Portrait Bust Of Hadrian, From Rome, CA. 117-120 CE

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Name
Institution
Date
Portrait bust of Hadrian, from Rome, ca. 117-120 CE. Marble, 1’ 4¾” high. Museo Nazionale
Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome
Portraits of the four tetrarchs, from Constantinople, ca. 305 CE. Porphyry, 4’ 3” high. Saint Mark’s, Venice.
Formal characteristics
The Portrait bust of Hadrian, from Rome is a bust made by an unknown Italian sculptor. It is based on the emperor Hadrian around ca. 117-120 CE. The material from which this sculpture is made is white marble. Hadrian is shown as a mature man with a head covered with curls, a cropped beard that possibly links him to interest philosophy hobbies and classical Greece. The sculpture only includes the Emperor unlike the four tetrarchs, which represents the type of government that Hadrian oversaw.
On the other hand, the portraits of the four tetrarchs, from Constantinople ca. 305 CE represents the rule by four at a time when there was power sharing in Roman Empire during the reign of Diocletian who ended strife and by choosing to work with the rivals this restored order. The portraits of the four tetrarchs represent the four equal partners in power. The purple marble portraits of the tetrarchs show that the emperor stabilized power.
Symbolism
Greek statues on male figures focused on men with and Hadrian’s busy is modeled on idealized version of classical Greek statues, which highlights his artistic relationship with Greece. Since Hadrain emulated the Greek statesmen he inspired sculptors to represent portraiture similar to the Greeks. Trajan and Hadrian were Spanish emperors in the Roman Empire, b...