Material: marble

Size: 5 ft 5 inches

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First, take a minute or two to look closely at the images above. Write down your reaction to this object--what did you think about when you first saw this? What parts of this object caught your eye? Why did you pick this object for your response paper? Make notes on things that you notice about it. Also, write down any questions you have about it--what kinds of things would you want to know about this object? Remember the questions we ask in class. You don't need to have answers for these questions yet, but keep them in your notes.

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I have given you two images of this sculpture. The first is a black-and-white image, which shows some of the details due to the higher contrast of the photograph. The second is an image of the sculpture in color, so that you can see the color of the marble.

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Once you have some questions written down, try to answer them by reading the information I've provided below about this object and its context.

 

Context: What Do We Know?

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This statue has a story to tell. The two busts (heads) which the man is holding date to the Republican period of Roman history (when Rome was ruled by a republic system of government, before the emperors). These heads were carved at different times, and may represent portraits of this man's relatives--perhaps a father and grandfather--carved soon after their deaths to capture their features accurately. The body of the standing man dates to the early 1st century CE, during the early days of the imperial period. Art historians have established this based on the style of carving. The head of the standing man, however, was not originally on this statue. The head and body are made of two different kinds of marble. You can see the join between the head and torso particularly well on the black-and-white photo. So, at some point during this statue's history, the head was either damaged or cut off, and replaced with a different portrait. The current head, probably carved sometime in the 1st century BCE, was also damaged at some point, and the nose and ears have been restored (the nose is actually a bit too large for the face, if you look carefully). 

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In class, we examined two portraits from the Republican period carved in a style called Verism, from the Latin verus, for truth. This style was popular during the 1st century BCE, and you see it also here. Remember what we discussed in class--that the emphasis on age may also imply a certain wisdom and dignity.

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We don't know exactly who this man is--we don't have a name that we can associate with this statue. But we can tell some things. He wears a toga, the special dress of a Roman male citizen. As a citizen boy grew up, he was first given a toga with a purple border (as a teenager) and then later an all-white toga, when he truly became "a man". The statue also wears special shoes which were reserved for the highest class in Roman society, the "old families" called patricians. The fact that the man holds images of his ancestors also implies that he really cares about his bloodline and ancestry; patrician families kept careful records of their ancestors and took every opportunity to show off the distinguished ancestors in their family.

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One of the opportunities to show off the glories of one's ancestors was during a big public funeral. Ancient written sources describe a funeral for an upper-class Roman man. There was a big procession that went into the Forum, the civic center of Rome. The dead man's body was carried on a litter, either sitting up or lying down. The living family was present in the procession, and a member of the family gave a big speech in the Forum talking about the dead person's achievements and life (a eulogy, basically). Also present in the procession were individuals wearing masks (either family members or paid actors). But these were not just any masks. According to ancient written sources, upper-class Romans had a practice of making a wax death-mask of their deceased family members soon after death, to capture the likeness of the person. These death-masks were stored in the house, perhaps on display (since they are made of wax, none of these have survived to the present day), and brought out during funerals. People in the funeral procession would wear the mask of the deceased ancestors, and in essence "act the part" of this ancestor in the procession. You can imagine the effect on the spectators--seeing all these ancestors walking by, hearing the speech about the glorious deeds of the deceased and his ancestors, it really put a lot of emphasis on ancestry and lineage. It is possible that the busts held by this man are sort of a marble version of the wax death-masks, meant to represent famous ancestors. 

 

Some things to consider in your response paper:​

• What was your response to this object? What drew your eye? You are encouraged to use first person (I/me) in your response paper. I want to know what you think.

• Consider the details of the sculpture carefully. Try to imagine the artist sculpting this piece; put yourself into his or her mind. What kinds of decisions did the artist make when they were creating this piece, and why did the artist make those choices? Use your art terminology. And as always, keep in mind that the sculpture would have originally been painted.

• Then, develop an interpretation of the sculpture based on the historical and cultural context above. Why do you think a Roman man might have had this sculpture made? Where might he have displayed it? Who was supposed to see this statue, and what were they supposed to think about the man represented in the statue? What is the symbolism/meaning of the two busts?

• What does this statue tell you about Roman culture, particularly the values cherished by the upper-class, around the late 1st century BCE/early 1st century CE?