Talk:Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs

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Unsourced essay with POV, now removed.

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Influences Mediterranean artistic styles changed with the power shift from Greek and Macedonian leadership to Roman political structure, but some influences and ideals remained, as they were shared by both Greek and Roman culture. A prevalent trend was giving the likenesses of leaders strong appearances in their depictions to hint at the individual's ability to lead his society to greater heights of power and influence.

Greek leaders had already borrowed heavily from Egyptian pharaohs in materials and their own symbolic representation, and Roman rulers borrowed from them in turn. As previously mentioned, Rome's far-reaching empire granted it astonishing power and influence. In fact, Rome's power enabled the use of materials not found in Rome, as the Empire brought many regions together for trading relationships. This allowed for the first Egyptian influence, the use of deep red porphyry.

A visual Egyptian influence on the Portrait of the Four One recognizable example is the Palette of King Narmer, which set the expectation for future Egyptian artwork as well as artwork in many classifications to come. This item would have been used frequently by Egyptian scribes, and prominently displays a large likeness of Narmer depicted by a composition of views, with the head, legs, and arms in profile view and the eye and torso clearly in frontal view. As it is impossible for a real human being to pose like this, the general consensus is that Egyptians were not aiming for realism, but rather for symbolism in these early two-dimensional portraits of their rulers. Even centuries later, the Romans found a similar mode of depiction useful for depicting their tetrarchy, as

Roman imperial portraits owe much more than material choices to Egyptian works. While choosing unyielding, dense stone to show the likenesses of their powerful leaders was certainly significant, Roman rulers also saw the value in the poses Egyptian rulers used as well. Egyptian Pharaohs were depicted in a regal, unyielding seated pose, as in the depiction of Khafre Enthroned. The reason why the sculpture appears idealized and vague is that Egyptian rulers found it important that sculptors represented the god-like status they claimed. This statue was never meant to be a portrait, but rather a visual reference of the qualities of a successful ruler, which suggested their legitimacy and/or deity, power, and benevolence, in that order. One of the most significant reasons for making Egyptian rulers look like sculptures of gods was to emphasize their separation and power over the Egyptian people, as well as the divinity associated with their kingship.

Greek This Roman contemporary practice borrowed from artistic representations of Greek leaders, most notably the portrayal of Alexander the Great. The Alexander Mosaic in particular displays this subtext-heavy practice in two-dimensional Greek artwork. The Macedonian king was highly admired for his fearless leadership and skill as a battle tactician. Greek artists chose to record this quality in two significant ways; his distinctive hairstyle and penetrating gaze. Alexander's hair, though not immediately attractive, radiates strength in its implication of action. The perpetual windblown quality of Alexander's hair suggests a state of constant motion, making the Greek leader seem determined and unstoppable. Additionally, Alexander's gaze reflects the same sort of determined character. His sharp eyes intimidated the enemy in battle and this same ferocity stirred his subordinates to admire and follow him in his pursuits. Alexander's unique features emphasize his fearlessness and determination in his rule. Though he died young in a military campaign, Alexander the Great continued to be looked up to by countless rulers to come after him.

Republican Rome Portraiture in Republican Rome was a way of establishing societal legitimacy and achieving status through one's family and background. Exploits wrought by one's ancestors earned them and their families public approbation, and more; a pompous state funeral paid for by the state. Wax masks would be cast from the family member while they were still living, which made for hyper-realistic visual representations of the individual literally lifted from their face. These masks would be kept in the houses of male descendants in memory of the ancestors once they had passed. These masks served as a sort of family track record, and could get the descendants positions and perks, similar to a child of two alumni attending their alma mater.

Republican Rome embraced imperfection in portraiture because, though there were different levels of power each class of society had, everybody had little insecurities, this type of untouched physical representation fostered a sense of community by implying that while there were existing inequalities, that did not change the fact that they were Romans.

This Greek style and leadership expectations carried over into Roman leadership portraiture. One significant example is the Severan Period marble portrait of the emperor Caracalla. Nearly all representations of Caracalla reflect his military prowess through his frighteningly aggressive expression. Caracalla borrowed the precedent Alexander set; the piercing gaze. His arresting confidence exudes from his features to show that he is not a man to be trifled with. The intense sculptural execution of this piece in particular reflects a shift toward more geometric renderings of the human face to better convey messages to the public, often strong implications of power and authority to keep peace in the Roman Empire. Emperors coming after Caracalla saw the respect he commanded of his subordinate governing party as well as the Roman population as a whole. Seeing his success as a ruler, subsequent emperors sought to have portraits similar to Caracalla's to suggest that they were on the same level as him, both in terms of military tenacity and authoritarian control. This facilitated more and more geometric, less idealized figural representations of leaders to constantly emphasize the ruler's strength and image.

This geometric style proved to be useful to the Roman Tetrarchs that divided rule of the empire among themselves after the reign of the emperors. The geometric style is not particularly realistic, but the style applied to all four figures sent a message of steadiness and agreements between the four rules, reassuring Roman citizens while simultaneously sending an unmistakable message of power and authority reminiscent of the previous emperors. Presenting variance in the appearance of the tetrarchs may have contributed to viewers favoring one ruler over the others. Instead, Using near-identical geometric forms to represent their likenesses was the easiest way to show their equality and common will. The abstraction of human form made for a clearer understanding of the expectations Roman Tetrarchs had for their subjects and how Roman citizens expected the Tetrarchs to rule. — Preceding unsigned comment added by GPinkerton (talk • contribs) 02:36, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

Untitled

my three sources for my Wikipedia project (Alejandro Holliday)

one

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/roman/late-empire/v/tetrarchs#! two

http://www.academia.edu/4821608/Imperial_Portraiture_of_the_Tetrarchs_A_Material_Approach three

http://www.scribd.com/doc/218581608/Portraits-of-the-Four-Tetrarchs#scribd

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