Understated poise of Roman busts

[caesar novus]

One thing that "hooked" me on Roman culture besides the architecture was a hard to describe unaffected, matter-of-fact composure of sculpted faces, especially of powerful men. Usually there seems none of the vain-glory theatricality or affectations of other ages, just an even tempered, centered, solid person. The gaze is neither distant nor blank, reactive nor imposing, but somehow just right. Even when the subject was a deranged psycho

 

Sorry, I don't see Roman sculpture as a me-too of Greek sculpture; I don't groove on the Greek stuff at all. And the florid Renaissance stuff can just be moved off to Disneyland where it goes along with the cartoon themes, for all I care. I wonder why this understated gravitas; I suppose I might find the key in Roman philosophical writings. But I don't see such qualities in Roman paintings (bleh) or mosaics (passable).

 

P.S. my avatar isn't a positive example but chosen as kind of an amusing exception...

Edited March 6, 2009 by caesar novus

[Lost_Warrior]

I personally think that the Roman sculpture very much reflects the Roman values at the time.

[Klingan]

I guess that you are referring to 1st century bc pieces CN?

[caesar novus]

I guess that you are referring to 1st century bc pieces CN?

I thought they were more widespread, but I must admit that while trying to find some online pictorial examples to illustrate my point... MOST do not show that quality. I do seem to remember a cluster of good life size ones in the British museum, and frequently in central Italy (often hard to identify date).

 

So to restate my point with more tedious precision, this wonderful and surprising quality is by far most frequently found in Roman sculpture compared to other traditions, even if it is in the minority. It is especially striking in powerful figureheads which almost always tend to the vainglory elsewhere. And I can't prove it, but when seeing Roman sculptures tagged as a copy from the Greek... they seem more natural and nonaffected compared to what I see in Athens Museum.

[Klingan]

So to restate my point with more tedious precision, this wonderful and surprising quality is by far most frequently found in Roman sculpture compared to other traditions, even if it is in the minority. It is especially striking in powerful figureheads which almost always tend to the vainglory elsewhere. And I can't prove it, but when seeing Roman sculptures tagged as a copy from the Greek... they seem more natural and nonaffected compared to what I see in Athens Museum.

 

I cannot confirm your last notion but it would surely be interesting to consult an expert! The thought is intriguing.

[The Augusta]

So to restate my point with more tedious precision, this wonderful and surprising quality is by far most frequently found in Roman sculpture compared to other traditions, even if it is in the minority. It is especially striking in powerful figureheads which almost always tend to the vainglory elsewhere. And I can't prove it, but when seeing Roman sculptures tagged as a copy from the Greek... they seem more natural and nonaffected compared to what I see in Athens Museum.

 

I cannot confirm your last notion but it would surely be interesting to consult an expert! The thought is intriguing.

 

Yes, like Klingan, I'm not sure I agree with this, CN. I think it was certainly true of some Republican portraits, but certainly early Principate portraits were highly idealised after the Greek models.

 

As to your avatar - and may I say, this is one of my all-time favourite Roman portraits, despite the man it portrays - we have had a discussion on the forum before as to the 'relative verismo' of Severan portraiture.

[caesar novus]

Hmm, it's sounding as if I fell in love with the Roman Republic but then accidentally got married to her evil lookalike sister, the Roman Empire!

 

I don't know where I would have seen so many busts from the Republic, and I clearly recall seeing more than one notorious emperor being depicted like a kindly uncle trying to think up less painful ways to execute Christians.

 

But maybe we all take captions of busts too seriously. I visited Rome's Palazzo Altemps when they had temporary(?) cardboard signs with lengthy english writeups on the changes the busts had gone thru. For example, it might have originally been a historical figure that was changed to some god for a Cardinal who was looking for that. Then fashions changed, and it was changed to some other historical figure.

 

I don't see these signs in slideshows I will post at the bottom. If I turn on the "show info" flag on flicker I only see one discussion of a faked sculpture, and googled text just talks about repairs and minor enhancements. But a physical guidebook agrees with the "cardboard" that such sculpture changes to Roman originals were widespread, not only in that Cardinals massive and now dispersed collection, but throughout the Renaissance.

 

Most permanent museum captioning has not been edifying to me. In Italy it may be absent (Naples?) or be in a confusing format. Not only Roman numerals, but some puzzling initials which I couldn't relate to BC or BCE etc. And outside Italy it has become fashionable to use those annoying spotlights which inevitably become misaligned to throw captions into perma-gloom shadows.

 

The following don't seem to show my poised emperors (I'm sure they somewhere exist?!) and don't seem to show edifying signs (I'm sure this wasn't from a dream?!) but might ring a bell for someone who has visited, or entice others to visit. Best to turn on the "show info" flag on for flicker, and for that matter turn them to slow and hook it up to your TV with a digital HDMI cable for a nice background show for Roman nerds...

http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=Palazzo+Altemps

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?q=alte...ter=1#slideshow

[Maty]

One of the things I've always liked about these busts is that the heads were made by a portrait specialist, and then fitted on to a generic body type that journeymen knocked off by the dozen. So the effect was rather like the seaside attraction where you put your own face in a cut-out for someone on the other side to photograph. I saw a great one of some mid-fifties rather severe looking Roman lady's sat atop of a statue of Venus preparing for her bath.

 

In terms of realism, I note that though often described as bald, Caesar seems to sport a reasonable crop on top of his head in his surviving busts ...

[Kosmo]

But I don't see such qualities in Roman paintings (bleh) or mosaics (passable).

 

Roman realism in sculpture it is striking and high quality. I'm in love also with roman mosaics and surprised by your harsh treatment. And the few roman paintings are on par with quatrocento (I don't love them too much).