Portrait of a Roman Matron

I chose a Roman piece of art from the Antiquities Collection. The title of the art piece is called the Portrait of a Roman Matron. The period of this artwork is between 31BCE to 4th Century CE. The artist/sculptor who made this sculpture is not known, but it is carved out of marble, and belongs to the Greco-Roman period.

I was immediately drawn to this figurine, as there is a vivid likeliness to a human face. The ears are finely sculpted, and attention is paid to the proportions of a face with its contours and detailed lines to show her hair. The eyes of the sculpture drew me in, because on the first look at the sculpture, I was wondering why the figure was looking upwards. After examining it closely, it seemed as though the eyes of the figure was not paid much attention to. With research into the history of sculptures from the Roman period, many sculptures have the same characteristics- the eyes are left blank and not as detailed when compared to other parts of the facial features. A brief history about the Roman period starts off with the land that are centered on the Mediterranean and Black sea basins, which at that time were the swimming pool and spa of the Greeks and Romans. That is the time when the cultural perceptions, ideas and sensitivities of people were more dominant. Roman art absorbed Greek art and its influences. During the Classical period, changes were made in the style and function of sculpture. The poses became more naturalistic, and the technical skill of sculptors in depicting the human form increased greatly. Art historians call Roman art the art of realism. Their work is unlike the Greeks, who portrayed the human perfection in their sculptures and other artwork. Roman sculptures show every line and imperfection on the face of the subject unless they are portraying an idealized face of the emperors. These sculptures meant to be a record of a person's existence. Early Greek statues were stiff and flat, but then sculptors began to study the human body and work out its proportions. This is what their efforts paid off to- fine pieces of sculptures where their proportions are similar to that of the human face and body.

The Portrait of a Roman Matron is no different. It is one of the more famous pieces of sculpture found in the Lowe Museum today that represents the Greco-Roman periods. However, not many information can be found on this piece particularly as it is not as famous as sculptures like the Portrait of Augustus. I was able to find out why there was the intensive use of marble nonetheless. The Greeks had plenty of beautiful marble and used it freely for temples as well as for sculptures. At that time of sculpting, sculptors were not satisfied with the whiteness of marble, and tend to paint them. However, due to the long effects of weathering and erosion, the paint has been lost. As an educated guess on my side, I believe that the eyeballs were painted on during the Roman period, and