Early Empire Art
Augustan art served a vital visual means to promote the legitimacy of Augustus’ power, and the techniques he employed were incorporated into the propaganda of later emperors.
By the end of this module you will be able to:
- Identify and describe the form, content, and context of key works from the Roman Empire
- Define critical terms related to the art of the Early Empire
- Describe the elements of propaganda in Augustan art and in the art commissioned by later emperors
Augustus
During his reign, Augustus enacted an effective propaganda campaign to promote the legitimacy of his rule as well as to encourage moral and civic ideals among the Roman populace. Augustan sculpture contains the rich iconography of Augustus’s reign with its strong themes of legitimacy, stability, fertility, prosperity, and religious piety. The visual motifs employed within this iconography became the standards for imperial art.
Ara Pacis Augustae
The Ara Pacis Augustae, or Altar of Augustan Peace, is one of the best examples of Augustan artistic propaganda. Not only does it demonstrate a new moral code promoted by Augustus, but it also established imperial iconography. It was commissioned by the Senate in 13 BCE to honour the peace and bounty established by Augustus following his return from Hispania (Spain) and Gaul; it was consecrated on January 30, 9 BCE. The marble altar was erected just outside the boundary of the pomerium to the north of the city along the Via Flaminia on the Campus Martius. The actual u-shaped altar sits atop a podium inside a square wall that demarcates the precinct’s sacred space.
The north and south walls depict a procession of life-sized figures on the upper register. These figures include men, women, children, priests, lictors, and identifiable members of the political elite during the Augustan age. The elite includes Augustus, his wife Livia, his son-in-law Marcus Agrippa (who died in 12 BCE), and Tiberius, Augustus’s adopted son and successor who would marry the emperor’s widowed daughter in 11 BCE. While the altar as a whole celebrates Augustus as a peacemaker, this scene promotes him as a pious family man.
Imperial Portraiture
Augustus very carefully controlled his imperial portrait. Abandoning the veristic style of the Republican period, his portraits always showed him as an idealized young man. These portraits linked him to divinities and heroes, both mythical and historical. He is often shown with an identifiable cowlick that was originally shown on the portraits of Alexander the Great. His lack of shoes signifies his supposed humbleness despite the great power he possessed. Two portraits of him, one as Pontifex Maximus and the other as Imperator, depict two different personae of the emperor. Augustus’s portrait as Pontifex Maximus shows him attired with a toga over his ever-youthful head, an attribute that serves to remind viewers of his own extreme piety to the gods.
The Augustus of Primaporta shows the influence of bo