Portraiture: What are some of the extraordinary examples and their accomplishments please develop your descriptive and stylistic analysis.
The Romans truly transcended in their in portrait sculpture. The ancestors of the Roman portrait bust can be traced to the stylized heads on Etruscan funerary jars and urns, and especially to portrait sculptures such as the bronze "Brutus" bust Rome. Each imperial dynasty sought to emphasize certain aspects of their representation or portraitures. Starting with the Republican period the portraitures, which served to portray the political and social prowess of the patrician class. One of the best examples for this period would be the Head of a Roman, portraits like these were of grim-faced, middle-aged men or public officials that commissioned portrait busts that reflected every wrinkle and imperfection of the skin. They believed in verism which was to show each imperfection such as warts, wrinkles and furrows. These wax masks served to advertise the family's illustrious history of public service and hope to inspire younger generations to strive for such achievements and also to elevate the family’s standing in the Roman society. At the beginning of the Imperial period the portraitures took more of a propagandistic role. Almost thousands of imperial portraits were produced in this time with the purpose that each person should be able to recognize their emperor on sight and they were displayed in public places.
Verism was still important to these portretures but sometimes blemishes or wrinkle were omitted. For example the portrait of the Emperor Augustus, This portrait of the Emperor Augustus (27 B.C.-A.D. 14) shows curly locks of hair, no wrinkles, softened bone structure; these features indicate is an idealized image influenced by Greek statues of athletes and athletic gods. Like Commodus for example, this emperor compared himself to the demigod Hercules and such images are intended to be official portraits, projecting those qualities the emperor and his advisors think are those that will have the widest public and political appeal which is why his portrait had a god feel to it.
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