Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . umn commemorating the Wars of 174 and 176—The Panels on the Attic of the Arch of Constantine andin the Palazzo dei Conservatori—Reliefs at Vienna froman Honorary Monument to Marcus Aurelius in Ephesus—Reliefs in the Palazzo Spada. Although the principate of Antoninus Pius lasted fortwenty-three years, there are comparatively few monu-ments which can be referred to it with certainty. Theportraiture of the period we shall consider later. Inthe Palazzo Rondanini, however, are two reliefs * whichmay be attributed with tolerable certainty to the period
Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . umn commemorating the Wars of 174 and 176—The Panels on the Attic of the Arch of Constantine andin the Palazzo dei Conservatori—Reliefs at Vienna froman Honorary Monument to Marcus Aurelius in Ephesus—Reliefs in the Palazzo Spada. Although the principate of Antoninus Pius lasted fortwenty-three years, there are comparatively few monu-ments which can be referred to it with certainty. Theportraiture of the period we shall consider later. Inthe Palazzo Rondanini, however, are two reliefs * whichmay be attributed with tolerable certainty to the periodof Antoninus. The better preserved of the two is repro-duced on Plate LXXXI. The background is entirelycovered by a landscape setting. A steep rock crownedwith buildings rises from a river. From a hole inthe rock a snake darts forward towards a fountainindicated by water flowing from a large urn turned onits side. Below runs the river, presumably the Tiber,• Rom Mittheil., 1836, i. 167-172, Plates IX., X. (von Duhn). •I>ATK lAXXI. THE ANTONINE PERIOD 269 and the river-god himself appears amid his own his right hand he holds up a bowl to catch thewater from the urn, with the intent, doubtless, of offer-ing it for the snake to drink. In his left hand heholds a reed. A similar scene occurs on a medallion ofAntoninus Pius,* where, however, the snake springsinto the river from a ship which is seen on the subject has as yet been satisfactorily explained,though the allusion must be to the introduction intoRome of the cult of Asclepios, who is here symbolizedby his sacred The date of the relief is provedby the medallion, but the workmanship also presentsstylistic and technical points of resemblance to otherworks of the Antonine period. The head of the river-god, for instance, recalls in contour and in the treat-ment of hair and beard that of the barbarian whoadvances to meet Marcus Aurelius on the panel in theConservatori (Plate XC., Fig. i
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookp, booksubjectsculptureroman
