Art_And_The_Aeneid

Art And The Aeneid The Depiction of Augustus through Art “ This is the man, this one, Of whom so often you have heard the promise, Caesar Augustus, son of the deified, Who shall bring once again an Age of Gold.” --Aenied (VI. 1062-1065) After defeating Mark Antony in 31 B.C., Augustus became the First Emperor of Rome. Under Augustus’ power, the Roman Empire rose to power and conquered most of Europe and parts of Northern Africa. By the time Augustus died in 14 B.C., Romans grew to worship their leader like a god, but still human. With art, people can compare several pieces to get a sense of the artist’s motives for depicting a person in a certain way. Looking at the piece Head of Augustus and comparing it to The Head of Aphrodite, a divine figure and The Portrait of Man, a human figure, the question to ponder is how does the artist portrays the leader as both a human and divine figure. The Head of Aphrodite has many idealized features in order to capture the essence of Aphrodite as a divine figure. The skin of Aphrodite is perfectly smooth and doesn’t have any discolorations. Her facial features are extremely symmetrical and proportional. It seems augustus, human, head, man, artist, aphrodite, hair, augustus’, divine, features, very, facial, eyes, portrait, looking, life, hairstyle, being, aphrodite’s, wrinkles, skin, sense, person, nose, lips, leader, figure, contemplation, virtue, strong, small, showing, seems, realistic, practical, look