Column of Trajan, Rome, Cast of head of bearded Dacian in cloak.
Plaster cast. 152 mm x 154 mm x 35 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: Paul Highnam.
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Cast of head of bearded Dacian in cloak
From: Column of Trajan, Rome
RA Collection: Art
This head seems to belong to a Dacian who waits in reserve outside the walls of the besieged Dacian city. He stands in profile and the fibula which fastens his cloak on the right shoulder is visible in the cast. The scene occurs in the Second Dacian War. The cast however lacks a lock of hair behind the right ear along the neck.
The Column of Trajan was located in the Forum of Trajan (dedicated AD 113) in Rome and has remained standing since its original construction. It is made of three elements: a base with interior chambers; a column shaft; and a bronze statue of the Emperor on top, now replaced by St. Peter. A narrative frieze, full of figures and contextual detail, is carved around the exterior of the column in low relief; it recounts the two campaigns which Trajan led against the Dacians in AD 101-102, and 105-106.
The Royal Academy has 52 casts of heads in the form of medallions, and once had as many as 113 such casts. 105 of them may have come from the mid-18th c. collection of the Duke of Richmond and another eight came from the Thomas Lawrence collection. The Academy also has three casts of architectural details from the base.
Object details
152 mm x 154 mm x 35 mm
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