Thursday, May 14, 2020

Analysis Of The Marble Portrait Of Caracalla - 1947 Words

What The marble portrait of Caracalla is a portrait bust. Busts are simply sculpted upper parts of the human figure depicting the head and the neck and a portion of the chest and shoulders. They are usually fragments from a full body statue that are created to be inserted into an existing body. According to Paul Zanker’s ‘Roman Portraits’, public sculpture included honorific portrait statues of political officials erected by the Senate in the Roman Republic. These statues were typically erected to celebrate a noted military achievement, usually in connection with an official triumph, or to commemorate some worthy political achievement, such as the drafting of a treaty. A dedicatory inscription detailed the subject’s honors and life†¦show more content†¦First, the artist typically made a small maquette in wax or clay, over an armature or frame. From this initial model, a full-size model was developed, into which tacks were inserted at key reference points. A measuring frame was then placed over the model which recorded the locations of the tacks. The locations of the tacks were then transferred to the raw marble block, in a process known as pointing. What followed was a basic technique known as ‘hammer and point work’, which i nvolved knocking off sizeable chunks of unwanted stone, using a mallet and either a long point chisel, or a wedge-shaped pitching chisel. Once the general shape of the portrait emerged from the block, the carver used other tools to create the precise characteristics of the figure, including toothed or claw chisels, rasps, and rifflers. For instance, in Caracalla’s portrait, short chisel marks were cut on the face to produce eyebrows, a short beard and a moustache. Careful chiseling and drill work was particularly applied to the eyes to render them deep into their sockets. After the carving was completed, the rough surface was finished off by abrading the surface with another stone called emery, or sandpaper. Power tools were also used to polish the marble. All this abrading and polishing brought out the colour of the stone, and added a glowing exterior. Finally, the work was painted for a desired decorative finish, as can be evidenced by traces of pigment behind Caracallaâ₠¬â„¢s head. The skin,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.