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Having fun with the ancient Romans

by Johnny Bull
January 20th, 2009

What entertained me most when I started writing the Art and Architecture for the Italian STC book, and I don’t think I realised this before, was the exhilarating honesty with which the Roman affluent society wished to be portrayed.

They just didn’t have a whisker of vanity about them, it seems.

One brilliant example of this, and thankfully, there are a few, is Roman Husband and Wife (c63 AD) It’s an early attempt from the late Republic, under the first Emperor, Augustus, a naturalistic sculpture; a depiction of a couple we all know: he, scowling slightly, dying for a drink, having just arrived at a dinner party where the hostess tells them the lamb needs to take a bit longer than planned; his missus trying to ignore him, just about to ask where the coats should go. She knows she’ll have to drive the chariot home and put the horses to bed. You can see them looking awkward, but beautiful, in The Louvre, in Paris.

Poor old Vespasian has the somewhat distracted look of a hung-over accountant at a golf club bar, his bust, which is in Naples, in The Museo Nazionale,

Comments (3)

This is a comment on your Jake T blog, but when I try to leave one on it, I get an error message – still I can see you are a computer whizz and will be able to sort this. I never saw Jake live, but I remember him popping up to add a little wit to tv shows, bit like Cy Grant on the original “Tonight” (sorry – probably before your time). And he was funny, tho not as funny as your blog on the meal in Rome (below). Had thought he would be an ideal question for my (as yet uncommissioned)game show “Are They Dead?” but now everyone will now the answer.

Posted by Disaster Historian • 20 January 2009, 08:41

No, not at all before my time, and in 1958, or whenever it was, just before my bedtime at my Gran’s. Cliff Michelmore was a household name and hero, being an Isle of Wight boy, and very good at keeping a straight face as that two-tone telephone kept interrupting his friendly presentation of the day’s news. I sometimes wonder if he was docked wages for getting so many calls during office hours.

Posted by Johnny Bull • 20 January 2009, 11:13

Still can’t post on Jake’s thing, so ancient Rome will have to put up with this one. All lovers of music should be v concerned about the latest stunt from Jack “Man of” Straw. If you want to hold a gig now in parts of London, the police have been demanding to know the racial profile of the people you expect to attend, and are telling you what kind of music you can put on. Breach the rules and you could go to jail for six months. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jan/21/police-form-696-garage-music
Also heard reports of police demanding ID from people attending some gigs. Any truth in this?

Posted by Disaster Historian • 25 January 2009, 14:19