Portraiture is often seen as a particularly Roman genre, and had a significant influence on subsequent Western approaches to individualized representation. The strong link between image and individual meant that portraits could attain an almost magical quality as substitutes for the individual. The course will discuss approaches to portraiture in the Roman world, the formulation and impact of figure depictions, and how images were shaped, honoured, copied, changed – and punished.

The course will provide students with an in-depth knowledge of key artworks and monuments, and their multifaceted connotations. The aim is develop a contextualized appreciation of the multifaceted visual and artistic culture within which portraiture is displayed.

The course will familiarize students with portraits across a broad range of artistic media and develop the ability to analyze the impact of technique and material. The aim is for a nuanced understanding of the interests shaping the material culture of a complex visual world.

The course will foster a firm understanding of developments and traditions in the history of late Republican to late Imperial Rome. The aim is to develop an awareness of cultural characteristics and an ability to analyze trends and changes.

The course will familiarize students with the rhetoric of forms and styles, and the inherent narrativity of objects, and it will foster an understanding of the impact of viewing. The aim is for an awareness of portraits as dynamic intermediaries of social interaction.

The course will present students with works of diverse patronage and consider the transmission of inspiration and influence. The aim is to further understanding of the impact of patronage and of social interaction in Rome.

The course follows a chronological format combined with thematic investigations. It focuses on a detailed examination of Roman portraiture from the late Republic to the late Empire (2nd century BC to 4th century AD), but will consider also new studies on Greek portraiture.

As individualized representations, choices in portrait depictions reflect the mind-set of the society for which they were created; hence, the course investigates the social context of their display and the cultural factors influencing their form over time.

The effectiveness of the individualized image in intimately related to the reaction by the viewer, and by the dialogue established between image, viewer and subject. Hence the course will examine diverse portrait styles and figure representations and consider how these can be ‘read’. It will also look at different types of engagement with portraits, from emulation to destruction.

The course will examine portraits as objects in context
•   it will analyse the changing styles of portraiture over time and consider the inspirations for these
•   it will investigate the original context of display and far this may be established
•   it will consider the methods of reproduction and distribution of imperial portraiture
•   it will survey how modern identification of historical persons is established

The course will investigate facial representation in relation to statue depictions
•   it will explore the impact of a chosen form, costume or nudity of the figure
•   it will consider the cultural and social context for choices of statue and bust types
•   it will investigate how to interpret the repetition of figure types and the motivations for using a ‘non-individualized’ figure

The course will explore different types of ‘manipulated’ portraits: Zeitgesicht, heroization, idealization
•   it will consider the adoption of type-faces, especially the adoption of imperial styles and feature by non-imperial persons
•   it will consider the depictions of individuals in heroized contexts: divine guises, mythologized setting
•   it will consider the use of non-individualized traits and types for the depiction of individuals

The course will consider ‘non-portraits’: changed, damaged or absent depictions
•   it will consider motivations for displaying unfinished, or blank, portraits
•   it will examine the impact of portraits reworked into depiction of another person
•   it will explore the tradition of the so-called damnatio memoriae and ‘absence’ as a narrative  presence

Proficiencies
Ability to analyze – and contextualize – characteristics of ancient cultures over time
•   Understanding of key aspects of Roman art – and its reception of Greek art – and ability to analyze motives in their creation and reception
•   Ability to identify trends and long-term developmental aspects, as well as to follow the complex reasoning inherent in their particular discourses
•   Awareness of cultural individuality and cross-cultural inspirations – within and between cultural and social groups

Ability to analyze art, architecture and material culture as primary sources
•   Awareness of the impact of form, style, medium and material, and ability to interpret diverse artistic media and their impact
•   Familiarity with relevant historical, art historical and architectural terminology and ability to deploy these with precision and to effect
•   Understanding of the context of public and private art and architecture – and the ability for comparative analyses of these as expressions of culture and acculturation

Ability to articulate interests and developments as affected by cultural factors
•   Awareness of avenues of engagement with new forms and the motivations for doing so among diverse social groupings, including the relationship between ruler and community
•   Appreciation of directions of artistic inspiration – and of the expression of provincial and non-elite participation in a dominant culture

