical relief

3. Influences
•Roman sculpture received influences from
–Etruria
•Funerary portrait
•Realistic depiction of the people
•Greece
–Portraits of famous people
–Representation of the psychology in addition to physical
characteristics
–Taste for collections (Greek works were admired and
collected).

4. Roman Portrait
•Origins:
–Wax portraits of
dead member of the
family to put in the
houses (lares)
–Portraits of the
emperor to send to
the provinces

5. Roman Portrait
•Republic
•Imagines Maiorum:
there were the masques
of the ancestors made
of wax
•They were
“positivated” in
different materials
•It was forbidden to
depict people who did
not have a public job.

6. Roman Portrait
•The first images had
only the head, but
without any part of the
body.
•Due to superstitious
believes, they so be
very realistic and
capsize the features of
the dead person.

7. Roman Portrait
•Portraits are realistic,
imitating even defects
•They aim at glorying
authorities, not the
artists, so they are
anonymous
•Bear witnesses of
things that happened.

8. Roman Portrait
•Evolution
SimplifiedRealisticIdealisedRealistic
Low Empire
IV- V
Empire I-III
AD
HighRepublic
VI-I BC

9. Roman Portrait
•Republic: Until 1st century BC
–Only head and neck
–Bronze or polychrome stone
–Grave and serene expressions
–Individualization of the
character
–Trend to idealise public
characters.

10. Roman Portrait
•High Empire (1st-3rd centuries AD)
–Official portrait is idealized
–They aim at underlining the importance of the
character
–Individual features
–Expression of character
–Face without beard

11. Roman Portrait
–With the Flavian dynasty (2nd century AD)
•Realism
•Hair gains volume
•Beard appears
•Chiaroscuro effects

12. Roman Portrait
•Low Empire (4
th
-5
th
centuries AD)
–Anticlassicism
–Lineal and hieratic
–Lost humanity
–Monumental
–Schematic

13. Women Portrait
•It was the reflect of fashions
•It is a realistic depiction of woman
•Special attention to hair style.

14. Portrait Typology
•Thoracatae: victorious
emperor
•Apoteosic: as a good,
naked and crowned

15. Portrait Typology
•Togatae: as a civilian,
wearing the toga.
•Pontifex Maximus:
wearing the toga and
with head covered

16. Imperial Portrait
•Was used as propagandistic
•It used the Greek canon
•A bit idealised
•Inspired in classical images (Doriforo)
•Psychological portrait
•Barefoot = divinity
•Use of symbols
•Polychrome

17. Equestrian Portrait
•Depicted as military addressing to the
citizens
•Pacific character wearing as a philosopher
•Influenced in Renaissance
•Psychological portrait
•Equilibrated image

18. Historical Relief
•It appeared in different locations:
–Altars
–Triumphal arches
–Commemorative columns
–Sarcophagus

19. Historical Relief
•Characteristics:
–It aimed at glorifying immortality
–They wanted to commemorate something
important
–Propaganda

20. Historical Relief
•Technical characteristics:
–Pictorial effects
–Perspective and different plans
–Movement and volume
–Landscape elements
–Evolution from naturalism
to realism
–Influenced on Renaissance

21. Historical Relief
•Altars
–The Ara Pacis is the most famous
–It reflects traditions of Augustus times
–Remains the friezes of the Parthenon

22. Historical Relief
•Triumphal Arches
–Two of the most famous are those of Tito and
Constantine
–They explain a historical event
–Realistic with spatial references
–Different plans.

23. Historical Relief
•Commemorative Columns
–The most famous is Trajan’s Column
–Helicoidally organised
–It narrates the campaign against
the Dacians
–Numerous characters
–War scenes
–Perspective
–Landscape

24. Historical Relief
•Sarcophagus
–The relieves are ornamental and memoirist
–Continuous depictions
–At least the frontal part is worked
–It can be completely full of images
–Characters may appear lying on the top