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Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Nationality: European; Southern European; Roman Creator Name-CRT: Roman Title: Portrait head of the emperor Constantine I View: Principal view Creation Start Date: 324 Creation End Date: 337 Creation Date: ca. 324?337 Object Type: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects Materials and Techniques: marble Dimensions: H. 37 1/2 in. (95.2 cm) Description: Surviving portraits of Constantine the Great, like this one, were made between his assumption of sole power in 324 and his death in 337. They typically show the emperor with a similar hairstyle, which is sometimes ornamented with the jeweled diadem he adopted after 324. The cap of hair is thick and arranged in a small number of full comma-shaped locks across his forehead, which recall the hairstyles in portraits of the emperors Augustus and Trajan. This particular head depicts Constantine with pronounced cheekbones as in his youthful likenesses. His face is smooth and his large eyes, with carved pupils and irises, are surmounted by arched brows with individually delineated hairs that add texture to his face. The nose is prominent and the mouth curved. The upraised eyes of the first Christian emperor express a spiritual orientation that would have been anathema to Trajan's essentially secular image. This colossal head surmounted an enormous statue of the seated emperor, who may have sat impassively with a globe in one hand and scepter in the other, as he did in a statue in the basilica at Rome bearing his name . Constantine's appropriation of the portrait type of Trajan is echoed in other forms of art: erotes were eventually transformed into angels, and sarcophagi with philosophers bearing ancient texts were transformed into sarcophagi with Christ and the Scriptures. The adaptation of classical forms to Christian purposes is a story that begins to unfold in the early fourth century A.D. and continues until the Italian Renaissance. AMICA Contributor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Owner Location: New York, New York ID Number: 26.229 Credit Line: Bequest of Mary Clark Thompson, 1923 Copyright: Copyright ? 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art . All rights reserved. Rights: http://www.metmuseum.org/education/er_photo_lib.asp Style or Period: Late Antique period Style or Period: Constantinian AMICA ID: MMA_.26.229 AMICA Library Year: 2002 Media Metadata Rights: Copyright (c) 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
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