Severan Tondo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
| The Severan Tondo |
| Unknown, 2nd century |
| Staatliche Museum, Berlin |
The Severan Tondo, from circa AD 200, is one of the few preserved examples of panel painting from Classical Antiquity. It is a tempera painting on a circular wooden panel (tondo), with a diameter of 30.5 cm. At present, it is on display at the Antikensammlung Berlin (inventory number 31329).
The panel depicts the Roman emperor Septimus Severus with his family: On his left his wife Julia Domna, in front of them their sons Geta and Caracalla. All are wearing sumptuous ceremonial garments; Septimus Severus and his sons are also holding sceptres and wearing gold wreaths decorated with precious stones. Geta's face has been removed, probably after his murder by his brother Caracalla and the ensuing damnatio memoriae.
The image is probably an example of imperial portraits that were mass-produced to be displayed in offices and public buildings throughout the empire - as part of Roman legal procedure some documents had normally to be signed in front of an image of the Emperor, which gave them the same status as if signed in his actual presence.[1] With each change of emperor, they would have been discarded or replaced. Since wood is an organic material and does not normally survive, the Berlin Tondo remains, so far, the only surviving specimen of this type of painting. It appears to be of Egyptian origin.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Antikenmuseum Berlin; Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer (1988). Die ausgestellten Werke. Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 373. (German)
[edit] References
- ^ Quenot, Michael (1991). The Icon: Window on the Kingdom. St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 16. ISBN 0881410985.
- ^ "Some idea of the impression such ornaments would have produced may be derived from the painted tondo from Egypt with shows Julia Domna with pearl pendent earrings and a jeweled diadem and necklace." Hiesinger, Ulrich W. (January 1969). "Julia Domna: Two Portraits in Bronze" ([dead link] – Scholar search). American Journal of Archaeology 73 (1): 39. doi:.
- This article was initially translated from the Wikipedia article Septimius-Severus-Tondo, specifically from this version.