Ability to analyze the construction and articulation of cultural identities
•   Ability for analyzing material culture as dynamic interactions of inspiration, response and emulation – not simply imperialism or control
•   Awareness of how the image of the ‘other’ is changeable and shaped by a perception of ‘self’ and sense of position within a wider world
•   Ability to see the selectivity in adoption of non-traditional forms, and a capacity for identifying a permanence of cultural outlook/identity within mutable artistic forms and foreign inspirations

Skills
Communicative skills – writing and oral competence
Term paper: Skills of organization of material, focus on topic, and nuance in discussion
Exams: Aptitudes for contextualization and nuanced discussion of works, as well as for focused presentation of data
Class presentations: Skills of public speaking (presentation of material, development of argument, illustration of evidence) and didactic methods (engaging audience through description, posing questions, responding to answers)
Participation: Skills of formulating reviews and analytical responses; participating in debates; posing questions

Cognitive skills – critical thinking and interpretation
Class presentation: Skills of evaluation and consideration of evidence; analysis of information gathered from observation; and skillful reflection on significance
Participation: Skills of reasoned consideration of evidence and methods; willingness to adapt/revise ways of thinking; and openness to alternative perspectives
Term paper and exams: Development of subtlety, nuance and engagement in the approach to the topic at hand
Lectures and class presentations: Adeptness at visual analysis. That is, the formal analysis of an object, the contextualization of this in space and history, and the formulation of an interpretative thesis, as well as ability to draw out observations on the cultural outlook, norms and histories that inform the making of the object

Collaborative and shared inquiry skills
Lectures and participation: Development of investigative response-skills; collaborative contributions; and open debate – ability to test, explore and communicate complex ideas
Class presentations: Skills of thoughtful dialogue; sharing of observations; and active contribution to an academic milieu

Investigative skills and evaluation of data
Term paper and class presentations: Skills of using and evaluating secondary texts of diverse focus, specialism and target audience; as well as of interpreting both the inherent interests of these and the arguments presented
Lectures and participation: Skills of evaluation of context, impact and patronage of objects and spaces

Attendance requirements
•   All scheduled classes are mandatory; absences will be noted. Please refer to the university catalogue for the attendance and absence policy.
•   All classes start promptly at 16.35; late arrival will be noted. You are expected to have dealt with food, drink and bathroom needs before class.
•   Make-up work is not offered, except in exceptional circumstances and after consultation with the Dean of Academic Affairs.

Changes to / cancellation of class
•     Changes, additional course information, etc will be posted on MyJCU. Please check this regularly and, certainly, in advance of each class.
•     In case of unavoidable cancellations of class, notification will be posted at the front desk at both Tiber and Guarini campuses. A suitable date and time for a make-up class will subsequently be established.

Textbook and revision aid
• There is no set textbook for the course. For recommended reading see the details on the class schedule.
• Revision aids: An overview of works studied, as well as themed questions to help you organise your notes and gain an overview of the material, will be posted on MyJCU in advance of each exam.

COURSE SCHEDULE


Introduction

1. Tues. Jan. 20       Introduction to the course and to portrait studies
Themes/works       Course requirements and logistics. Reading portraits in context
Elements of portraiture: Face and hair; format and clothes; placement and inscription; commission and status; technique and material. Personality, identity, culture.

2. Thurs. Jan 22       The honorific statue habit in the ancient world
Themes/works       Tradition of statue awards; recipients of honorific statues; bases and inscriptions

3. Tues. Jan. 27       Portraiture in the Greek world
Themes/works       Classical and Hellenistic works (5th-2nd century BC); public roles, virtues and individuality.

4. Thurs. Jan. 29     Contexts of viewing
Themes/works       Where were statues set up? public space, house tomb; honorific and commemorative aspects; expectations and audience response

Roman Republican portraits

5. Tues. Feb. 3     Veristic style and the toga
Themes/works       Second- and first-century BC works; origins of the style; message in the style: individuality, Roman identity, internationalism

6. Thurs. Feb. 5     Hellenized style and nudity
Themes/works       Second- and first-century BC, and first-century AD worksOrigins and inspirations; juxtaposition of face and body; nudity as costume.

