The portrait head displayed at the Seattle Museum belongs to one of the Roman Emperors, Tiberius Claudius Augustus Germanicus, who ruled Rome from 54 to 68 AD. The Julio-Claudian dynasty ruled the Roman Empire from the time it was founded during the first century until 68 AD when the last of the rulers killed himself. The dynasty was made of the first five rulers of Rome including Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, as well as Nero (“Collections – SAM – Seattle Art Museum”). As such, Germanicus was one of the emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, born in Rome and given the name Nero Claudius Drusus after his father. Moreover, it was possible that he was named Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle and was related to Emperor Augustus, who compelled Tiberius to adopt Germanicus. His name was altered to Germanicus Julius Caesar, and he held various military posts as well as led several campaigns in Germania, which made him famous and loved by legions.personality traits as well as his tender death. Therefore, it is likely that this portrait was used as a cult statue of the Claudius and is believed to have been inserted to another statue that was dressed in a Roman toga. The Seattle Art Museum has displayed the artifacts, according to their cultural importance including those that seem to be broken to maintain their originality.

When I visited the Seattle Art Museum, the posthumous portrait of Emperor Claudius caught my eye because of its bright white stone color and its strategic placement in the museum. My description of the portrait is restricted to the physical features that I could observe in the object. Amazingly, the portrait’s broken nose seems to have played a bigger part in captivating me as I was curious to see what seemed abnormal about the portrait. The other features of the portrait are intact and well designated to their rightful places giving the portrait a perfect human head figure. However, the missing nose seems to A section of its front hair, on the right-hand side, the chin, as well as parts of the left ear seems to be broken too, but they are not as conspicuous as the nose region.

The chipped off part of the nose is largest and most comprehensive observation that anyone analyzing the portrait would begin with, and then conclude with the realistic style used. The sculptor carved the portrait in a way that makes the Emperor look young, vibrant, with wrinkles in the forehead and seems to be staring straight ahead. because of these perfections on the sculpture, I found myself trying to fill in the missing features and the chipped off regions in my mind as my eyes tried to compensate for the damage. The overly large forehead of the portrait makes me think that the artist of the Emperor Claudius’ portrait intended for it to be a portable bust that could be fixed in any full body sculpture. The exaggeration depicted in this sculpture’s forehead could also be a representation of what the Roman cultures believed and promoted; wisdom (Giroire and Daniel, 75).

At the entrance of the Museum, there was screening for any gadgets that were not allowed and the place looked so spacious with few people glued in front of the artifacts. All pieces in the artifacts in the museum showed a great value for concentration, wisdom and so the improvement of human life. There were several items fitted with some text panels that gave the details of the particular item, which was put on display for the people to view. I must admit that it was my first time to visit the museum; what is important, however, is that I was particularly impressed with the elegant display of several ancient artifacts. There were some galleries in the Museum, which displayed artifacts that depicted Asian cultures, Indo-Persian Arts, as well as the SAM Shop. All these artifacts acted as a symbol and had a meaning for various cultures including the aspects of spiritual and mental wellbeing of humanity. I noticed that many people cherish the ancient cultures by the look of crowds that were in the museum. I could not help but wonder how centuries-old portraits from the ancient Roman Empires could still look that amazing.

As for the Posthumous Portrait of Emperor Claudius, it is placed on a platform that is a little elevated to a height a slightly lower than my eye level. I stood at a close distance from the pedestal to study the portrait from the front view perspective. The region was painted white to reflect the bright color of the portrait and the museum did not decorate any part of that region. As such, the museum seems to retain the portrait as they originally found it, without masking or hiding any broken parts, which are visible from a far distance. It does not matter the distance or the height of the pedestal, but the chipped off the nose is conspicuous, and it is the first thing that the eyes are naturally drawn whenever the portrait is examined.

In the museum, there is a male figure of a moai kavakava that is used to tell about the history of the Rapa Nui. The sculptures have small protruding mouth-lips, jaws that are elongated against the neck and arms designed in a way that they rest against the body in the position vary as per the moai. Moreover, the long fingers rest on the hips, and they seem to lack some clearly defined structure of the legs, except for the kneeling moai sculpture (Stokstad, 158-215). The backside of the moai monuments does not have particular details, as they are plain and assume the upright posture. The moai sculptures with coral eyes are believed to have been used to represent the ahu, meaning that there was a certain selected group of Rapa Nui that leads the people. Some of these statues have heads that are seen to have been dressed in a hat-like cylinder that is composed of some red stone representing the exquisite hairstyle or the dressing used to cover the head. As such, the moai sculpture was used to symbolize authority and power in the communities. The sculptures symbolized the belief of the people in some supernatural beings that required the respect from the community and appreciation through the construction of the monuments that resembled them.

The posture of these sculptures and their immaculate designs, it is clear that they could not have been seen from any other perspective other than that presented in the museum. Nonetheless, the bright color of the sculpture could easily make someone think that the museum repainted the sculptures and restored some of the minor details that were missing. From the look of the sculptures, it is clear that the sculptures were originally painted and did not have decorations or exaggerations in terms of multiple colorations or too much pronounced features. In addition, the lighting in the museum is designed in such a way that it will illuminate the objects and make them look as new as they were when they were first created. Originally, the sculpture were put out in the open where people would observe as they went about their business; thus, they did not require any specific lighting.

Conclusion

The portraits in the Seattle Art Museum are mainly in their original form, maintained in good condition, no repairs on any missing features or recurves. The portraits were never over cleaned or repainted, to display their originality and the kind of life that those who used the sculpture lived.

Works Cited

“Collections – SAM – Seattle Art Museum.” Posthumous Portrait Head of The Emperor Claudius. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 May 2015.

Giroire, Ce?cile, and Daniel Roger. Roman Art from the Louvre: [publ. in Conjunction with an Exhibition Held at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Sept. 23, 2007 – Jan. 6, 2008 …]. New York, NY: American Federation of Arts in assoc. with Hudson Hills Press, 2007. Print. 75

Stokstad, Marilyn, and David Cateforis. Art History: Combined Volume. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. 158-215