Jump to content
UNRV Ancient Roman Empire Forums
Sign in to follow this  
Corax

Visit to the Louvre

Recommended Posts

I am planning to visit the Louvre next month to go round the Roman and Greek gallery. A friend mentioned that there is supposed to be a full sized statue of the Emperor Julian there. I'm sure I have seen it in a book. But I could not find any mention of it on the web site dedicated to Greek and Roman items. Has anyone been there and seen it recently? I know that museums often take things off show and wondered if this had happened to this particular statue.

 

Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It looks like it might have been out for an exhibition in Orleans, but it seems back. It is known under the title "portrait of a priest of Sarapis" ("pr

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I looked at them all. Fascinating. The faces look so real, some you almost expect to see breathe. I read one time that a theory is that a wax mask was made of the person and then somehow used as a guide for the sculpture? or even a concrete was poured into the wax mold? of course this wouldn't have been the case for the ones of marble. Just beautiful.

 

Questions: can someone tell me what if of any importance is depicted in the sculpture of the two figures in slide #119? and also of the scene in slide #281? And I think I've asked this before, but how do you suppose the majority of these wonderful pieces were found? actually dug from the ground? It just amazes me how well they are preserved. Sometimes I even feel a little sad when I look on the faces because you know they were actual living and breathing people, what were their stories? We'll never know.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Crispina, please also take a look at my gallery Ny Carlsberg Glypthotek (https://picasaweb.google.com/115229891211658247956/Copenhague19Novembre2011NyCarlsbergGlyptothek), you will positively love it. As for your questions :

 

- Most pieces were dug from the ground at various periods. Pieces found long ago often got "facelift" by the greatest artists of the time, be it during the Renaissance or the 19th Century : the Ny Carlsberg's "nasothek", collection of add-on pieces for ancient statues which were later removed, is quite telling.

 

About the making of the pieces, many situations : indeed wax-masks were used, especially in the roman world, for dead peoples, and this from the republican period onward, thus the greater realism or roman portraiture. Imperial portraits were often made from a first exemplary made from the living emperor, this first portrait being later reproduced in numerous exemplars by official or provincial workshops.

 

As for the specific pieces you asked : pictures 119 and previous : two peoples, male and female, the female arming the male : this is described as emperor Hadrian as the god Mars being dressed by Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla, child of Marcus Aurelius, sister to emperor Commodus, wife to emperor Lucius Verus. The statue was made between 120 and 140 AD but the initial woman's head was removed and replaced by Lucilla's, probably in the 160's.

 

About picture 281, the child fighting the cane, is a common theme found in numerous parts of the Empire, with 4 copies coming from a single villa next to the Via Appia : this one kept at the Louvres, the Vatican, Munich and Geneve. It is thought that it may be a copy of a bronze by 2nd century BC's sculptor Bo

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you, very interesting about the large statue, slide #119. That is something I thought of - different heads being placed on statues, especially slide #80. It appears as though an older man thought he would look a bit better with the body of a beautiful youth? ha I'm probably wrong. Also, slide #281 I thought was of the man tied to the tree. But thank you for your description of the child fighting the cane. Who is the man tied to the tree?

 

I will definitely check out your other gallery of photos.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The man tied is no man, he is the satyre Marsyas being punished for daring suggest he might be better than Appolon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsyas)

 

Picture 80 is of a man, long thought to be emperor Pupien, but more probably a mid 3rd century AD general. The body and the head seems to make one, but the body is the typical heroic man wearing only the military cape, the so called "paludamentum". The model of that kind of model comes directly from the greek tradition.

 

(about the pictures : you may want to check almost all the galleries : you will then travel from Egypt to Danemark, from the UK to Lebanon, with many wonderful museums such as the British Museum; the Ashmolean Museum; the museum of London; the Louvre; Amsterdam's archeology museum; museums of classical antiquities of K

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

(about the pictures : you may want to check almost all the galleries : you will then travel from Egypt to Danemark, from the UK to

Really good pictures, although google+/picassa puts up (soft) obstacles for nonmembers to view or comment. Can we vote on your next destination? Besides something Roman, how about warming up in Sicily next month? Get the grey skies out of those archeo photos.

 

Nice to view places I missed, unless they break my heart. Bergamo pains me because I wasn't able to visit it with Ryanair or whatever. I think that tank picture you have there is the same model as in the giant Bovington Tank museum in UK (Wool train station, then walk bikepath 2km northwest) posted as an Italian flamethrower. They said if you drive at full speed, it catches up with flames and self-immolates (African campaign).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For the tank I don't know :) As for the next trip, Bulgaria is currently being planned : two weeks mid-may, with possible ex-cursus to Edirne (rather doubtfull) and/or Thessaloniki and the macedonian tombs and palace of Aegae and Vergina (depending on how much time and cost are invested in Bulgaria since I don't drive and would thus need a driver, taking public transportations in a nation using the cyrillic alphabet not sounding like a good idea to me...).

 

Thanks for the appreciation in any case ! (and yes, google is rather upsetting me with the changes to it's services, managing my pictures on my computerS is getting harder and harder every time)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It looks like it might have been out for an exhibition in Orleans, but it seems back. It is known under the title "portrait of a priest of Sarapis" ("pr

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Map of the Roman Empire

×