Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . These threemagnificent pieces deserve to be carefully studied,and also compared with the earlier decoration ofsimilar character from the epochs of Augustus orDomitian. The richer, heavier Trajanic manner andthe more fantastic treatment of design soon becomeapparent by contrast. But the supreme message ofTrajanic art seems brought by the wonderful eagle withina wreath now in the forecourt of the Church of the in Rome.| By the side of this Imperialconception even such a masterpiece as Donatellosbronze eagle at Padua seems exaggerated and
Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine . These threemagnificent pieces deserve to be carefully studied,and also compared with the earlier decoration ofsimilar character from the epochs of Augustus orDomitian. The richer, heavier Trajanic manner andthe more fantastic treatment of design soon becomeapparent by contrast. But the supreme message ofTrajanic art seems brought by the wonderful eagle withina wreath now in the forecourt of the Church of the in Rome.| By the side of this Imperialconception even such a masterpiece as Donatellosbronze eagle at Padua seems exaggerated and does Wickhoff say of the Roman eagle that itremains * Phot. Anderson, 1850; Studniczka, Tropaeum Traiani,Fig. 55. According to Studniczka, the familiar slab walled intothe Torre di Nerone, near the Forum of Trajan, is a furtherfragment of the same ornament. f The larger fragment illustrated Amelung-Holtzinger, i. Fig. fragments are photographed by Anderson, 1851, 1852. J First published by Wickhoff, Roman Art, pi. THE PRINCIPATE OF TRAJAN 231 unsurpassed at the present time, notwithstanding all theattempts of the Renaissance to produce something motive of the eagle in the wreath, familiar as it is toRoman art, is here entirely created afresh by an originalaitist. As a rule, the eagle sits in the wreath, but herehe has just entered it, with pinions still spread as in flightand head outstretched. What is gone is the detail offoliage, feather, and fluttering streamers, and yet whatrepose and concentration in the whole.—( Roman Art,p. 62.) The eagle seems at once the picture of the politicaland spiritual tendencies of the age, and the finishedexpression of its technical and decorative skill (PlateLXIX). CHAPTER X THE PRINCIPATE OF HADRIAN, 117-138 Relief at Chatsworth—Reliefs in the Palazzo de Conser-vatori—Relief with Hadrian passing theTemple of Venusand Roma—Altar from Ostia—Provinces from theBasilica of Neptune—Hadrians
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