Coleman 1
Meaghan Coleman
Professor Schwartz
Introduction to Art History
First Paper Assignment
March 8, 2009
Portrait of an Old Man
When looking at art work from many of the ancient cultures the viewer obtains a sense of
the societal values. In a lot of cases beauty and youth are heavily embraced values, but that is
not so with this sculpture. The viewer is left with just a fragment of the art work, but it is the
head and face of the sculpture, a body part that can give much insight into the society that
created that piece of art. It is interesting to observe a society that treasured a different form of
beauty and ideals than the people of today.
Portrait of an Old Man is a Roman sculpture from 100 BCE, this was during the time of
the Roman Republic, a time when there was a different set of societal values. Unlike the other
two roman periods that came after the Roman Republic, beauty and strength were not the most
important idea for artists to portray. Here, instead of physical beauty confronting the viewer,
there is a display of the beauty in age and wisdom. For in this sculpture there is not a face of
youth but of wisdom.
Looking at this portrait the feature that is foremost in intensity are the wrinkles and lines
around the mouth, forehead, and eyes. The most noticeable of these wrinkles would be the deep
lines running from the nose down to the mouth and the depressions on either side of the mouth.
These apparent signs of age accompany crow’s feet on the eyes, a sign of a joyful and laughter-
Coleman 2
filled youth. Then there are faint lines running horizontally across the forehead, but they are
difficult to see because of this man’s current facial expression.
No longer are laughter and happiness a prevalent emotion on this man, no it is just a
memory that is forever etched into the face at the corners of the eyes. Now the brow and
forehead hold a deep-set frown or look thoughtfulness. Perhaps during the Roman Republic,
since wisdom was a rudimentary value, the need to show a serious expression was greatly
emphasized. The Romans may have believed that a person speaking from experience would
have more faith place in him/her if frivolous emotions were not shown. Most certainly the frown
adds to the aged look of this man’s face because it adds to the number of lines adorning the face.
Another prominent point is how the skin is starting to sag, which is in direct correlation
with the wrinkles on the face. There is another part of the head that should be taken into
consideration when looking at how the skin has been carefully chiseled. Looking at the sculpture
in profile, there can be seen a small bit of skin sagging on the underside of the jaw. This can
either be attributed to weight or to aging. For this man it could be caused by both, but it is hard
to tell if this man was of a heftier build or just has a full face.
Briefly, there should be an exploration of the possibility that this man was of a heftier
build. Unlike today’s standards where beauty and wealth is shown through how thin (for a
woman) or how muscular (for a man) a body a person can achieve, the Roman’s preferred a
different build. Generally, if a person was a bit more rotund this was a positive sign to the social
status. Having fat meant that the person had to do very little physical labor and that they had
enough wealth as to consume higher fat, or perhaps just larger quantities of, food. This is a
societal characteristic that a person would wish to show the world because wealth shows
importance in cultures of the ancient, middle, and even some recent history.
Coleman 3
Another point that can be extracted from weight and social standing is the type of job this
man may have had in the empire. It is quite possible that he was a merchant, but also a large
percentage of wealthy people would have been part of the government, either on a council, an
advisor, or some other important role. Here, the viewer can garner the possible importance that
this anonymous man had within the Roman Empire.
While all of these aspects of age, the wrinkles and sagging, can be seen in various works
of art throughout history, the use of these aspects is very telling on this sculpture because of the
naturalistic look. Artists from this time period did not use one generic face to represent the
various subjects that were sculpted; every person had their own identifying features put into a
piece of stone to be preserved for all time. While today’s viewer can no longer see the colors
that once adorned this figure, the paint that was used would have given this sculpture an even
more life-like appearance which is yet another component that adds to the naturalistic style.
The Old Man’s hair is another example of naturalism: is every strand laid out exactly the
same or is there a difference from one lock of hair to the next? In Portrait of an Old Man it is
seen that the hair is not stylized, every lock of hair has its own wave, length, and position in
which it falls across the head and face. Again, the artist is trying to create the individuality of the
subject whose features are forever set in stone.
Considering the purpose of the sculpture is, whether the production was for political or
religious reasons, is an important feature. While it is possible that this sculpture was made for
religious reasons it is more than likely that there was political intent behind its creation. This is
in part due to the fact that there are probably no other statues that have exactly the same features,
hence why the title is Portrait of an Old Man. If this had been a religious statue representing one
of the gods then there, in likely-hood, would have been other statues portraying the same features
Coleman 4
so as to keep a constant image of the god in everyone’s mind. Hence the idea that this work of
art was meant for political reasons so as to show the politician as being an experienced and wise
man.
If this sculpture was indeed a political statue it would most likely have been put into a
public setting. This leaves to question whether this sculpture was kept indoors or out in the
open. Both would have been good options for a political statue, but being outdoors would have
yielded more attention for one major reason; pedestrian traffic. With people constantly walking
up and down the main streets of a town or city a statue is sure to be noticed. This constant
attention would have been a good way for campaigning and showing credibility to the common
people.
Viewing Portrait of an Old Man is quite an eye-opening experience when it comes to
learning about the Roman Republic. With this sculpture a person becomes aware of a different
set of values that transcend the values of today. Looking at the ideal image for people of the
current century there is an overwhelming need for youth, vitality, and beauty. While these are
good values to have, they are not as impressive as wisdom, knowledge, and credibility.
Knowing that in previous centuries and millennia that people valued qualities other than beauty
and strength is quite interesting. Here we have a society that prides its self on having a group of
people that are intelligent. The artist’s use of line and contour shows an individual with
experience; shows a different set of values from other roman cultures. Here, the viewer sees a
reflection of society inside a single face, an art form that is truly eye catching and thought
provoking.