The real faces of the Tetrarchs

[Diocle]

Some time ago, I made a silly request to Joar, if it was possible to create an image with the four tetrarchs in the same attitude they had in the monument at the base of S.Marco church in Venice. At that point some objected, using good argouments, that the charecters rapresented in the sculpture were too stylized to be precisely identified one by one, so to speak, they were symbolic representations of the unity of the Empire.

This was not true: The Tetrarchs of the sculpture, are really identifiable and identified!
I found this news in a nice article on the Thetrarchy of an Italian researcher, A. Ambrogi, in a website devoted to Roman History.
http://www.imagoromae.com/massimiano_it.ashx
(Under the title clic on 'Articoli'/'Storia'/'L'imperatore Massimiano', free PDF download-the site and the PDF are in Italian so Google translator)


Here the images from the left: The Venetian sculpture of the 4 Tetrarchs, Diocletianus & Galerius, Massimianus & Constantius Clorus and Diocletianus.

[Diocle]

We all know the faces of the great Emperors of the early centuries Augustus, Claudius, Nero, Vespasianus, Trajanus etc., but what about the third century, at least for me, is more difficult to connect a name to a face so, because i found some images of the emperors of the III c. begin to post.

Obviously those who begin if not Diocletianus:

[Constantius]

http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm
Click on the name and usually there is a face...oh and a little information about each one

[Diocletianus]

This was not true: The Tetrarchs of the sculpture, are really identifiable and identified!

Must have been a very awfull face artist ! I remain humble saying that I could not do such a sculpture..

[First Citizen Gallienus]

I personally think Decius' sculpture looks neat. It really captures the sense of horror the emperors had to endure during the Crisis of the 3rd Century. Look up the word 'anxiety,' and it's Decius' head bust that shows up as an example.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety

[Diocle]

Must have been a very awfull face artist ! I remain humble saying that I could not do such a sculpture..

Dear Diocletianus, I have to agree with you!! although the first post give the link to the document where I got the informations!
Take it as a first step to unreveal the mistery!!I'll continue to investigate, the monument of the Tetrarchs now has become an obsession for me!!

Constantius, more information about names and locations at the end of the series, but remember brothers, this is only a visul excursus, not an academic reserch, the fact is that wiki is not enogh and I had different images for different names in my head, so I siad to myself: why not collect all that I find? and why not submit it to your attention?

And now ledies and gentlemen: Massimianus Herculius!!!

[Diocle]

This time some pictures of the eastern Caesar of Diocletianus: Galerius.

[Diocle]

The last of the Tetrarchs, the Caesar of Maximianus Herculius, father of Constantinus I, Constantius Chlorus:

[Joar]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Diocle]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I could not ask for more! As I said amazing work, really great joar!

I wanted to put together the protraits of the Tetrarchs not so much to offer suggestiions, as, like I already said, the work on the protraits in these mods is almost perfect, but only to clarify things for myself and maybe for others; In this era of history of the Art, the Roman naturalistical late-hellenistic style begins to give way to a style in which the human figure is represented in a more abstrct or ,later, hieratic way or pre-Byzantine way.
Typical in this sense the statue of the four Tetrarchs in which is very difficult distinguish between the single individual figures, as Diocletianus said in his good posts.
In this age unlike in the previous centuries, began to be very different the quality of the sculptors and we can find a great difference in the quality of the artstical works, perhaps a sign of the Crisis? Perhaps a sign of a greater differentation of the various geogaphical areas of the empire, more localisms? Perhaps a deep change of the artistic taste now more interesteted in a more abstract/barbaric artistic language less naturalistical but more expressive (here the contaddition is only apparent because in this case: less Naturalism = more figurative Expressionism?)?
I stop here, and while reiterate that my purpose was only to observe the great figurative linguistical diversity of this age, I'm very happy to repeat: Great work Joar, as always!!

[Emperor Caesar]

good rendering really good