hadrianic art Flashcards
Hadrian Background
117 - 138 AD -> emperor through legal adoption by Trajan and in turn adopts Antonious Pious
ruled for 20 years
some scholars really go in on the idea that hadrian exploits trajan’s good reputation ie: frieze in trajans column theorised to be posthumously added by Hadrian - although this is not widely believed a good thing to keep in mind when approaching scholarship - a lot of implicit bias
Termini Head
120 AD, marble head of Hadrian
INTERPRETATION: Hadrian as greek philosopher or intellectual? NO. Although beard is longer it is a completely different style, equally a leap to assume that facial hair in general alludes to an affinity to greece - facial hair as roman general?
the trouble of Hadrian’s beard (cannot believe this is a real card but oh well)
Everyone tries to make a really bug deal out of Hadrian’s beard - visually suggesting his affinity to Greece, trying to make himself to be a philosopher BUT
ARCH OF BENEVENTUM - Trajanic period - few years before Hadrian’s reign - already plenty of soldiers and senators look a lot like hadrian - neronian hair present, wavy hair, heavily bearded individuals - the works
AND
TRAJANS COLUMN - Trajan may be clean shaven but his attendant has a substantial beard
THEREFORE: beards already becoming a fashion in the west before Hadrian’s reign - probably speaks more to Trajans conservatism/age that he didn’t have a beard rathe than Hadrian meaning much by it
Hadrian famously quite cosmopolitan - he’s probably just in touch with the fashion trend of the time rather than making a specific cultural reference
Portrait of Hadrian the General, Crete
full body portrait statue of hadrian in marble
General guise is another of his established portrait types - depicted in full ceremonial armour and has a foot on a barbarian prisoner (ironic considering he famously consolidated rather that expanded the boundaries of the empire)
Full body portrait of Hadrian as Pontifex Maximus, Rome
full body portrait of emperor hadrian at capitoline
Pontifex Maximus - one of the four full body portrait types we have of Hadrian
depicted wearing a robe - toga pulled up over his head as in a sacrificial ritual, in the guise of a civilian. can be variation in other versions of this type where the hoods is pulled down
Hadrian the Greek, Cyrene
Full body portrait example of the Hadrian the Greek statue types - marble
Depicted in Himation with his arm bound - like a grecian orator/statesman/citizen
UPDATE: conservation work showed that the head does not in fact attach properly to the body - barely slots into the shoulders SO ITS NOT EVEN HIM AND WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT COS THERE ARENT ANY OTHERS LIKE IT ANYWHERE WE SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST GUESSED
The Arch of Hadrian at Athens
131 AD, partially reconstructed
spearhead the temple of zeus that hadrian completed after several hundreds years of construction - outside the historic city - from the old side of the acropolis
two greek inscriptions - one on each side, one saying ‘athens, the old city of theseus’ the other saying ‘this is the city of Hadrian’
typical feature’s of Sabina (Hadrian’s wife) portraits
wife from 100 AD, Augusta from 128 AD, deified 136/7 AD
portraits quite typical of previous period imperial women
elaborate hairstyles with also some simpler ones mixed in - tight braids arranged in a nest being one of the main ones
generic facial features - classicising and idealising - not much to differentiate her from trajans wife or other women from the period except that her features are perhaps even more classicising than usual
Antinous Patras busts, Athens
x2
Antinous as a new god - think of statues of apollo or dionysus
idealise athletic youth most common though he has several different types
highly ‘plasticising’ images (think of 5th century hero statues in greece - but also the word ‘plasticising’ has kind of a problematic archeological history it doesn’t really mean anything lol )
Camelian Gemma/ Intaglio of Antinous
black chalcedony, 130-138 AD
marlborough collection, partially restored in the modern era in gold
contains a bust of antinous but its fragmentary - head itself is intact
portrait in profile to the left, fibula pins his chlamys in place at his shoulder, carries a hunting spear over his right shoulder
small incomplete vertical inscription in greece, perhaps the name of the engraver or could have said ‘antinoos hero’s’?
functional intaglio
Portrait of Antinous, Rome (Townley Antinous)
portrait head from statue of Antinous, Marble
seems to be in the guise of Dionysus, wearing a wreath of ivy vines in his hair, gaze turned down to his left - idealising features
hair looks ‘heavy’ i don’t know how else to describe it - quite thick and wavy
heavily restored
Antinous as Osiris from Tivoli
One of several portraits of Antinous in hadrians villa at tivoli
In this one he is depicted as an egyptian god of the afterlife
egyptian statue posture - quite static, striding pose - but greco-roman idealised naturalising approach to the form of the body
head adorned with the traditional egyptian headdress covering his hair completely - interesting case of different cultural approaches to sculpture being integrated in one work
Antinous Bust from Banias, Palestine
this is the one in the ashmolean i believe - comes from a private collection its pretty unclear how the current owner got it lol
greek inscription: to antinous the hero, M Lucius Flaccus
gorgeous quality bust - restored as the nose is actually missing as well as part of the torso
very youthful, idealising approach
cult of Antinous in the eastern empire
established after antinous drowns in the nile in 130 AD cos hadrian was obsessed with his boytoy (he was literally abused i feel so bad for this poor kid) - the impression of them as consenting lovers, or lovers at all is generally in much later sources even though it wouldn’t have been out of place for an emperor the contemporary sources don’t say much about it
there are so many antinous statues in the eastern empire - would suggest that at some point it wasn’t about flattering the emperor anymore but became a legit, strongly adopted cult
cult of antinous continues long after Hadrian’s death
Demigod/Heroic Hadrian portrait, Vaison-la-Romaine
Another of his established full-body statue types - depicted in marble
heroic nudity with cloak over the left shoulder and arm
