Augustus of Prima Porta

Augustus of Prima Porta

In this paper for World Art class, I will be discussing the statue of Augustus of Prima Porta from three similar view points of authors, taken from art history books. Although they have there similar view points they also have there different ones and I will be discussing that as well. That statue was found in April of 1863 in Villa of Livia, near Rome. It was created around the first century dating at about 20 BCE. Today it is located in the Vatican Museum for everyone to observe.

Augustus and the position he stands at portrays him as a general addressing his troops at the same time this statue emphasizes the power of Rome embodied in Augustus as emperor which came out of A History of Western Art 4th Edition by, Laurie Adams. Adams continues to talk about how the statue just by itself represents a self-confident, dominating, and above all youthful figure. She states that the head is idealized and the statue is very similar to Doryphoros of Polykleitos which you can conclude that the artist creating Augustus was very familiar with Greek art. Adams also discusses the other features on the statue such as the little boy at the bottom of Augustus’s right leg. This boy is Cupid, the son of Venus who is riding a dolphin and was put there as a reminder that Augustus traced his lineage to Aeneas, another son of Venus’ and was descended from the gods. Located on his chest is his armor. The armor, according to Adams, is Mother Earth with a cornucopia. She describes this as the emperors identification with the land as a source of plenty and divine favor that has conferred power on Rome, thus giving it dominion over the earth. Also the connection with Augustus and the earth implies Rome’s territorial conquests.

The statue is questioned to be a god or a human being to some people. According to History of Art 4th Edition by H.W. Jansen, it is meant to be portrayed as both a god and a human being. Jansen states that the statue clearly shows Augustus enveloped in a god like presence. Jansen like Adams also agrees on the idealized head and body, but Jansen thinks that statue has an unmistakably Roman flare to it. He continues to talk about how Augustus is compared to Aulus Metellus another statue similar to the Prima Porta. Jansen focused a lot on Augustus’s armor. On the breastplate he discussed it having a concreteness of surface texture that brings the actual touch of cloth, metal, and leather. As stated earlier the head is idealized, focusing on the eyes giving it a sort of inspired look similar to the Alexander the Great statue. The face is a definite likeness, elevated but clearly individual, as you can tell by the other portraits of Augustus. Jansen also says that this statues quality was very rare. He talks about how you can only find well artistic statues of people who are higher up, like emperors and kings such as Augustus.

According to Marilyn Stokstad who wrote Art History, the statue is also viewed as a use of imperial propaganda. She agrees with Adams and Jansen on how the head is idealized, but she thinks the sculptor of the statue basically took the Aulus Mentellus and combined it with ideal poses and portions of the Greeks. So in comparison, Jansen and Stokstad agree that Augustus is very similar to Aulus Metellus. Stokstad does describe cupid different then Adams does. She talks about how cupid is used as a reference to the claim of the emperor’s family, the Julian’s. Continuing on, Stokstad