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Tyrannicides (statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton): *
Backstory: In 514 BC Athens was controlled by the tyrant Hippias. A pair of lovers, the elder Aristogiton & younger Harmodius, plotted to kill Hippias at the Panathenaic procession. When they saw their target in conversation with someone who knew about their plot, they assumed they were betrayed. As they fled however they encountered the tyrant’s brother, Hipparchus; being armed and mentally prepared, they slew him instead of Hippias. Hippias remained in power, the tyranny seemed secure, and the assassins, both killed in the aftermath of the crime. Rumours were spread that they had acted only out of personal motives, incensed that Hipparchus had coerced Harmodius into sexual relations and insulted his sister. However Hippias was disturbed by the near miss. He began to take increasingly harsh measures to protect his family’s dynasty. In 510, when a Spartan intervention presented an opportunity to kick him & his family out, the Athenians welcomed it. Thus Harmodius and Aristogiton, who had played only an indirect part in the ouster of Hippias, were nonetheless cast as freedom fighters and liberators. Within a few decades, their legend had grown to mythic proportions. They appeared on painted, a song was written celebrating their deed & the city commissioned a pair of bronze statues of the pair, the first state-commissioned images to depict real human beings rather than gods or figures of legend. Copies of these statues eventually spread throughout the ancient world. The drawn-sword poses of the 2 tyrannicides—especially that of Harmodius, with his right arm raised and cocked behind his left shoulder for a downward slash—became as recognizable and as suggestive of a free society as today’s raised-torch stance of the Statue of Liberty.
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Etruscan statues of Kings in the Capitol: *
The famous "Capitoline Brutus", is variously dated, from late 4th century BC, to early 1st century BC, is a very rare survival of Italic style under the Republic, in the preferred medium of bronze. An early example of Roman portraiture, perhaps by an Etruscan artist influenced by Hellenistic art and contemporary Greek styles of portraiture. It may be "an archaizing work of the first century BC". It has been identified as being Central Italian in origin with clear influence from Hellenistic-era Greek sculpture and portraiture of the first half of the 3rd century BC. It may come from a full-length statue. The Roman head was provided with a toga-clad bronze bust during the Renaissance. Recent scholarship date it as early 1st century BC when there was a vogue for creating lively imaginary 'portraits' of early Roman celebrities, which is suggested by the treatment of detail. An example of this vogue is the Roman bronze bust of Scipio Africanus (236-183 BC), dated mid-1st century BC.
Since Winckelmann antiquarians have doubted in thinking it is a bust of Brutus. It may not have been a bust either, as the head might have belonged to a larger bronze statue that once stood on the Capitoline Hill.
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Sophocles (Lateran Museum): *
Roman copy, 1st century AD, from a Greek bronze of 340 BC was placed in the theatre of Dionysus (Athens) near those of Aeschylus & Euripides for the 110th Olympiad (between 340-336 BC), at the request of the statesman and orator Lykourgos. Notable is the broad, sure stance, open posture, & contrast between the free and engaged leg clearly apparent through the drapery. The fillet in his hair indicates Sophokles’ priestly office. He welcomed the god of physicians, Asklepios, into his house when the Asklepios cult became popular in Athens.
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Pericles of Cresilas: *
in Athens he created a bronze statue of Pericles (440–430 BC) with the Corinthian helmet upon the head as a sign of his position as strategos. Pliny the Elder said of it: "a work worthy of the title; it is a marvellous thing about this art that it can make famous men even more famous". Its base was found in the Athenian Acropolis & Pausanias probably saw this bronze. From it is derived a series of Pericles portrait busts.
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Roman busts: *
Portrait sculpture from the Republican era tends to be somewhat more modest, realistic, and natural compared to early Imperial works. It is characterized by verism (the artistic preference of contemporary everyday subject matter instead of the heroic or legendary in art and literature) influenced by Hellenistic portraiture, and survives mainly as marble and bronze sculpture. By the imperial age, we find realistic depictions of human anatomy but portrait sculpture of emperors were often used for propaganda purposes & included ideological messages in the pose, accoutrements, or costume of the figure. And since emperors from Augustus onward were deified, their images are somewhat idealized. The Romans also depicted warriors & heroic adventures, in the spirit of the Greeks who came before them.
above the patrician Torlonia, depicts an unknown manly character, the masterpiece of the Roman Republican portrait , a raw effigy of the Roman patriciate during the Silla period. This is a copy of the Tiberian period (1st century AD) of an original datable to the decade 70 BC. All the characteristics that the patricians wanted to highlight were evident, in a harsh age that saw their ambitions finally triumph after the difficult moments of the struggle against the Gracchi , of the advance of the plebs and of the civil wars . In a particularly dry rendition, the meticulous treatment of the epidermis does not spare any of the signs of old age: indeed they signify the hard peasant and military life of the patrician, the inflexible pride of his caste and a certain disdain, eloquently represented by the hard cut of the mouth and the firm and contemptuous expression of the look. The remarkable realism therefore conveys a precise political and social message.