What does the Barberini Togatus patrician carrying two portrait busts of his ancestors reveal about Roman families?

What does the Barberini Togatus patrician carrying two portrait busts of his ancestors reveal about Roman families?

Two portrait busts of old men, representing ancestors. Busts indicate the importance of Roman ancestor worship. Only patricians could have ancestor busts thus status symbols.

When was head of a Roman patrician made?

Head of a Roman patrician, from Otricoli, Italy, ca. 75–50 BCE. Marble, approx. 1′ 2” high.

What function did portrait sculpture such as the Statue of Togato Barberini serve in ancient Rome?

death masks
It is housed in the Centrale Montemartini in Rome, Italy (formerly in the Capitoline Museums). Little is known about this sculpture and who it depicts, but it is speculated to be a representation of the Roman funerary practice of creating death masks.

What were the portraits of Roman patricians during the late Republic made of?

The origin of the realism of Roman portraits may be, according to some scholars, because they evolved from wax death masks. These death masks were taken from bodies and kept in a home altar. Besides wax, masks were made from bronze, marble and terracotta.

Which country did the Romans adapt their gods from?

The gods and goddesses of Greek culture significantly influenced the development of Roman deities and mythology. Due to Rome’s geographic position, its citizens experienced frequent contact with the Greek peoples, who had expanded their territories into the Italian peninsula and Sicily.

Where was the head of a Roman patrician found?

Rome, Italy
This portrait head, now housed in the Palazzo Torlonia in Rome, Italy, comes from Otricoli (ancient Ocriculum) and dates to the middle of the first century B.C.E.

Who is head of a Roman patrician?

Form: The Head of a Roman Patrician is a sharp representation of a hooked nose and strong cheekbones of a male aristocrat.

How accurate are Roman busts?

They were fairly accurate. But they did take liberties. It’s a fairly complex history actually, as there wasn’t just one school of thought regarding Greek and Roman art, and both had their own transformations as time went on.

What purpose did the Romans portraiture serve?

What purpose did Romans want their portraits, sculptures, and paintings to serve? The Romans wanted their sculptures to remind viewers of specific individuals.

Why did the patricians make the busts of their ancestors?

The busts were made in the 1st century AD so that various family members could have them in their houses. Marble would have been chosen for the copies because the originals could be easily reproduced in marble (by the ‘pointing process’). Only patricians had the right to have portrait images of their ancestors.

Head of a Roman Patrician from Otricoli, c. 75-50 BCE, marble (Palazzo Torlonia, Rome) Seemingly wrinkled and toothless, with sagging jowls, the face of a Roman aristocrat stares at us across the ages.

Why was marble used for the busts of patricians?

Marble would have been chosen for the copies because the originals could be easily reproduced in marble (by the ‘pointing process’). Only patricians had the right to have portrait images of their ancestors. The more a family had the longer and more illustrious its family was.

Why are the busts of the patricians made of wax?

– his left hand is free of any support which suggests the busts are supposed to be imagined that they are made from wax and not marble. Wax because it was the patrician practise (according to Pliny the Elder) of making death masks for funerals and display in the family home.