Column of Trajan, Rome, Cast of head of Roman man wearing wreath.
Plaster cast. 148 mm x 153 mm x 53 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: Paul Highnam.
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Cast of head of Roman man wearing wreath
From: Column of Trajan, Rome
RA Collection: Art
Because it wears a wreath, the head belongs to a figure who attends a sacrifical ceremony. The arrangement of the drapery suggests that this onlooker belongs to a scene at the outset of the Second Dacian campaign. That figure stands in the second row, and essentially only his head and draped shoulders are depicted.
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
148 mm x 153 mm x 53 mm
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