why did the romans create a lot of portraits
Roman portraiture - Wikipedia Roman portraiture Jump to : navigation , search This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian . ( July 2009 ) Click ( show ) for important translation instructions . ( show ) View a machine - translated version of the Russian article . Google 's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations , but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate , rather than simply copy - pasting machine - translated text into the English Wikipedia . Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low - quality . If possible , verify the text with references provided in the foreign - language article . Upon the translation you must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary by noting your translation and providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation . You should also add to the talk page the template ( ( Translated ru Римский скульптурный портрет ) ) . A model attribution edit summary ( using German ) : Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at ( ( : de : Exact name of German article ) ) ; see its history for attribution . For more guidance , see Wikipedia : Translation . Roman portraiture is characterized by its `` warts and all '' realism ; bust of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus , a cast in the Pushkin Museum ; the original in bronze was found in Pompeii , and is now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum Roman portraiture was one of the most significant periods in the development of portrait art . Originating from Ancient Rome , it continued for almost five centuries . Roman portraiture is characterised by unusual realism and the desire to convey images of nature in the high quality style often seen in Ancient Roman art . Some busts even seem to show clinical signs . Several images and statues made in marble and bronze have survived in small numbers . Roman funerary art includes many portraits such as married couple funerary reliefs , which were most often made for wealthy freedmen rather than the patrician elite . Portrait sculpture from the Republican era tends to be somewhat more modest , realistic , and natural compared to early Imperial works . A typical work might be one like the standing figure `` A Roman Patrician with Busts of His Ancestors '' ( c. 30 B.C. ) By the imperial age , though they were often realistic depictions of human anatomy , portrait sculpture of Roman emperors were often used for propaganda purposes and included ideological messages in the pose , accoutrements , or costume of the figure . Since most emperors from Augustus on were deified , some images are somewhat idealized . The Romans also depicted warriors and heroic adventures , in the spirit of the Greeks who came before them . Contents ( hide ) 1 Ideology 1.1 Religious functions and origins 1.2 Politics 1.3 Social and Psychological aspect 2 Historical development 2.1 Republican period 2.2 Imperial period 3 See also 4 References 5 Bibliography Ideology ( edit ) Religious functions and origins ( edit ) Veristic portrait bust of an old man , head covered ( capite velato ) , either a priest or paterfamilias ( marble , mid-1st century BC ) The origin of the realism of Roman portraits may be , according to some scholars , because they evolved from wax death masks . These death masks were taken from bodies and kept in a home altar . Besides wax , masks were made from bronze , marble and terracotta . The molds for the masks were made directly from the deceased , giving historians an accurate representation of typically Roman features . Politics ( edit ) In the days of the Republic , full - size statues of political officials and military commanders were often erected in public places . Such an honor was provided by the decision of the Senate , usually in commemoration of victories , triumphs and political achievements . These portraits were usually accompanied by a dedicatory inscription . If the person commemorated with a portrait was found to have committed a crime , the portrait would be destroyed . Social and psychological aspect ( edit ) Development of the Roman portrait was associated with increased interest in the individual , with the expansion of the social circle portrayed . At the heart of the artistic structure of many Roman portraits is the clear and rigorous transfer of unique features of the model , while still keeping the general style very similar . Unlike the ancient Greek portraits that strived for idealization ( the Greeks believed that a good man must be beautiful ) , Roman portrait sculpture was far more natural and is still considered one of the most realistic samples of the genre in the history of art . Historical development ( edit ) Republican period ( edit ) See also : Roman Republican portraiture The bronze bust of Lucius Junius Brutus , the Capitoline Brutus in the Musei Capitolini , dated late 4th century BC to early 3rd century BC The Orator , c. 100 BC , an Etrusco - Roman bronze statue depicting Aule Metele ( Latin : Aulus Metellus ) , an Etruscan man wearing a Roman toga while engaged in rhetoric ; the statue features an inscription in the Etruscan alphabet The Patrician Torlonia bust of Cato the Elder . 