Rome's history in four faces at The Met

Portrait of a Man, late 1st century B.C.E., marble, 31.5 x 19.7 x 19.7 cm.; portrait bust of the emperor Gaius, known as Caligula, 37-41 C.E., marble, 50.8 x 18 cm; bust of the emperor Hadrian, 118-120 C.E., marble; and portrait of the emperor Caracalla, 212-17 C.E., marble, 36.2 cm high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Speakers: Dr. Jeffrey Becker and Dr. Beth Harris

[@trax-3987]

The veristic portraits depict old people. Augustus came to power and established his image as a younger man and Caligula never got the chance to get old. Just something to keep in mind. Caracalla's portraits don't look anxious to me - they convey fury and brutality - some maybe even madness.

[@marta9127]

Out of all four portraits, the image of Hadrian is the is the most interesting one. Not so distant, more subtle, more human. He seems to be the one who is open-minded, ready to discuss, almost focused on you - the viewer. With the half opened mouth, ready to speak seems to be listening to you closely. He was the person who ruled over the empire skillfully, the one that was able to provide for the future and think ahead. (The most beautiful thing about Hadrian, in my opinion, was that he was able to look for a suitable future ruler of the empire and finding a bright, intelligent teenage boy named Marcus Aurelius secured his education and position as the future emperor. Marcus was too young to be Hadrian's immediate successor, so Hadrian appointed Antoninus Pius but made him promise that the young boy will become the next emperor. So he was able to think about the future of the emipre in the scope of next 20-30 years. Not only about his rule but about the continuity of Rome.) Hadrian. The restless traveller, builder, lover of the Greek traditions. And I think this sculpture shows it all. Caligula is very distant, very god-like, you feel immediatelly you should almost feel fear and trembling and adoration. Caracalla, on the other hand, seems to be enraged, brutal, you can see his anger and will power radiating from the sculpture and you cannot be comfortable with this image either. And Hadrian with his bright personality makes his message very clear and in a way mesmerising, intelletually seductive. You got the sense of divine but also the sense of deep humanity. And, BTW, his hair-style is so hot ;) You're right he's modelling his image after the Greek philosophers

[@creepinwhileyousleepin]

The artisans that chiseled this stuff were just on another level.

[@suzettehenderson9278]

Caracalla doesn't look anxious, he looks angry.

[@thomasjoyce7910]

I think he was going for a brooding, Steve McQueen kind of intensity.

[@aristotleemerson3248]

@@thomasjoyce7910 Yes. You know how Caracalla was...

[@mdstanton1813]

That portrait of Caracalla has been my phone background for about 4 years. One of my fav sculptures ever and he looks pretty damn handsome too

[@reybladen3068]

Octavian known as Augustus became consul when he was 19 which was very young, I guess the latter emperors idolized him for having large achievements at such a young age.

[@protokhaniapetos3158]

And for being the first emperor and a God since he was deified upon his death.

[@SheIsTristine]

I miss the other guy!! His voice was so soothing.

[@christianfrommuslim]

Excellent sculptural assemblage of Roman leaders and how their depictions reveal the zeitgeist of their times.

[@ashharris7293]

When Augustus became "Augustus" he was still in his 30's. The republican busts were of men in their late 50s or older. Gaius was only 20 or 21 in that bust so it would be no surprise that he looks young...he was.

[@superlovescakes]

cool :D

[@raphaelgide6111]

Augustus died at 75, very old age for the day; yet no portrait shows him looking older than 35 which drives the point that his portraits were highly idealised.

[@marta9127]

Yes, but as he gained more power and as he aged his portraits became more and more beautiful and he remained depicted young, as a man in his twenties or early thirties! Even when he was old his image remained of that youth confident hero! When you look at the earliest Octavian portraits, however, he is still very handsome, but more natural. You get the sense of what he acctually looked like in his youth. Later portraits idealized his features. Augustus was handsome, but the sculptors upgarded this reality and then never let their emperor get old. As if he lived in the domain of gods even before his death and deification! His images are mesmerising radiating with power and calmness of Pax Romana Augustus himself haf established.

[@stsk1061]

@@raphaelgide6111 But Caligula died before his 30th birthday, so how is a statue showing him in his young age idealized?

[@uriszardealdaca]

Thank you very much to both of you for the information and education you provide.

[@GJ-dj4jx]

Fascinating! Looking forward to your next video.

[@jsmcguireIII]

The word "senate" is derived from "senex" for elderly - thus Senatus Romanus was the "Assembly of Roman Elders" which confirms a high level of power held by these older wealthy elite. These men would certainly have decided what (and who) was depicted in stone.

[@camaramarcelo]

great video, thank you!

[@kylewit924]

I live right next to the met. Its cool to know I can walk right in there and see this stuff. Thanks for the info :)

[@lastevolution6678]

gaius aka caligula was murdered in his 20s, he WAS young. He's not "presenting himself as eternally youthful" he never got to live to old age

[@MultiCappie]

What a wonderful discussion of art, craft, politics, and history.

[@joshuahomme1]

Thx for your videos.

