What the fuck happened to Roman portraiture?

What the fuck happened to Roman portraiture?

started having a bit more fun with it

>"who ate the last jar of olives fucking olives!?"

Lead poisoning made them all dumb.

eutropius was a eunuch, maybe that did something

During the reign of Constantine there was an intentional move to a more primitive style of portraiture that had less realism in its proportions. This was seen to be more evocative of what was produced by provincial artists, and perhaps he just preferred it.

Here's some detail from the arch of constantine in Rome, erected after his victory over Maxentius in 312

forgot to mention, this is the first known instance of that style

The same thing that is happening to western video games

>constantine invented chibi

it wasn't just during Constantine. It was during the reign of the Illyrian-based Tetrarchy. If you look at the old little cornerpiece of Diocletian and friends, you can already see the move to this simpler, less realistic art style. It simply prevailed because it required less effort and was more dark and appealing to people in the dark times of post-Severan Rome.

I always loved that statue, saw it when I was in Venice. A historian I met there told me about how during the sack of Constantinople the Venetians had come in with a list they made ahead of time which laid out which specific artistic treasures were a priority to capture intact so they could be brought to Venice for display, and they set up special teams to find and secure them. This was in contrast to the latins who basically just descended into an unorganized orgy of looting.

Although this statue didn't quite make it back in one piece, since there were originally precious gems in the crowns that were removed and presumably sold.

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>Why would a culture abandon hundreds of years of naturalistic art for something that looked more primitive

because even great cultures rot and die like everything else?

>What the fuck happened
Christianity happened

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AHAHA THAT NIGGA LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING CARTOON

holy shit you're right

How can western "europeans" even compete?

Kek, shit looks like it was ripped from an early disney movie.

This user provides a pretty good explanation

Also worth noting that it didn't effect everything. This Roman ivory panel for instance is from the 6th century.

They look like the Tau

Art.

It's more like tastes change. The Academy style of hyper naturalistic art was alive at the same time as the impressionists and the later movements. People's tastes change.

>This wonderful work of art is allowed to just stay outside.

Why isn't this thing cleaned and then placed in an atmosphere controlled area to preserve it?

When someone says they wish anime was real, just show them this.

It's important to note that this is likely intentional. The big eyes are a common features, and the rest of the heads are fairly accurately wrought, indicating the craftsmen were still fairly skilled.

I think it's fairly accurate to say they just appreciated it on a level we don't

It became more stylised. People have this strange obsession with seeing art style changes with signs of degeneracy, decadence and inferior work.

I took pic related when I was in Constantinople. Emperors wanted to be seen as austere, powerful and distant figures.

On the money.

is that Jonah Hill

Oh, I didn't mean to imply it's not good art. I was just showing an example and making fun of the 3DPD people

>What the fuck happened to Roman portraiture?
The last thread we had about it is probably still in the fucking archive. Jesus Christ I can't be arsed to write about it again.

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Hearty kek.

Maybe it has a spiritual component. Kind of like how Gothic sculpture was elongated

They look like typical wh*Tes

But they were your Sh*Tskin ancestors

Art was degenerate from Constantine up to the renaissance. Notice anything?

Yo waddup long bois?

germanic influence?

>degenerate

Wrong board, kiddo.

Go be retarded somewhere else, Gibbon, you buffoon

Is this an actual trend or are you one of those "anecdotes = data" faggots?

Looks like fucking shit

legitimate question

oh my god

Faceblind? Not surprised