G163 (LEFT)

Imperial

#17 18

Roman

Imperial #17 18 Roman


Leon Levy and Shelby White Court

Art of Imperial Rome

Changing faces of imperial portraiture:

  • ever youthful Augustus

  • Bearded philhellene Hadrian and successors

  • Heavenward gaze of Constantine

nymphaeum - fountain house

2nd AD: large sarcophagi became standard

Julius Caesar party: populares

Large broad chest - characteristic of middle 1st AD (Julio Claudian period)

  • this hard realistic style began 1st BC, last till mid 1st AD. Later revived intermittently 

Looped hair - Apollo of 6-5 BC

  • archaizing figure was popular in Roman

Roman Portraits

2001.443 Bronze Statue

  • himation - cloak

  • Right hand stretching out from the folds of his himation, with palm open and fingers curled upward in a gesture of oration

  • himation is kept in place by the tasseled weight thrown over his left shoulder

Hypereides

  • anti Macedonia

  • defense of the hetaira (courtesan) Phryne

  • Phryne - model for Aphrodite Knidos

Greek: represent entire body in portrait / Rome: just head

Stoic:

Kleanthes - pupil of Zeno

Epicurean School: in uncertainty, men should seek pleasure and peace, guided by moderation and harmony of nature

  • less influencial in 1 BC

Demosthenes

  • great orator, anti Macedonia

  • Still popular in Roman time

Orator trait: unhappy but determined expression: countenance of a noble fanatic, great mind, passionate patriot

Socrates - appearance based on silenos, follower of Dionysos who is not unruly but wise tutor to young D

Herodotos - Histories

  • Cicero call him father of history

  • Write with fact and fiction

Hellenistic Thoughts:

1st: 400 BC

Plato academy

Aristotle Peripatos: place for walking 

  • Lyceum

2nd:

Zeno School at Stoa Poikile: painted colonnade

  • Agora, marketplace

  • Kepos, garden of Epikouros 

Zeno - Chrysippos - Epikouros

Cynics

  • no meeting place, roam streets and agora

Other Hellenistic world: Macedonia court at Pella and Seleucid rulers of Antioch: patronage of knowledge

  • model developed by Ptolemaic kings in Alexandria

  • Library and Mouseion: early day museum

Pastoral poetry

  • 3 BC by Sicilian port Theokritos - 2 BC follower of Moschos and Bion

Aphrodite Anadyomene - hair binding 

  • might derive from a famous painting

nebris - fawn skin

Apollo bronze in Lykeion - open space for Atheletics and philosophy - became prototype for Apollo

  • feminine feature

15.146

  • gentle transition from oval face to soft hair is a Hellenistic feature

10.210.23

  • soft modeling, deep-set eyes, upward turn are early H feature

/ consummate skill in basalt, one of hardest stones

Early H: began strong twisting motion meant for enjoying from many angles

Nine muses following Apollo 

  • inspiration to art, poetry, music

  • Each with identifying attribute

oscilla - marble disk on peristyle of villas

  • most decorated on both sides

  • Images related to Dionysos and theatrical masks often found in Pompeii

Nude with cloak draped over left shoulder - mostly for Hermes

/ bird stretch down to eat from sheaves of wheat, rooster nibble branches

Attenuated design

Dark incrustation: bury  for a long time

Mid 1AD Julio C:

  • expanse chest, full fleshy face and neck

  • Boy: Reduced scale, carefully combed hair with bang part in the center

1 AD Late Republic: uncompromisingly realistic manner that accentuate individual feature and effect of age

  • value of Republic: old fashioned morality, serious responsible public hearings courageous endurance in battle, prestige comes as the result of age, experience, competition among equals

  • carefully observed bony structured intense frowned, deeply etched wrinkles, tight lipped mouth

Arimasp

Processions of Gods iconography: Hermes, Athena, Apollo, Artemis

Togatus - man wearing a toga

tunic and over it a toga

  • toga: woolen with rounded edges

  • Decline in popularity in 1AD

  • August made toga unofficial state dress required in forum to revive ancient values

Julius Caesar: broad forehead, narrow chin, long scrawny neck

Pedum - shepherd’s crook

Ketos - sea monster

Emperors are chief state priest

Statue show emperor in act of prayer or sacrifice with fold of toga pulls up to cover head as a mark of piety

Genius: protective sprite of living emperor

Julio-Claudian commemorate group: standing half draped male

  • members of imperial family, living or dead, are displayed together in public spaces

Scholar argue that: Draping o mantle around hips and over arm is iconography of the honored person is deceased

Acanthus decorated with birds is found on Ara Pacis, Arretine pottery

Medusa popular in mosaic: protect household

Roman imperial court lady hairstyle changing is well decument: thus we can date

  • coiffure with rounded halo of curls and tight braids tied at nape of neck - similar to Domitia Longina, Domitian’s wife

  • Trajanic, Trajan wife: high crescent shaped hairpiece

  • Hadrianic, late 1 and early 2: more complex hairstyle: hairpiece with added hair and concealed framework form high diadem like structure surrounding face

Trajan: resolute expression, simple yet studied arrangement of locks at forehead

Cipollino Verde - greenish marble desired for its polychromy

  • also found in Hadrian Tivoli

/ Branches of young ivy and cluster of berry issue from the central stalk that rises vertically from an ornate calyx Krater at the base.

How they treat corner reliefs:

Corner of roof or balustrade relief: a thick stalk would emerge from a bed of floppy acanthus to spread out in vines that encircle large flowers

Upward gaze is character of portraits from a Antonine onward (AD 138-161)

  • like imperial family (hers or all family members of Roman imperial are depicted this way?) depicted with idealized youthful face and complex coiffure with braided hairpiece

Dominican palace on Palatine 81-92AD

Aula Regis: main audience chamber 

Highly polished and engraved eyes: Hadrian period

Antinoos character: head slightly to leg and gaze downward, tousled hair hanging long in the back

  • favorite of Hadrian, cult flourish in East, his hometown Bithynia

  • A man of people who didn’t have official or imperial status but became god 

Early Hadrian reigns beard short and face is serene and gay expression

  • Roman shave off beard when reach maturity in late 20, but Hadrian kept, started a new fashion until Constantine

  • Kept beard due to his love of Greek culture, bread = wisdom maturity 

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