Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . ROMAN PORTRAITURE 379 the sidelong glance, the simple masterly strokes bywhich the hair and the furrows of the face are rendered ;to find their like again we must go to the finestportraits of Donatello. Here, indeed, is one of VernonLees sly and wrinkled old men. If you grasp andlearn by heart the details of this head, of the Philip, ofthe Pupienus, of the Caracallus in Berlin, of the headsof Commodus, of Flavian portraiture, of the Augustusof Prima Porta, and of the Barracco Caesar, you will,I think, never again look upon Roman sculpture as aborr


Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . ROMAN PORTRAITURE 379 the sidelong glance, the simple masterly strokes bywhich the hair and the furrows of the face are rendered ;to find their like again we must go to the finestportraits of Donatello. Here, indeed, is one of VernonLees sly and wrinkled old men. If you grasp andlearn by heart the details of this head, of the Philip, ofthe Pupienus, of the Caracallus in Berlin, of the headsof Commodus, of Flavian portraiture, of the Augustusof Prima Porta, and of the Barracco Caesar, you will,I think, never again look upon Roman sculpture as aborrowed oi- second-rate or unimportant art. The De-cius of the Capitol (No. 70) is another fine example fromthe middle of the third century. It has been excellentlyanalysed by Riegl ( Spiitromische Kunstindustrie,p. 70), who remarks that though the momentary,arresting effect is entirely remote from Gieek art, yetno one would have the courage to assert that it wassignificant of artistic decay. The portraits of Empresses, from the end of thesecond


Size: 1312px × 1904px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookp, booksubjectsculptureroman