Antonine Woman as Venus :: Portrait Painting Art Essays

Antonine Woman as genus VenusIt is determined the Antonine Woman as Venus is a woman of aristocratic status. The portrait is made of fine-grain marble, a metier only upper-class persons could afford. Also, only persons of wealth could afford to have such a protrait made. The woman is portrayed as Venus, a goddess who is connected to the imperial family, and members of a royal family would often have themselves depicted as a deity. (De Puma 26) We know she is being portrayed as Venus because of her send breast and the upper-arm ring. The bare breast is a key to Venus because she is the goddess of sexuality and desirability. The upper arm ring can be an attribute of Venus as the Statue of Aphrodite (Venus) by Praxiletels displays the analogous jewelry on a nude body. (Fantham 175)The back of the portrait is slightly slanted, allowing us to imagine the angle at which the portrait was positioned on its support. The portrait is the drop bust of Antonine Woman as Venus, minus the backg round medallion, which would have created a complete circle above her head. Imagining the medallion was still there, we envision the bust as being placed on a wall. This postition would cause the portrait to angle towards the on-looker and we lead she was placed at eye-level or slightly higher.Antonine Woman as Venus is obviously a freeborn woman. She comes from or was married into an aristocratic family, which would not be possible for a slave or a freedwoman. She is a boyish matron of approximately 20 years of age. We can determine she is young and a matron because her pose is not as modest as an unwed adolescents pose whitethorn be or as modest as an elder womans pose may be. (Shelton 292)Her age is also determined by her sexually confident pose, her locks draping her neck, and her smooth, green facial features. These attributes are not a likeness to an adolescent girl or a woman of age. By the womans young and healthy appearance, we may assume she was able to receive the best medical treatment because she was a wealthy woman of aristocratic status.She was most likely, being a person of upper-class, educated at the appropriate age by private tutors, usually before the age of twelve. Like all Roman women, however, she must conceal her intellect in the caller-up of men, especially if the situation is concerning her husband.