Your Daily Art

Tag: Augustus

  • Painted Gentleman

    Augustus of Primaporta, Early 1st century CE, reconstructed copy of marble, that is a copy of bronze, with paint.

    Sometimes as we look at the art left behind by ancient civilizations we expect that they intended their sculpture to be viewed as the bleached white examples we see today however, that is not the case. The sculpture of the Greeks and the Romans was painted. We know this because remnants of the color survive and in rarer cases, sculpture with the paint still applied survives.

  • Protection

    Ara Pacis, Roman Temple built for Augustus, 30-9 BCE, Rome.

    Built to honor Augustus’ battles in Spain and Gaul, the Ara Pacis was built as a celebration to the power of the Roman Empire and “peace” their dominance brought to them. Over the years it was buried as the city grew and was finally excavated in the 20th century.

    Processional Frieze, Ara Pacis

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