Case study on Augustus of Prima Porta

1) What is the title of the piece and who is the artist or architect (if possible)?

2) What civilization and what time period does this art represent?

3) Why were the piece created and what medium(s) were used in its creation?

4) How does this piece of art or architecture reflect the values of the civilization that created it?"

Introduction of Augustus of Prima Porta

This report is about the August of Prima Porta, a sculpture. The report is telling that who the artist is and what title and of the piece was at that time. The complete history of piece is also discussed in as well as the pottery capability painted vessels or vases which are essential structure of the tombs. During the architecture, the difficulties, ideas or material types are also highlighted. Mainly, the report covers some significant questions such as what is the title of piece and who is the artist, what civilization as well as when it was created as well as what kind of materials and were used in the architecture.

What is the title of the piece and who is the artist or architect (if possible)?

The finely painted vessels which have different kind of shapes, they are named as vases” by convention, and the number of complete surviving pieces are 100,000 and these are unparalleled type of insights to understand the Greek lifestyle. The architectural pottery or sculptural pottery has also been painted in addition to that, and it is referred to be terracotta’s. Moreover, its quantity is also in large numbers. When literature is reviewed in detail, the pottery has been painted with the vases or vessels. It is important to mention here that in terms of deposit of grave goods structure, the pottery was an essential part of it, and it was taken as “funerary urns, which has contained cremated ashes. This has also been exported in large numbers.

There was a unique as well as famous Greek vase painting, which has been shown by the sturdy outlines, and there were skinny strains inside the outlines. This trend had reached at its peak during the era of 600 till the era of 350 BC. There were two most popular styles, one was red figure and the other was black figure painting. It is important to mention here that other colors were also used, but their use was limited, and some of them were white, whereas few others were purplish red. So, variety of colors was limited. These strategies were great for the vase painters, as they were able to come up with great results, where they combined powerful and refined expressions (Squire, 2013).

When it comes to talk about important activities about the creativity of Greek, the Archaic & Geometric phases with the massive metallic vessels’ manufacturing was a great thing. This activity was also great to improve the level of working technique of bronze such as repose hammering and casting. There were much early kinds of sanctuaries such as Olympia, and various sacrificial tripod vessels or tripod-bowl, which were in bronze, but when they were deposited, they were votive. There were three legs for them with a shallow bowl, which was highly raised by the two handles. It is important to know that at the start of the Orientalizing period, the figural promotes were used to adorn the tripods.

What civilization and what time period does this art represent?

There are various extensive topics, and ancient Roman artwork is one of them, as its age is almost 1000 years, and it was spread over 3 continents including Asia, Africa as well as Europe. As far as first Roman artwork is concerned, it date backs to 509 B.C.E, when the legendary Roman Republic was founded, and it lasted for so many decades as per the Byzantine art. It is interesting to see that a media’s broad spectrum was shown by the Roman art, which included terracotta’s, bronze & silver work, gems, mosaic, painting, as well as marble. It is vital to mention here that City of Rome had always shown the will and capability to adopt different cultures and their own culture and history was influenced by those cultures such as Mediterranean culture. So, when Roman art is closely analyzed, it is evident that it has the elements of Egyptian, Etruscan, as well as Greek Art. However, one cannot say that whole Roman art was derived from other art works; rather it can be identified for its own elements as well (Rose, 2005).

It was observed that Roman art work was mostly influenced by the Greek art work; as it was said by the Horace, a famous Roman poet that “Greece, the captive, took her savage victor captive,” It means that although Greece has been conquered by the Rome, but artistic and cultural heritage has been adopted from the Greek culture. It is also evident that different kinds of Greek art works were commissioned by the Romans for centuries, and this has been happening because there were different versions of marble Greek bronze like Doryphoros, which was influenced by Polykleitos.

There was a strong belief amongst Romans hat an art work’s copy is as valuable, as an original piece of art work is valuable. But it was found that certain copies were frequent in nature, and those were not considered direct copies, rather new copies came up with some little changes, making it a bit different from the original ones. For instance, if an original copy had an element of humor, it was changed by the Greek art by changing into something serious rather humor. There is one great example of satyr Marsyas’ grotesque Hellenistic sculpture, which was bit different from the original artwork (Scarre, 2016).

In terms of flaying the poor satyr, the usage of a knife was preferred, which not only demonstrated the expertise of the owner for its Greek mythology, but it also came up with a humor sense in darkish mode. A great journey was made by the Marsyas, when it had the direct reporting element coming from utilitarian items of the Roman enthusiast to the Greeks. However, it was true that Roman artists were not copying the original ones as it is, rather little changes were there. It was their capability to understand an art work, and adopt it in a way that humor of Roman art is also depicted in it.

Why were the piece created and what medium(s) were used in its creation?

            It is important to mention here that when even the concrete was not used in the buildings of the Rome, a volcanic stone was used by the Romans, which was native of Italy, and it was referred to be “tufa”, which was used to assemble the buildings. During the 2^nd century, the use of travertine was also started but it is essential to note here that “tufa” was still being used, as it was observed that tufa was more durable than any other material. It also had a beautiful off-white color, which was a great alternative for the white marble. The Res Gestae was the famous claim made by Augustus, and he said that “he found Rome a town of brick and left it a metropolis of marble” (J. Pollini, 1998).

References of Augustus of Prima Porta

J. Pollini, N. H. (1998). Parian lychnites and the Prima Porta statue: new scientific tests and the symbolic value of the marble. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 11, 275-284.

Rose, C. B. (2005). The Parthians in Augustan Rome. American Journal of Archaeology, 1(109), 21-75.

Scarre, B. M. (2016). Ancient civilizations. Routledge.

Squire, M. (2013). Embodied Ambiguities on the Prima Porta Augustus. Art History, 2(36), 242-279.