Colossal Head of Augustus (14-30 AD)
Larger-than-life Marble Statue Head of Augustus (Julio-Claudian, 14-30 AD)
Marble Sculpture (Fragment) (17 7/8 x 15 in. (45.4 x 38.1 cm)) In Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Rogers Fund, 1921) By triumphing in the Civil War, Octavian effectively became the sole ruler of the Roman State, and by vote of the Senate became Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, the Emperor Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine, by which the political system of Rome was changed forever. Though victorious, the new emperor knew that he would need to consolidate his power, and therefore went to great lengths to both present himself as a continuation of the traditional Roman order rather than a totally new revolutionary force as well as to celebrate and publicize his achievements and accomplishments for the Roman people (even when such achievements were, to put it kindly, embellished). As part of this campaign for hearts and minds, Augustus put his image on everything, issuing literally hundreds of different portraits on hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of objects including statues, busts, coins, seals, figurines, and edicts. Each of these images shared the basic features of the piece shown here, depicting the emperor as a youthful, vibrant, and benevolent figure who had ushered in the Pax Romana, an era of peace and prosperity after nearly a century of bitter civil war. Notable formal qualities here include the anastole hair style, an allusion to the portraiture of Alexander the Great, with whom Augustus sought to be associated, as well as the sheer scale of the work, which towers larger than life over the viewer. Notable by their absence are the veristic conventions of republican portraiture; this piece represents the birth of a lasting legacy of classicizing style through its representation of perpetual youth and vigor which were impossible in reality, and its subtle but persistent allusion to the grandiose legacy of Hellenistic Kingship. The reason for this is actually quite simple—Augustus is no mere man, but a god; he is not a person, but an ideal—a brand to be distributed and consumed by an adoring populace. |
Marble Bust of Caligula (37-41 AD)
Bust of Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, known as Caligula
(Julio-Claudian, 37-41 AD)
Marble Bust (H. 20 in. (50.8 cm) length 7 1/16 in. (18 cm))
In Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Rogers Fund, 1914)
In the portrayal of Caligula, we see the trend of classicizing portraiture continues and evolves. Augustus masterfully portrayed himself as a savior to the Roman people, and his rule was celebrated as a golden age; unsurprisingly then, his dynastic followers attempted to tap into his legacy to buttress their own. Caligula, for instance, despite being by all accounts a megalomaniacal tyrant obsessed with his own appearance, nevertheless portrayed himself visually as looking like portraits of Augustus. Despite in general not being blood relatives, the dynastic connections between emperors were sufficiently important to the stability of their rule that they needed to be emphasized through the primary means of propaganda available—image distribution. Note the shared anastole, the triangular youthful face, the projecting ears, and the slight smile as particularly key formal qualities reminiscent of Augustus.
(Julio-Claudian, 37-41 AD)
Marble Bust (H. 20 in. (50.8 cm) length 7 1/16 in. (18 cm))
In Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Rogers Fund, 1914)
In the portrayal of Caligula, we see the trend of classicizing portraiture continues and evolves. Augustus masterfully portrayed himself as a savior to the Roman people, and his rule was celebrated as a golden age; unsurprisingly then, his dynastic followers attempted to tap into his legacy to buttress their own. Caligula, for instance, despite being by all accounts a megalomaniacal tyrant obsessed with his own appearance, nevertheless portrayed himself visually as looking like portraits of Augustus. Despite in general not being blood relatives, the dynastic connections between emperors were sufficiently important to the stability of their rule that they needed to be emphasized through the primary means of propaganda available—image distribution. Note the shared anastole, the triangular youthful face, the projecting ears, and the slight smile as particularly key formal qualities reminiscent of Augustus.