Formal Analysis: Roman Sarcophagus Essay examples

When analyzing Romans Sarcophagus Depicting a Battle between Soldiers and Amazons (Warrior Women)” The artist used a multitude of visual elements to grab our attention. One great powerful example that caught my attention was the four corners of the roman sarcophagus. The four corners of the sarcophagus stood out the most to me be it depicted the battle's outcome while maintain a balance of each side. It shows us trophies, weapons, kneeling Amazon prisoners and hands bound behind their backs, but directly at the corners we men and women kneeling with their heads down which is unusually because through all of the weapons and trophies and chaos we see the after math of the battle. Showing us the true feeling of sorrow, forgiveness and possibly

The sarcophagus is made of limestone covered in plaster and is 1.37 meters in length. It contains four sides, each of which is painted in fresco with a different image of each other but shares the similar theme of depicting what may be a ritual or funerary customs being performed. On one of the long sides, it is divided into 3 parts, one of which shows several women carrying vases filled with what could be water, and pouring its contents into a bigger vase that is held up by two decorated poles or giant axes. Another part has two men holding onto a bull and another holding a boat, which leads to the third part of the image where a man is standing in front of what could be his tomb. This suggests that these women and men are making offerings to the man standing in front of the

The tympanum shows Romanesque style and is divided into three horizontal sections. Starting from the top section there are carved angels with trumpets. They all have halos and appear to be sitting on thrones. In the middle section the figures seem to be taller than the rest. Some of the figures have halos and some don’t, and the rest were formed similar to a monster stature. On the right-side of the sculpture shows serpents wrapped around the demonish figures and have little children behind them. The last section of the statue is full of figures, more so than the other sections. It is a long sequence of people in no particular order; but starting from the left to right we can see the figures posture become more deformed. Lastly, the central figure is four times bigger than the rest and looks like it can be Christ himself sitting on a throne with angels encompassing him and upholding him in the air. The sculpture as a whole shows simplism not humanism, because the figures are not human like.

This coffin fundamentally preoccupies the room due to its scale and the treasure of imageries engraved into the marble in both high and low relief which give the sarcophagus a special attention. There is interesting details about the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus because while it contains many images of Christianity, the Seasons Sarcophagus suggests a look at a specimen of a pagan sarcophagus, and the two fragments look indefinitely alike, the images they cover ultimately differentiates them. Moreover, the pair is in the center of the carved side and it is fenced with a zodiac ring. Apparently, their faces’ expressions look tranquil as a substitute of sober. So, the manuscript displayed in the wall informs that the zodiac ring signifies the resting place of souls and it represents the holiness and religious spirituality related to the Roman’s life after death. (See pictures number 6 and

Its architecture has Greek form with a high structure of marble that shows off a large frieze portraying an epic battle on the base’s walls. The cracked figures on the frieze fight violently against each other, and even with the test of time, their features are descriptive and their faces show much varied expression. The most impressive part of the Altar of Zeus is the sculptural frieze depicting the struggle of the gods and the giants. It is clear on the altar’s frieze’s that the artist/sculpture of the alter worked towards a natural view of the characters on them, borrowed from the classical period but sculpted them to be in more of realistic portrayal. The construction of a frieze seemed to be a fairly popular architectural enhancement at the time; this outer frieze is one of the most famous. The sculpted figures on it create a new height of Greek realistic representations and architecture in modeling, composition, and expression of emotion. The emotions of the figures are one of the aesthetics that makes the frieze so unique and beautiful. As the battle scene is unified; the winning and losing sides are clearly cut. The artist makes the battle and its characters easily perceivable. The look of suffering in defeat is on all the giants’ twisted faces. Drastically opposite is Zeus and his fellow gods who are seen as completely expressionless. The overall style of the frieze is very intense, to say the

A sarcophagus is a stone coffin usually associated with the civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The Sarcophagus Depicting a Battle between Soldiers and Amazons (Warrior Women), housed at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, was crafted by the Romans between 140 - 170 CE While observing the sarcophagus one notices the rectangular and triangular prisms that give it the shape similar to that of a building. This particular coffin is made of marble; however, cheaper alternatives used by Romans include wood, lead, and other stones. Sarcophagi are used as symbols of remembrance and the afterlife. Sarcophagi were Sarcophagi and altars were usually located outside of the city as Romans believed that burials inside the city were a violation.

A person with a sarcophagus that has a scene of war might want to be show that they were great warriors or conquerors in their life.

Both Etruscan and Roman tomb sculpture function to memorialize the departed allowing them to move on from the world of the living and seeks to comfort those who have lost the ones they love. The two societies have differing practices in regards to death and therefore sculptures concerning the subject are somewhat different with a few identifiable similarities. While both societies seek to comfort the living and commemorate the dead this is achieved through different approaches. The Etruscan Sarcophagus with reclining couple from Cerveteri, Italy and the Mummy of Artemidorus from Roman Egypt are two examples of contrasting representations of the dead. When analyzing tomb sculpture one of the main questions is whether the work adapts a retrospective approach (presentation of the deceased as they were in life) or a prospective one (the viewpoint of looking forward to life beyond the grave). While the Etruscan sarcophagus gives a more retrospective memorialization through the depiction of the couple in a state of regularity the Roman Mummy of Artemidorus presents a more prospective approach concerning the deceased through the emphasis of funerary practices.

