Column of Trajan, Rome, Cast of head of Dacian man with swept back hair.
Plaster cast. 166 mm x 135 mm x 46 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: Paul Highnam.
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Cast of head of Dacian man with swept back hair
From: Column of Trajan, Rome
RA Collection: Art
On the Column of Trajan this head appears without a body. It is that of Dacian who emerges from above a rocky outcrop. He serves as an endpoint to a battle scene between Dacians and auxiliaries in the First Dacian War.
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
166 mm x 135 mm x 46 mm
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