Barbarian warrior, front view.
Title
Barbarian warrior , front view .
Date
2nd century
Cultural Context
Ancient Roman Italian European Western European
Style/Period
Roman (ancient Italian style) Imperial (Roman)
Subject
Statues Men Warriors Military personnel Capes (Clothing) Trousers Footwear Headgear Beards Daggers & swords Arms & armament
Description
"Images of barbarians , an essential element of triumphal ceremony in imperial Rome , were most often represented in a military context . […] [S]uch representations are omnipresent in Trajan's Forum , on the façade of the Ulpia Basilica , and along the bordering porticos . […] Transformed into stone and wedged into a Roman edifice , a barbarian becomes a metaphor with an explicit message . The barbarians are shown over and over again in submissive postures : heads bowed , hands tied , disarmed of their weapons . This statue is an Asian , Dacian , or possibly a Parthian . The short belted tunic , the cloak pinned with a fibula on the right shoulder , and the trousers (anaxyrides) are typical ; yet this statue is quite different from the Dacians in Trajan's Forum . […] The restoration performed by the Louvre showed that the head was indeed ancient but did not correspond to the statue . Although it may well be that this is an archaizing head inspired by a Greek model […] it is not inconsistent with statuary of barbarians . The Dacians on the metopes of the trophy of Trajan at Adamklissi (now in Romania) have unusual long , stiff beards ; the ones on the Aurelian and Trajan columns also usually have beards . They are not wearing helmets , but on sarcophagi decorated with battle scenes , […] the same barbarians are shown with helmets , which are down on the ground . […] In the statue shown here, the right arm and shoulder , left arm , part of the cloak , and the feet are modern restorations from when the statue was part of the Borghese collection . This makes it impossible to know how the arms were originally positioned , but the sword on the left side indicates that this [is] not a statue of a prisoner with bound hands . […] This statue is thus a representation of a free barbarian . Communicating a political message was not its purpose . While one cannot exclude the possibility that this statue was once part of a private decorative scheme […] , it is more likely that this statue and other analogous representations presented barbarians au naturel . […] Under Hadrian's reign , the Roman Empire appeared to be consolidated , no further conquests were sought , and the image of a barbarian was no longer considered a threat in the midst of an era of peace and prosperity . This statue illustrates , rather , an imperial regime capable of allowing people from across the horizons to live in peace and harmony. " (Excerpt from catalogue entry by Daniel Roger , p . 186) . Provenance unknown . Purchased in 1807 , formerly in the Borghese collection (MA 1019-INV . MR 357 ; N 673) . Restorer : B . Perdu , 2005 .
Material
Marble (rock) Rock Stone (rock)
Measurements
H: 83 1/8 in (211 cm)
Technique
Sculpting Carving (processes)
Work Type
Sculpture Statues Stonework
Repository
Musee du Louvre (Paris, France)
Source
Giroire, Cecile, and Daniel Roger. Roman Art from the Louvre. New York: American Federation of Arts in assoc. with Hudson Hills Press, 2007. (p.[187], cat.123).
Rights
Photographs of the works in the exhibition reproduced in Giroire courtesy: Copyright © 2007 Musee du Louvre and the American Federation of Arts/Anne Chauvet, Daniel Lebee, and Carine De Ambrosis.
Digital Publisher
University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center
Format
image/jpeg
Digital File Name
VRC 762-25.jpg
Rating
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