Module 5 Comparison Post: Arch of Constantine and Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut

                                            

           Arch of Constantine, 312-315 B.C.E., Rome.  Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut,1479-58 B.C.E.

    The arch of Constantine and Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut were made hundreds of years apart and they both hold a lot of differences and similarities. The arch of Constantine was made in 312-315 C.E. in Rome. It was made out of marble and porphyry. It was made in honor of Constantine the Great, who was the emperor of Rome from 306 to 337. The Statue of Hatshepsut, made in 1458 B.C.E., was made for the pharaoh of Egypt, Hatshepsut. She ruled from 1479 to 1458. Both of these artworks were made for the rulers at the time. They are both very large pieces to show the power of both of these rulers, although the Statue of Hatshepsut is much less detailed than the Arch of Constantine. There’s a few reasons why this is true. The gap between the two artworks is very large and the process of making art changed drastically between the two time periods. During the time of Hatshepsut, the artists were starting to make more detailed figures and more realistic humans. If you were to look at Roman art you would see that these statues are very detailed and we see more detailed faces on people, and that’s what makes these works so similar. Also, looking at these two artworks, one can see the evolution of artwork through the ages. Although the goals of the artists were very different (the Roman artist was trying to show the power of Constantine and the goal of the Egyptian artist was to show the wisdom of Hatshepsut.

They also have a lot of differences, like stated above, the precision to details. When you look at the Arch of Constantine, you will see lots of little statues within the arch. Each statue has very detailed clothing and body features, although the faces still do not present much detail. Each statue of the arch is also much more detailed than the statue of Hatshepsut. The Statue of Hatshepsut depicts the pharaoh with masculine features, whereas the women statues all throughout arch have very women-like features. This is probably due to the fact that women were more accepted to be in a higher position in ancient Rome than in ancient Egypt. The women on the arch are the common women of Rome. The body of the statue of Hatshepsut seems to be lean, slightly muscled and not very curved. When you compare this to bodies of the states in the arch, you see that the Romans portrayed this curvy, more heavily muscled body.

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Citations

Findley, Dr. Andrew. “Arch of Constantine, Rome.” Smarthistory, November 25, 2015. https://smarthistory.org/arch-of-constantine-rome/.

Harris, Dr. Beth, and Dr. Steven Zucker. “Mortuary Temple and Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut.” Smarthistory, August 9, 2015. https://smarthistory.org/hatshepsut/.

Roan, Peter. “Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut.” Flickr. Yahoo!, August 4, 2009. https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjr1961/3788151026.