Roman and Etruscan Monuments: Pantheon, Sarcophagus, Marcus Aurelius Bronze and Maison Carrée
Pantheon
Style: Imperial Roman. Typology: Temple
Historical Context
The Pantheon was built during the Imperial period, during the “Pax Romana”. This was a time when military campaigns ceased and funds were available for public works and for romanising the conquered territories. It was the era in which the Empire reached its greatest territorial expansion and prosperity.
Formal Analysis
Among the construction materials, we should mention mainly concrete for the thick walls, and volcanic rock for the roof.
An entrance portico, in the manner of a Greek temple, consisting of eight columns on its front, of the Corinthian style, and four on each side, with a frieze, crowned by a pediment and a gabled roof with an architrave.
The decoration is entirely geometric.
Sarcophagus of the Spouses of Cerveteri
Style: Etruscan. Typology: Freestanding
Formal Analysis
Rounded volume and high relief of the busts, contrasting with the flattened legs.
Single-faced (unifacial)
Polychrome terracotta
The only movement we can appreciate is the hint of a gesture both make with their hands, since the bodies are recumbent and rigid.
The figure depicts a married couple reclining at a banquet in the afterlife.
Almond-shaped eyes and an archaic smile.
Hair that is little worked and geometric.
Rigidity and hieraticism.
Use of geometric planes to represent the arms and torso, and even the fingers, which are reduced to cylindrical forms, as well as the oval in which the faces are set.
Symmetry in the couch (kline) and a diagonal between the feet and the faces of the spouses.
Careless treatment of the lower limbs and feet.
The man is nude from the waist up and the woman wears the Etruscan mantle.
Feet and footwear sculpted with every detail of luxury.
Function and funerary character. Its size, nearly two metres long, led to the belief that it could be a sarcophagus, hence its name; however, the absence of organic remains has led us to think that it was more likely a cinerary urn that housed the ashes.
Meaning
It highlights the importance of the institution of marriage in Etruscan society.
Bust of Marcus Aurelius
Technique: Lost-wax casting. Typology: Imperial portrait
Historical Context
A sculpted work from the Imperial Roman period. Marcus Aurelius was the last emperor of the Antonine dynasty. He had no vocation for arms; on the contrary, his character was peaceful. This attitude was interpreted by the barbarians as a sign of weakness, so they soon launched an attack, and Marcus Aurelius spent much of his life on the battlefield.
Formal Analysis
Rounded volume and open volume
Multifaceted
A single block
Sculpted in gilded bronze using the lost-wax technique
Polychrome statue
Freestanding sculpture
Statue in an equestrian position, on horseback.
The statue has its head upright, with its gaze directed forward, and its arm slightly extended.
The face is represented realistically, but somewhat idealised.
The horse is corpulent, with a slightly disproportionate head.
He does not wear armour; he wears a short tunic and the general's cloak (paludamentum), and is shod in patrician boots, which signified that he was peaceful.
Function and Meaning
To emphasise power and divine greatness, Marcus Aurelius appears victorious, alluding to the conquests of his campaigns, one of them against the Parthians, in which the Romans emerged victorious.
Maison Carrée
Technique: Architrave construction. Style: Imperial Roman
Historical Context
It belongs to the early Imperial period, the era of the “Pax Romana”. There were few conflicts, and the funds available could be devoted to public works, as a way of demonstrating superiority over the other conquered territories. Moreover, public works were built not only in Rome but throughout the Roman Empire, as a romanising and unifying instrument.
Formal Analysis
It has a rectangular shape and rises on a podium.
It is a prostyle temple, because it has only one facade or portico, reached by a flight of steps.
The load-bearing elements are the walls and the columns.
The columns, which measure 17 metres in height, are of the Corinthian order, a fact that denotes Greek influence.
The temple closes with a gabled roof, creating a tympanum.
The construction system is architrave. The entablature consists of an architrave with three bands, a frieze with plant decoration and friezes, and a cornice.