Roman Red Marble

Perhaps due to its erotic association hair was often linked with roman ideas of female modesty and honour.

Roman red marble. A massive roman red marble cottanello antico labrum circa 2nd 3rd century a d. The red marble of rance in the belgian province of hainaut knew a large popularity as a prestigious building material for decorative use. Piramide di caio cestio was the first roman monument covered with lunense. The red marble papal throne formerly in the basilica di san giovanni in laterano.

Ancient roman sculptors are predominantly known for two types of marble sculptures. Conceived for those who love difference because they like to be and feel different for rebels and for those who are sure that they very soon will be. Portraits or busts and marble copies of greek bronzes. Marble from numidia algeria and tunisia in arco di costantino.

In the popular imagination its temples and palaces gleam with polished white marble while a visit to the ruins of the roman forum or a viewing of russell crowe s gladiator is tinted with beige and ochre in reality however the ancient city was a riot of colour. The red marble frame was an homage to feigned marble ovals in peter raul reuben s roman portrait series. Although it was exploited since roman antiquity it became most renowned since the 17th century because of its prolific use in the royal chateau of versailles built for the french king louis xiv large quantities were used for the most prestigious parts of. A lot of people think of ancient rome as a pretty monochrome place.

During the republican era artists carved realistic portraits of people including political leaders military officials and historians from the chest or neck up known as busts these life sized works are celebrated for their impressively. The romans initially relied on the marbles used by the greeks but they found in the mountains near the town of luni today carrara a source of white marble which could compete with the greek marbles. It was a piece of cloth wrapped around the body with one end over the shoulder. The exterior of the shallow basin with fifty eight deeply carved petals radiating from the central base surmounted by a rectangular profiled molding the cyma recta flaring to a deeply overhanging band of egg and dart the flat disk rim offset on the exterior by the molded lip and on the interior by a groove.

Forceful unhesitating disturbing that is levantina s red marble collection. The colour of empire. The many marbles of ancient rome. The palla was the mark of a married respectable woman.

We know that veils were important in this case as they protected against or encouraged according to seneca the elder solicitations by men. 1990s bust of a roman general hand carved by craftsmen using carrara white marble for the head and alicante red for the toga where the white and red contrast give movement and real.