1st century BC Scipio Africanus , bronze bust , mid 1st century BC Arles bust , marble bust found in the Rhone River near Arles , c. 46 BC The Grave relief of Publius Aiedius and Aiedia , 30 BC , Pergamon Museum ( Berlin ) Roman , Republican or Early Imperial , Relief of a seated poet ( Menander ) with masks of New Comedy , 1st century BC -- early 1st century AD , Princeton University Art Museum Imperial period ( edit ) Roman portraiture of the Imperial period includes works created throughout the provinces , often combining Greek , Roman , and local traditions , as with the Fayum mummy portraits . L. Calpurnius Piso Pontifex , late 1st century BC -- early 1st century AD Husband and wife from Pompeii , 20 -- 30 AD ( Portrait of Paquius Proculo ) Young woman with Flavian - era hairstyle , 80s -- 90s AD A fresco depicting a maenad , from Pompeii , Italy , 1st century AD Fresco of a man wearing a laurel wreath and holding a papyrus rotulus , Pompeii , 1st century AD Young man with a volumen and wearing a laurel wreath , fresco from Pompeii , 1st century AD Ancient Roman fresco , Pompeian Fourth Style ( 45 - 79 AD ) , National Archaeological Museum of Naples , Italy Antinous , ca . 130 AD Vibia Sabina , ca . 130 AD Reconstructed bust of Marcus Aurelius , ca . 161 - 180 AD . Walters Art Museum , Baltimore . Mummy portrait from Roman Egypt , 2nd -- 3rd century AD Portrait of Lucius Verus Ancient bust of Roman emperor Lucius Verus ( r . 161 - 169 AD ) , a natural blond who would sprinkle gold dust in his hair to make it even blonder , Bardo National Museum , Tunis Remnants of a Roman bust of a youth with a blond beard , perhaps depicting Roman emperor Commodus ( r . 177 - 192 AD ) , National Archaeological Museum , Athens A gold glass portrait of a Roman family , most likely from Roman Egypt , 3rd century AD Portrait of Constantius Chlorus ( r . 293 - 306 AD ) Colossus of Constantine , 312 -- 315 AD Bust depicting an idealized portrait of Menander of Ephesus , 4th century AD , Ephesus Archaeological Museum Marble bust of an orator or philosopher , 5th century AD , Louvre See also ( edit ) Imagines References ( edit ) Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ancient Roman portraits . Jump up ^ Engmann B : Neurologic diseases in ancient Roman sculpture busts . Neurol Clin Pract December 2013 vol. 3 no. 6 : 539 - 541 . doi : 10.1212 / CPJ. 0b013e3182a78f02 Jump up ^ Janson , p. 197 Jump up ^ Michael Grant ( 1994 ) . The Antonines : The Roman Empire in Transition . London & New York : Routledge . ISBN 0 - 415 - 10754 - 7 , pp 27 - 28 . Jump up ^ Daniel Thomas Howells ( 2015 ) . `` A Catalogue of the Late Antique Gold Glass in the British Museum ( PDF ) . '' London : the British Museum ( Arts and Humanities Research Council ) . Accessed 2 October 2016 , p. 7 . Jump up ^ Jás Elsner ( 2007 ) . `` The Changing Nature of Roman Art and the Art Historical Problem of Style , '' in Eva R. Hoffman ( ed ) , Late Antique and Medieval Art of the Medieval World , 11 - 18 . Oxford , Malden & Carlton : Blackwell Publishing . ISBN 978 - 1 - 4051 - 2071 - 5 , p. 17 , Figure 1.3 on p. 18 . Bibliography ( edit ) ( in Italian ) Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli , Il problema del ritratto , in L'arte classica , Editori Riuniti , Rome 1984 . ( in Italian ) Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli e Mario Torelli , L'arte dell'antichità classica , Etruria - Roma , Utet , Turin 1976 . ( in Italian ) Pierluigi De Vecchi & Elda Cerchiari , I tempi dell'arte , volume 1 , Bompiani , Milan 1999 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roman_portraiture&oldid=797563790 '' Categories : Portraits of ancient Greece and Rome Ancient Roman art Hidden categories : Articles to be expanded from July 2009 All articles to be expanded Culture articles needing translation from Russian Wikipedia Articles with Italian - language external links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Français Italiano Русский Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 27 August 2017 , at 21 : 55 . About Wikipedia
1. Roman portraiture
2. Realism in Roman art
3. Development of portrait art in Ancient Rome
4. Roman funerary art
5. Roman portrait sculpture