Column of Trajan, Rome, Cast of left profile of bearded Dacian.
Plaster cast. 151 mm x 155 mm x 50 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: Paul Highnam.
This image is not available to download. To licence this image for commercial purposes, contact our Picture Library at picturelibrary@royalacademy.org.uk
Cast of left profile of bearded Dacian
From: Column of Trajan, Rome
RA Collection: Art
This head from the Column of Trajan belongs to a Dacian who is hurling a stone at his Roman adversaries. The scene is one of the principal battles, possibly that at Tapae, of the First Dacian War and features an image of Jupiter at its top centre.
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
151 mm x 155 mm x 50 mm
Start exploring the RA Collection
- Explore art works, paint-smeared palettes, scribbled letters and more...
- Artists and architects have run the RA for 250 years.
Our Collection is a record of them.
Related articles
-
![RA cast display installation]()
Our Collection
5 months ago
Video: Historic casts are re-installed at the RA Schools
After years in storage, watch as our cast collection is re-installed around the RA Schools.
-
![Richard Cosway RA, Richard and Maria Cosway, and Ottobah Cugoano (detail)]()
Our Collection
12 months ago
Untold Stories
Recent research reveals how the Royal Academy’s founding artists worked amidst Britain’s imperial expansion in the 18th century, the transatlantic slave trade, and a growing abolitionist movement.
-
![Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA,, Self-portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA]()
Our Collection
> 1 year ago
Creative inspiration today from the first President of the Royal Academy
The RA’s founding President Joshua Reynolds may have shaken up the art world when he delivered his ‘Discourses’ lectures, but are they still relevant now? We take a closer look at what artists and art-lovers can learn from the series today.
-
![Emma Stibbon RA, Collapsed Whaling Station, Deception Island, Antarctica]()
Our Collection
> 1 year ago
Video: Apocalyptic printmaking and extreme environments with Emma Stibbon RA
Watch Emma Stibbon describes the unforgiving conditions and dramatic landscapes that inspired her display in the Collection Gallery.
