Augustus of Primaporta was sculpted in the early first century during the Julio-Claudians era in Musei Vaticani, Braccio Nuovo, Rome. The Juilo-Claudian era lasted from 27 B.C.- 68 A.D. and Augustus reigned from the start of the era until …show more content…
The marble statue stands tall at six feet eleven inches capturing idealistic human proportions. This sculpture is considered a cannon which is a set of rules or measures for an idea which in this case refers to the human body. The Spear Bearer shows the idealization for the human body by showing balance and proportion of man’s limbs and muscles and also smooth and soft life like texture of the hair and face. The cannon was used as an ideal system of different lengths and ratios of the human body to show what the ideal man looked like in Greek culture. Every aspect of this statue shows idealism and realism even down to the pose of the sculpture and the feet and how they are showing movement. This sculpture of the Spear Bearer was used not only as a cannon in Greek society but also influenced works of art in Roman …show more content…
The sculptor of Augustus actually took a traditional Roman pose and applied canonical proportions from Greek art which was shown in the sculpture Spear Bearer. Both statues also have the same smooth textured face and rounding of features such as the mouth and eyes. These works of art also share similar facial expressions as a more stoic look even though they are both posed differently. Even though these statues are similar they are also very different because of their historical purpose and cultural themes. The statue of Augustus of Primaporta uses idealism and realism to depict Augustus as a mighty ruler showing him clothed and with Cupid. Whereas the only purpose of statue of the Spear Bearer is to so show the idealism of the human body. Both show historical purpose but the statue of Augustus shows more of a purpose because it uses gods as propaganda to link emperors like Augustus to the gods to make them seem immortal to society. These sculptures both show visual symbolism in their cultures as an ideal figure, but Roman art takes Greek ideals of art and applies it to their own works but they add their own amplified message behind the