[@HaiderAlZubaidi]

Beautiful sculptures, and great analysis, I love the Met

[@c_turtle]

Excellent! So many interesting ideas. Thank-you.

[@JudgeHill]

Apologies if you have answered this already, but what is the intro and outro music you play? Really lovely.

[@tiodeniz]

I wish I found your channel earlier...

[@Kaiserohnepurpur]

You've made an ardent lover of Roman art very happy, gratias vobis ago! If I may, a video similar to this but instead focuses on four faces in late antiquity would be a great sequel.

[@robdoubleyou4918]

Great insight into Roman sculpture. Gratias vobis!

[@Sasha0927]

Hadrian is super cute, I can't even lie. I'm a little sweet each time I see him, lol. Apparently, he was a good emperor, too. Proud of him. 🥰

[@gfrtube8547]

Do more videos about Egyptian art and architecture (columns outside the classical orders)😀😀😀

[@superlovescakes]

😀😀😀

[@helentyetalkin1490]

Thank you so much for your wonderful work. Please could you do some on 19th and 20th C Mexican art? Would you want help doing that? I teach Mexican art history at a community college in California, we need more short films!

[@smarthistoryvideos]

Thank you for your suggestion. We have very little art from Mexico in the 19th century though this is a priority for us and we will be adding more soon. You can see what we have here: smarthistory.org/velasco-the-valley-of-mexico/ We do more in the colonial and pre-Columbian eras. You can find that material in the left-hand navigation on Smarthistory. Thanks for your offer, we are always looking for specialists with a Ph.D. in art history to contribute.

[@helentyetalkin1490]

Thank you, I'm familiar with what you have and have just shown the class the film about José Maria Velasco and landscape / national identity (which is a subject I wrote my master's thesis on but in the context of Swedish landscape painting of the late 19thc). I also use your films for my Art Appreciation classes (and am in process of converting one of those to zero text book) and my Ancient - Medieval Survey class. I have a PhD in depth psychology! and a masters in art history.

[@goodboybuddy1]

Isn’t your intro and exit music the same as Food Wishes? PS I love this series!

[@smarthistoryvideos]

Yes (I think we used it first!). We like food wishes.

[@aaron2709]

Good analysis.

[@martinschmidt5255]

Caracalla is the best one, because he is real in all his manners.

[@inigomulaisho2809]

Was wavy hair, curly hair, the fashion back in early Roman days :)

[@angelabender8132]

Yes they used hot irons

[@bill9989]

Excellent presentation. But it has such an NPR feel from the tone of the speakers, to the jazzy little piano riff at the conclusion. It's impossible for me not to chuckle.

[@brucestirling8215]

Excellent

[@stanochocki8984]

Though, via many a History Prof. have been told that the Romans, wile 'not adverse' to 'a little touch-up' on their images....that the Ancient Romans were rather Demanding on accuracy in the depiction of the individual...here, by what their saying...Lol....we are experiencing Ancient Photo-Shop.

[@gabo1841997]

Caracalla's bust looks just as evil as the real man.

[@TheTaxburden]

The first guy looks like Lord Voldemort. Lol. Hadrian always looks so handsome in his busts.

[@superlovescakes]

XD

[@Kyle_Schaff]

I have a *TOTALLY* different interpretation of the veristic style. Your explanation feels way too artsy-feely for the philosophically disinclined Romans (especially of the Republican era). It jumped out to me as a carry-over of a separate cultural phenomenon: death masks. The Romans would regularly take death masks of their deceased, use them in ceremonies and for the mourning process, hang them on their walls, or even just store them in a drawer. The cultural context of the Romans at the time was that it was common to see lifelike depictions of human faces (because the masks were literally the wax impression of a human face). It seems only natural to me that their first foray into sculptures would be in the _artistic_ style they were used to. Especially because these were ostensibly conservative-valued senators commissioning them. I could even imagine a Roman senator boasting about how lifelike his turned out (since they would also be beautifully painted)

[@raymond7880]

The truthfullness came from Hellenistic sculptural tradition. The Romans copied many almost baroque style sculptures, even though Pliny completely disparaged Hellenistic sculpture.. sculptures of peasants, old women etc.

[@Ekphrasys]

Many people still think that ancient Greeks were like their statues ... not true ... they were more or less like today . The idealized gods and heroes were MODELS... it’s like now ... with super top models both males and females , actors and so on... Romans portraits were true to life instead: they represented emperors, senators, poets and patricians as they actually were... ;)

[@outis439-A]

What do you mean? they were not like their statues? The people were not representing the Hellenic culture?

[@AthrihosPithekos]

Wrong. The gods were idealized. Also athletes or perhaps figures of authority. Not everyday people or say even philosophers. Have you seen sculptures of Socrates? He looks like a toad.

[@Ekphrasys]

@@AthrihosPithekos that's what I'm saying...sometimes idealized (Gods and goddesses), sometimes they were just models ....unlike Roman statuary that was quite always true to life .... ;)

[@carausiuscaesar5672]

A nation that does not respect its ancestors has no soul.-Robinicus Rido