ranuccio bandinelli l'arte verus aiedius aiedia ritratto portraiture utet riuniti classica 10754 vibia blonder cpj rotulus capite capitolini metele elda proculo paquius aule calpurnius antonines tempi editori patrician chlorus torlonia
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