Roman portraits in context / Jane Fejfer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fejfer, Jane.

Series:

Image & context ; v. 2.

Image & context ; v. 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Art and society--Rome.

Art and society.

Portrait sculpture--Italy--Rome.

Portrait sculpture.

Portrait sculpture, Roman--Italy--Rome.

Portrait sculpture, Roman.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (604 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Walter de Gruyter, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Die höchste Ehre, die ein römischer Bürger sich erhoffen konnte, war eine Porträtstatue auf dem Forum seiner Stadt. Während der Kaiser und hohe Senatsbeamte regelmäßig mit solchen Statuen geehrt wurden, war die Konkurrenz unter den Wohltätern der Städte um diese Ehrung groß: ging es doch um nicht weniger, als die Erinnerung an den geehrten Patron und seine Familie über Generationen hin öffentlich zu verkünden und zu verewigen. Zwar gab es viele Möglichkeiten, sich eine Porträtstatue zu verdienen; die lokalen Honoratioren mussten jedoch oft bis nach ihrem Tod warten, bevor ihre Hoffnung darauf von der Öffentlichkeit erfüllt wurde. Jane Fejfer weist zum ersten Mal nach, wie grundsätzlich unser Verständnis und unsere Wahrnehmung von römischen Porträtstatuen erweitert werden, wenn wir folgende Faktoren einer systematischen Analyse unterziehen: den historischen Kontext, die ursprüngliche Aufstellung, die Entsehungsbedingungen von Herstellung und Stil - und den Sockel, auf dem in vielen Fällen ein Text angebracht war, der die suggestive Wirkung des Bildes durch eine eigene Rhetorik ergänzte.

The highest honour a Roman citizen could hope for was a portrait statue in the forum of his city. While the emperor and high senatorial officials were routinely awarded statues, strong competition existed among local benefactors to obtain this honour, which proclaimed and perpetuated the memory of the patron and his family for generations. There were many ways to earn a portrait statue but such local figures often had to wait until they had passed away before the public finally fulfilled their expectations. It is argued in this book that our understanding and contemplation of a Roman portrait statue is greatly enriched, when we consider its wider historical context, its original setting, the circumstances of its production and style, and its base which, in many cases, bore a text that contributed to the rhetorical power of the image.

Contents:

Part One: Public Honours and Private Expectations

The so-called Roman Private Portrait

What is a private Roman portrait?

The honorific statue

The origin of the honorific statue habit in the West

The honorific inscription

Honorific statues and social status: Who was represented? . .

Dedicators: who set up the portraits?

How to earn a portrait statue: personal expectations, public affirmation and audience responses

Location: Where were the portraits set up?

Ancestors for eternity

Corporate Spaces, Houses, Villas and Tombs

Corporate buildings

Houses and villas

Tomb

Part Two: Modes of Representation

The Material of Roman Portraits

Painting

Bronze and white marble

Travertine, limestone and other local stones

Gold, gilding, silver and ivory

Coloured stones

Miniatures

Wax

Other

Statuary Body Types of Roman Men: All About Status?

The full-figure statuary body types of Roman men. All about status?

The toga

Nudity

The cuirass

Abbreviated Formats

The herm shaft

The clipeus, or tondo

The half-figure bust

The freestanding bust

Selves and Others: Ways of Expressing Identity in the Roman Male Portrait

Greek or Roman? The origin of Roman Republican portrait styles

The 8216;period-face and its impact

The limitations and the possibilities of the period-face: variation in portrait styles

The portraits of actors from the Sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis: a case study in diversity

Part Three: The Empress and her Fellow Elite Women

Roman Women in Public

Dressing up a Roman Woman: statuary body types

Head and hair

Part Four: The Emperor

Representing the Roman Emperor

The Emperor in Rome: setting the scene

The Emperor in Rome: close encounter

Where were the free-standing statues of the emperor set up in Rome?

Who set up the statues of the emperor in Rome?

Statues for eternity?

Statuary formats and statuary body types

Defining the emperors head

Commissioning of prototypes

Market, replication and dissemination

The emperor en route

Epilogue Power, Honour, and Memory

Appendix Addendum: Statuary Formats and Statuary Habits in Literary Sources

The different habits of Saturninus statues

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [511]-553) and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612073229

9781282073227

1282073222

9783111737027

3111737020

9783110209990

3110209993

OCLC:

476276070