The sarcophagus of the young girl lounging propped up on her elbow is petting a small dog and looking at her two dolls her body is elongated to fill the space on the top and there are small holes in her ears where jewelry would go. The condition of the girl herself is missing both her arms and hands while her dolls at her feet are missing their whole upper bodies. In her funerary sculpture the girl is with her toys and items she loved in life. This piece not only uses mythological allegories which is used

This relief sculpture was built to commemorate Naram-Sins victory from the Lullabi people. In contrast to other artworks, the artist here decided to create a new type of composition. In this relief sculpture, the focus was on creating a symbolic perspective and not a naturalistic. This can be seen in the scale of Naram-Sin and his body language. Furthermore, his closeness to the deities and his horned helmet both symbolize that he is close to the gods. Another element the author uses is chaos and organization. One one side of the releif scultpure, there is chaos and agony. However, Naram-Sin's army seems to be in perfect order and following their leader.

All figures were carved in twisted perspective, displaying a frontal torso with a right-facing profile head and body. This type of perspective allows the viewer to capture “the depiction of the arms as they complete an action.” King Ashurnasirpal II appears on right of the panel. He can be identified from his fez-type head dress, a symbol of power and prestige. He is depicted with his long hair and square beard, which are both highly stylized. He is wearing a long garment, which exposes his muscular forearms and also his sandaled feet are visible. This portray the toughness of life in Assyria, denoting back to his powerful control. Furthermore, the king stands very stiff and upright, suggesting his rigidness. He is holding a bow in his left hand and two upward-pointing arrows – symbolizing defense and protection from harm – in his right hand that is raised upward. His supreme status was conveyed through the rich decorative details that appear on his shoulder. Taking a closer look, one can see the bull and lion battle. Once again, the symbolic imagery evidently offers the viewer clues to its meaning. The bull and lion represents the Assyrians fierce nature and asserts the king’s fighting skills and brutality. The importance of the king is made evident by his activities and position within the scultpte

Their were multiple different art works that caught my attention at the museum although through the semester it was the Roman chapter that captivated my attention the most hence forth I chose this artwork. Each piece of art present in the museum deserved their own acknowledgment respectively from the gold and marble jewelry present to the large sculptures rich in detail non stood out more to myself than The Indian Triumph of Dionysus.I found this piece of art to be appealing because there are many different people and beings within this piece of work that are well known in ancient Greek and Roman mythology. The entire piece is centered on Dionysus, yet everyone plays an important role in the overall story of the piece. Also, I found it very interesting that someone took a great interest in building a monumental sarcophagus for a man who was known for introducing wine.
As Dionysus and his followers journeyed to the East to introduce wine and culture they were sometimes

This is a formal analysis of the work, “Hercules Strangling the Serpents”. This piece was created anywhere between 63-79 AD, and is made from fresco. It was found within the House of the Vettii in Pompeii. One of the first things you may notice is the piece’s extremely hellenistic, and dramatic composition. It is almost reminiscent of “Laocoön and His Sons”, an extremely famous sculpture also depicting serpents. The bottom half of Hercule’s body is practically identical to Laocoön’s, it even follows the same implied path of movement. His left leg, planted firmly into the floor also forms a diagonal in which our eyes follow directly to Amphitryon’s foot which forces our eyes upwards to his body draped in an exuberant and vibrant robe.

The Funerary Relief With Eight Figures, was created sometime from 360 to 340 B.C. during the Greek stylistic period. Whereas the Sarcophagus With The Abduction Of Persephone By Hades was created in the Roman stylistic period somewhere from 200 to 220 A.D. Not only are the two reliefs built for slightly different reasons, they are also visually different. The monument relief is visually very spread out, with groupings of characters having their own conversations. The focus is in a few clusters; the eyes move from one grouping of characters to the next. Each individual person needs to be perfect, since more of the focus is on each person. The sarcophagus is more crowded than the other relief, since it must show a whole story instead of just a snapshot of someone’s life. Every character is very animated and all hold very detailed poses which helps to portray the emotional portion of this distressing event. There is no main focus to this relief, the eyes dart back and forth trying to take in the whole story. The first relief is more relatable, since it is more realistic and shows the family aspect of daily life. The second is more abstract in meaning and can show the emotions that come with losing a loved one, the distress that can be caused by having a loved one taken by death to

This Greek Archaic statue was beginning to formulate shape in better relation to the figure, The details seemed to be made with more attention and observation. Then we have the Kritios Boy from Acropolis who is extremely similar to the Kroisos Kouros but from a latter period. The Kritios Boy from Acropolis was from the Early Classical and carved from marble as well. butting a side the similarities, which are easily noticeable, we can also find great differences that show the improvement. The Kroisos Kouros is an improvement from the previous sculptures to his era, the proportions of this piece begin to make more sense and relate more to the true human anatomy. Then we can see the Kritios Boy from Acropolis, This figure is even more advance than the previous. We can see how the Kritios Boy has a more refined suggestion of movement and we see this in the smooth shoulders and the lightly tilted hips. The great mimc of the flesh was executed in a great manner by the greeks. The improvement and gained experiences are important to consider and analyze, This need only kept becoming stronger every