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Does Augustus of Primaporta use verism?

Explain how and how not.

At least 2-3 sentences.

1 Answer

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Answer and Explanation:

Verism is an extreme or strict naturalism in art or literature.

Politicians think very watchfully about how they would pose for a picture. We are bombarded with campaign commercials and print ads every election season. All these ads and campaigns and photographs tell us a lot about the candidate, including what they are up to and what they are promoting. In the same way, Roman art was closely twirled with politics and propaganda.

So when we see portraits of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire; we get the idea of how naturally a sculpture had portrayed it.

When we look at this statue Augustus of Primaporta, this might resemble Augustus as an orator and general. This sculpture also depicts an idea of the emperor’s power and ideology.

The Augustus of Primaporta is used for propagandistic purposes. Overall, this statue is not merely a portrait of the Roman emperor instead it expresses Augustus’ connection to the past, his role as a military victor, his connection to the gods, and his role as the bringer of the Roman Peace. This shows that this piece of the portrait is a veristic.

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