A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, ArchitectureWaters, Clara Erskine Clement
History
A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
Waters, Clara Erskine Clement
Art -- History
Of the arch of Claudius there are some remaining fragments of sculpture,
now in the Villa Borghese. The arch of Titus was erected to celebrate
the taking of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. It was restored in 1822. The frieze
represents both a triumphal procession and one of sacrifice. The picture
we give here shows a company of warriors in the dress of peace, who bear
articles of booty taken from the conquered city. They have the
candelabra with seven branches, the table of the shew-bread, the silver
trumpets, etc. This will give you a good idea of these reliefs. (Fig.
66.)
The arch of Trajan no longer stands, and its reliefs are now on the arch
of Constantine; but Trajan's Pillar is one of the best preserved of all
the antique monuments of Rome, and with some account of this column and
a picture from it we will leave the historical sculptures of Rome. The
Senate and people of Rome decreed that this column should be erected to
the memory of Trajan, and it was in the centre of the Forum which bore
the same name--the Forum Trajani. The column is about one hundred and
six feet high, and originally was surmounted by a bronze statue of
Trajan, which was replaced by one of St. Peter by Pope Sixtus V. A band
of reliefs runs around this pillar in a spiral form; this band is six
hundred feet long, and the sculptures represent Trajan's campaign
against the Dacians. Many of the figures lose their effect on account of
the height at which they are placed. There are more than a hundred
scenes upon it, in which are about twenty-five hundred human figures,
besides many horses and other objects. The whole is executed with the
greatest care.
The real object of the whole work was to glorify the Emperor Trajan, and
he is represented in many of the scenes; sometimes he is conducting
engagements, storming a fort, or encouraging his troops; again he is
holding an audience, protecting the women of a conquered city, or
sitting in judgment on captives. Fig. 67 represents the Dacians
assaulting a Roman fort. It is winter, and while some have crossed the
ice in safety, others have broken through. Everything about it is
represented in the most life-like and matter-of-fact manner, and this
shows distinctly the principal difference between the Greek and the
Roman art when the latter was not influenced by the former. It is pure,
realistic, historical sculpture, and this pillar shows this at its very
best estate; it is a splendid specimen of this kind of art. In all these
many scenes there are but two mythological figures: one is Selene, used
to represent Night, and the other is _Jupiter tonans,_ who indicates
Storm. But the correctness and elegance of the sculptures show what the
Greek teaching did for the Romans; for it was to the Greeks that the
latter owed their knowledge of the human form and their power to render
it properly in sculpture.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--FROM THE RELIEFS OF TRAJAN'S COLUMN.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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