The Roman imperial portrait

7. Tues. Feb. 10     Augustus and Julio-Claudian malesThemes/works       Formation of an imperial style; dynastic/family identity; idealism, Classicism, Hellenism

8. Thurs. Feb. 12     Augustan and Julio-Claudian female portraits
Themes/works       First century BC-first century AD; creating public images for women; individuality, idealization, assimilation and typologies

9. Tues. Feb. 17     Commissions and prototypes
Themes/works       Portraits as gift exchange (loyalty and euergetism); methods of commissioning works; approved models

10. Thurs. Feb. 19       Types, replication and non-canonical portraits
Themes/works       Imperial types and assimilated looks; identifying a portrait: typological approach, Lockenzählmethode, profile approach

11. Tues. Feb 24       Materiality and technique  
Themes/works       Choices of materials (bronze, marble); application of painted detail; techniques of marble carving; motives of cost or impact of technique?

12. Thurs. Feb. 26       Bearded emperors
Themes/works       Second and third century AD; beards and paideia; the styled image; images of learning, urbanity, cosmopolitan empire?

13. Tues. March 3     The Roman empress
Themes/works       Second and third century AD; public imaging of women; gendered roles and statue types; relationship between empress and elite

14. Thurs. March 5    Late Roman emperors
Themes/works       Third and fourth century AD; a style of abstraction and formalization;

‘Private’ portraits

15. Tues. March 10     Freedmen and funerary display
Themes/works       Portraiture as social statement? Sources of inspirations; impact of display context; divine associations

16. Thurs. March 12     ‘Private portraits’ and ‘Period faces’
Themes/works       The Zeitgesicht: impact, possibilities and limitations; cultural choices and approaches

17. Tues. March 17     Female adornment and hair
Themes/works       Female hairstyles and statue wigs; hair as cultural marker and as physiognomic aspect; hairstyles of imperial and non-imperial persons

Body types and statue formats

18. Thurs. March 19     Elite women and ‘not portrait’ portraits in public displays
Themes/works       Female non-individualized portraits; replicated statue types as markers of identity and exemplary femininity

19. Tues. March 24      The togate male
Themes/works       The Republican and early imperial toga; national and cosmopolitan identities; configuration and visual impact of toga; access and exclusivity in style

20. Thurs. March 26       Non-imperial honorific dedications           Midterm exam 2
Themes/works       Access to statue awards in Rome/Italian towns; patronage/statue gift exchange and competition

21. Tues. March 31  Cuirass, nude and himation types
Themes/works       Male body types; context and popularity/use; imperial/private, Greece/Rome

22. Thurs. April 2     Bust portraits and private display
Themes/works       Abbreviated statuary formats; the freestanding bust; display, development, iconography

23. Tues. April 14    Statue groups and multiple statue displays
Themes/works       Juxtaposed body types in a single group; juxtaposed private and imperial persons; multiple representation of an individual

Changed and absent portraits

24. Thurs. April 16     Damnatio memoriae: portrait as absence
Themes/works       Memory and memory sanctions: cultural memory, expectation and rhetoric; headless bodies and blank spaces

25. Tues. April 21    Recut and re-used portraits             Term paper due
Themes/works       New and former identities: choices and motivations; redefinition as sympathetic magic, emulation, transfer or practicality? Prospective, retrospective and deferred re-use.

26. Thurs. April 23     Punishing images /touching statues
Themes/works       Sex, punishment and mutilation; Christian iconoclasm and other statue destruction

Epilogue

27. Tues. April 28      The end of the statue habit
Themes/works       The agency of portraits and impact of statues; late antique statue dedications; the end of statue production/display

28. Thurs. April 30       Review
Themes/works       Overview and discussion of course content

29/30. May 2-7      Final exam
Date, time and place to be announced