'The new pictures of Augustus: Power and Media in Ancient Rome' explored in new exhibition
Head of Augustus with a civic crown, around AD 40, Munich, State Collections of Antiquities and Glyptothek, inv. GL 350A © State Collections of Antiquities and Glyptothek.
HAMBURG.- Augustus marks a turning point in Roman history. The first emperor (27 BC to 14 AD) not only possessed immense power, but also used novel communication strategies. With the exhibition The New Pictures of Augustus. Power and media in ancient Rome a central aspect of ancient image culture: the veritable boom in images that broke ground under the first Roman Emperor Augustus.
The first exhibition on Augustus in Germany for 34 years presents 220 objects such as statues, busts, reliefs, murals, coins and ceramics from the Louvre in Paris, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Capitoline and Vatican Museums in Rome, the Archaeological National Museum in Naples and other important European museums and collections come from the pictures and monuments of this time.
Portrait of Augustus with veiled head, first decades 1st century AD, Chiusi, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 3182 © Su concessione del Ministero della Cultura – Direzione regional Musei della Toscana - Firenze.
The sole rule of Augustus and the accompanying transition from the republic to the imperial period represents a drastic break in Roman history: Images played an unexpected role in this. A new desire for the image led to a new approach to media and changed the style in the various genres such as wall painting, sculpture, architecture or everyday objects. New clients - not only the elite, but society in its entirety now commissioned and received pictorial works - ensured an unprecedented wealth of images everywhere. The veritable copyist industry resorted to newly developed marble quarries on a large scale.
The exhibition at Bucerius Kunst Forum shows the new way of dealing with images in five chapters: The image of the emperor and the empress , new narratives and memorable images , the new image of the city , new and old images in cults and images in the house between tradition and innovation .
Portrait Head of Augustus, c.27 BC BC, Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines, inv. Ma 1280 © bpk / RMN - Grand Palais / Hervé Lewandowski.
At the beginning, the pictorial innovations are made tangible by means of the emperor's self-portrayal. The imperial family communicated with the people in various media through images in the form of portrait heads, busts, statues and coins, which spread in Rome and the provinces in an unprecedented omnipresence. Augustus also used new narratives and memorable images about the history of the city of Rome, the divine origin of his family, his successes and the victoriousness of the emperor in general for his self-portrayal. These pictorial ideas were displayed in prominent new buildings, among other things, and were received throughout the empire. In the exhibition these can be seen on wall frescoes, architectural fragments, terracottas, statues and figurines, reliefs and inscriptions. The cityscape of Rome also changed at the time of Augustus through prestigious building projects. This is made visible in the exhibition using selected buildings such as the Augustus Forum. Augustus propagated these buildings and also the building projects by depicting them on coins throughout the empire. The new desire for pictures at the beginning of the imperial period was particularly evident in the private sphere. In addition to the wall paintings, the new picture galleries and Pinakotheken, this also applies to the sculptures, marble and bronze tripods and candelabra that populated the gardens of the rich. The tableware was also discovered as a picture carrier. Augustus propagated these buildings and also the building projects by depicting them on coins throughout the empire. The new desire for pictures at the beginning of the imperial period was particularly evident in the private sphere. In addition to the wall paintings, the new picture galleries and Pinakotheken, this also applies to the sculptures, marble and bronze tripods and candelabra that populated the gardens of the rich. The tableware was also discovered as a picture carrier. Augustus propagated these buildings and also the building projects by depicting them on coins throughout the empire. The new desire for pictures at the beginning of the imperial period was particularly evident in the private sphere. In addition to the wall paintings, the new picture galleries and Pinakotheken, this also applies to the sculptures, marble and bronze tripods and candelabra that populated the gardens of the rich. The tableware was also discovered as a picture carrier.
8.10.2022 — 15.1.2023
Portrait head of Livia, around AD 20, Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines, inv. Ma 1233 © bpk / RMN - Grand Palais / Hervé Lewandowski.
Cameo depicting the busts of Tiberius and Livia, AD 14–22/23, Florence, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 14533 © Su concessione del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze (Direzione Regional Musei della Toscana).
Statue of Honor of Eumachia, Late Augustan or Tiberian, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 6232 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi.
Statuette of Aeneas with Anchises and Ascanius, 1st century AD, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 110338 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi
Statuette of Victory on the Globe, 1st century AD, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 4997 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi.
Statue of Mars Ultor, 2nd half of the 1st century AD, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 255775 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi
Relief with Caryatids and the Personification of a Province, early 1st century AD, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 6715 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi.
Achilles and Chiron, c. AD 50–79, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 9109 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi
Tripod with sphinxes, Augustan, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 72995 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi.
Venus in Bikini, early 1st century AD, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 152798 © Archivio dell'arte / Pedicini fotografi
Denarius of Octavian with the Curia Julia, c.29–27 BC. BC, Berlin, State Museums, Coin Cabinet, object no. 18202364 © State Museums in Berlin, Coin Cabinet / Dirk Sonnenwald
Denarius of Augustus, c.20–19 BC, Berlin, State Museums, Coin Cabinet, object no. 18207578 © State Museums in Berlin, Coin Cabinet / Reinhard Saczewski.
Aureus of Augustus. Head of Augustus and Capricornus. Inscription: Due to the recovery of the field signs lost by the Parthians, around 19/18 BC. Chr. Berlin, State Museums, Coin Cabinet, object no. 18206702 © State Museums in Berlin.