Italy/Rome/Capitolini Museum & Campidoglio/Capitolini Museum & Campidoglio-04

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The head is about 8 ft high. The great head is carved in a typical, abstract, Constantinian style (“hieratic emperor style”) of late Roman portrait statues. The head was perhaps meant to convey the transcendence of the other-worldly nature of the Emperor over the human sphere, notable in its larger-than-life eyes which gaze toward eternity from a rigidly impersonal, frontal face. Although it does contain some remnants of individualistic portraiture (such as the hooked nose), the head typifies the trends of Late Roman portraiture by focusing on symbolism and abstraction, rather than detail.

Capitolini Museum & Campidoglio-04.JPG - The head is about 8 ft high. The great head is carved in a typical, abstract, Constantinian style (“hieratic emperor style”) of late Roman portrait statues. The head was perhaps meant to convey the transcendence of the other-worldly nature of the Emperor over the human sphere, notable in its larger-than-life eyes which gaze toward eternity from a rigidly impersonal, frontal face. Although it does contain some remnants of individualistic portraiture (such as the hooked nose), the head typifies the trends of Late Roman portraiture by focusing on symbolism and abstraction, rather than detail.

Date: 3/9/07 4:20 PM

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