Mattei sarcophagus I

Last updated
Mattei sarcophagus I Sarcofago mattei I, con caccia al leone, 220-230 dc ca. 03.jpg
Mattei sarcophagus I

The sarcophagus with hunting scenes, known as Mattei I, is an ancient Roman sarcophagus of the 3rd century, displayed at the palazzo Mattei in Rome. It is 1.31m high.

Contents

Description

From the age of Caracalla onwards, carved sarcophagus production shows a kind of reaction to the "pittoricism" of examples from the preceding era (late 2nd-early 3rd century), such as the Portonaccio sarcophagus), with a return to richer plasticity, as is also documented in Roman portraiture between 215 and 250. Hugely influenced by their use in the Eastern Empire and the Middle East, hunting scenes in Roman art had started to become popular in Hadrianic art and the popularity of their use on sarcophagi spread thanks to Caracalla's predilection for Alexander the Great and his hunts (the Mattei example is one of the earliest with such scenes).

In the Roman world it acquired a new meaning as a signifier of military values, as shown by the Virtus-Roma figure in Amazonian dress standing behind the mounted hunter in this scene. This mounted hunter has a physiognomic portrait (datable to between 220 and 230, by comparison with the style of the portrait of Caracalla) and hurls a spear towards a lion at the right. Beneath this lions paws is a fallen hunter with sword and shield, and under this lion is another, dead lion. To the left are two standing nude divinities, possibly the Dioscuri. To the right, above the live lion, is a beardless mounted hunter in a tunic and another nude standing figure.

The composition is very crowded, with overlapping figures in a scheme unknown in 2nd century classicism. The use of drilling and the abundant chiaroscuro of high relief are typical of the expressionism of the turn of the 2nd/3rd centuries, though the solid plasticity and consistency of the figures indicate a continuing classicism. This compositional pattern is repeated with little variation on later hunting sarcophagi.

See also

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarcophagus</span> Stone coffin

A sarcophagus is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word sarcophagus comes from the Greek σάρξsarx meaning "flesh", and φαγεῖνphagein meaning "to eat"; hence sarcophagus means "flesh-eating", from the phrase lithos sarkophagos, "flesh-eating stone". The word also came to refer to a particular kind of limestone that was thought to rapidly facilitate the decomposition of the flesh of corpses contained within it due to the chemical properties of the limestone itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicola Pisano</span> Italian sculptor

Nicola Pisano was an Italian sculptor whose work is noted for its classical Roman sculptural style. Pisano is sometimes considered to be the founder of modern sculpture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porphyry (geology)</span> Textural form of igneous rock with large grained crystals in a fine matrix

Porphyry is any of various granites or igneous rocks with coarse-grained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a fine-grained silicate-rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. In its non-geologic, traditional use, the term porphyry usually refers to the purple-red form of this stone, valued for its appearance, but other colours of decorative porphyry are also used such as "green", "black" and "grey".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Relief</span> Sculptural technique of embossed depth

Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. When a relief is carved into a flat surface of stone or wood, the field is actually lowered, leaving the unsculpted areas seeming higher. The approach requires a lot of chiselling away of the background, which takes a long time. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, particularly in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be simply added to or raised up from the background. Monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman art</span> Art made in Ancient Rome and the territories it ruled

The art of Ancient Rome, and the territories of its Republic and later Empire, includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be minor forms of Roman art, although they were not considered as such at the time. Sculpture was perhaps considered as the highest form of art by Romans, but figure painting was also highly regarded. A very large body of sculpture has survived from about the 1st century BC onward, though very little from before, but very little painting remains, and probably nothing that a contemporary would have considered to be of the highest quality.

<i>Alexander Sarcophagus</i> 4th-century BC Phoenician royal coffin

The Alexander Sarcophagus is a late 4th century BC Hellenistic stone sarcophagus from the Royal necropolis of Ayaa near Sidon, Lebanon. It is adorned with bas-relief carvings of Alexander the Great and scrolling historical and mythological narratives. The work is considered to be remarkably well preserved, and has been used as an exemplar for its retention of polychromy. It is currently in the holdings of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman sculpture</span> Sculpture of ancient Rome

The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". At one time, this imitation was taken by art historians as indicating a narrowness of the Roman artistic imagination, but, in the late 20th century, Roman art began to be reevaluated on its own terms: some impressions of the nature of Greek sculpture may in fact be based on Roman artistry.

<i>Sacred and Profane Love</i> Painting by Titian

Sacred and Profane Love is an oil painting by Titian, probably painted in 1514, early in his career. The painting is presumed to have been commissioned by Niccolò Aurelio, a secretary to the Venetian Council of Ten, whose coat of arms appears on the sarcophagus or fountain, to celebrate his marriage to a young widow, Laura Bagarotto. It perhaps depicts a figure representing the bride dressed in white, sitting beside Cupid and accompanied by the goddess Venus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antalya Museum</span> Archaeology musum in Konyaaltı, Turkey

The Antalya Museum or Antalya Archeological Museum is one of Turkey's largest museums, located in Konyaaltı, Antalya. It includes 13 exhibition halls and an open air gallery. It covers an area of 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) and 5000 works of art are exhibited. In addition a further 25,000–30,000 artifacts which cannot be displayed are in storage. As a museum exhibiting examples of works, which illuminate the history of the Mediterranean and Pamphylia regions in Anatolia, Antalya Museum is one of the most important of Turkey's museums. The Museum won the "European Council Special Prize" in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etruscan art</span> Art of the ancient Etruscan civilization

Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characteristics. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta, wall-painting and metalworking especially in bronze. Jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funerary art</span> Art associated with a repository for the remains of the dead

Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs, tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and communal memorials to the dead, such as war memorials, which may or may not contain remains, and a range of prehistoric megalithic constructs. Funerary art may serve many cultural functions. It can play a role in burial rites, serve as an article for use by the dead in the afterlife, and celebrate the life and accomplishments of the dead, whether as part of kinship-centred practices of ancestor veneration or as a publicly directed dynastic display. It can also function as a reminder of the mortality of humankind, as an expression of cultural values and roles, and help to propitiate the spirits of the dead, maintaining their benevolence and preventing their unwelcome intrusion into the lives of the living.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomb of the Scipios</span> Common tomb of the Scipio family during the Roman Republic

The Tomb of the Scipios, also called the hypogaeum Scipionum, was the common tomb of the patrician Scipio family during the Roman Republic for interments between the early 3rd century BC and the early 1st century AD. Then it was abandoned and within a few hundred years its location was lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Roman sarcophagi</span> Ancient Roman funerary practice

In the burial practices of ancient Rome and Roman funerary art, marble and limestone sarcophagi elaborately carved in relief were characteristic of elite inhumation burials from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD. At least 10,000 Roman sarcophagi have survived, with fragments possibly representing as many as 20,000. Although mythological scenes have been quite widely studied, sarcophagus relief has been called the "richest single source of Roman iconography," and may also depict the deceased's occupation or life course, military scenes, and other subject matter. The same workshops produced sarcophagi with Jewish or Christian imagery. Early Christian sarcophagi produced from the late 3rd century onwards, represent the earliest form of large Christian sculpture, and are important for the study of Early Christian art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portonaccio sarcophagus</span> Sarcophagus from 2nd century (CE) Rome

The Portonaccio sarcophagus is a 2nd-century ancient Roman sarcophagus found in the Portonaccio section of Rome and now held at the Museo Nazionale Romano. Dating to around 180 AD, the sarcophagus was likely used to bury a Roman general killed in the 172–175 AD German-Sarmatic campaign of Marcus Aurelius during the Marcomannic Wars. It is an example of private sculpture of art in the age of Commodus, with visible influences from the design of the Column of Marcus Aurelius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus</span> Sarcophagus in St. Peters Basilica,

The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus is a marble Early Christian sarcophagus used for the burial of Junius Bassus, who died in 359. It has been described as "probably the single most famous piece of early Christian relief sculpture." The sarcophagus was originally placed in or under Old St. Peter's Basilica, was rediscovered in 1597, and is now below the modern basilica in the Museo Storico del Tesoro della Basilica di San Pietro in the Vatican. The base is approximately 4 x 8 x 4 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dogmatic Sarcophagus</span> Christian sarcophagus dating to 320–350

The Dogmatic Sarcophagus, also known as the "Trinity Sarcophagus" is an early Christian sarcophagus dating to 320–350, now in the Vatican Museums. It was discovered in the 19th century during rebuilding works at the basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura, in Rome, Italy.

<i>Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus</i> 3rd-century Roman sarcophagus

The Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus or "Great" Ludovisi sarcophagus is an ancient Roman sarcophagus dating to around AD 250–260, found in 1621 in the Vigna Bernusconi, a tomb near the Porta Tiburtina. It is also known as the Via Tiburtina Sarcophagus, though other sarcophagi have been found there. It is known for its densely populated, anti-classical composition of "writhing and highly emotive" Romans and Goths, and is an example of the battle scenes favored in Roman art during the Crisis of the Third Century. Discovered in 1621 and named for its first modern owner, Ludovico Ludovisi, the sarcophagus is now displayed at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome, part of the National Museum of Rome as of 1901.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Severan art</span>

Severan art is art production by the Roman Empire under the Severan dynasty, usually taken as running from 193 to 235, through the emperors Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Heliogabalus and Alexander Severus. Official Roman art of the military anarchy which followed, ending in 253 with Gallienus, has no character of its own and so can be seen as a continuation of Severan art, and so that art can be seen as running for the whole first half of the 3rd century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarcophagus of the Triumph of Bacchus (Lyon)</span> Art work in the Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon

The Sarcophagus of the Triumph of Bacchus is a monumental ancient Roman stone sarcophagus of Carrara marble. The style and high quality of its reliefs and the choice of Bacchus triumphing over India as its subject suggests it came from a Roman workshop and possibly dates to the start of the 3rd century, from the reign of Caracalla to that of Elagabalus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velletri Sarcophagus</span> 2nd-century archaeological artifact

The Velletri Sarcophagus is a Roman sarcophagus from 140–150 CE, displaying Greek and possible Asiatic influence. It features Hercules and other pagan deities framed by columned registers of classic spiral-fluted Doric and Ionic columnar styles, creating a theatrical border around the figures. It was created shortly after the Roman conversion to burial practice when Romans went from using cremation to burying their dead, due to new ideas of an afterlife.