Veristic portraits of the late Republic hold a special fascination for classical art historians. Romans had inherited the use of sculpted marble heads from the Greeks but they did not inherit the veristic style from them. To scholars verism is uniquely Roman. Scholars have put forth multiple theories as to what or who were the precursors to Republican portraiture. Yet what is important to note is that there is not one single accepted theory of the origin of verism. The question of veristic style remains to this day essentially open and unresolved. Each theory, while plausible in its own way, will require further research and adequate consideration among scholars.
Italic heads theory Scholars believe the ancient
Italic peoples had an inclination to veristic representation leading to influence on later Roman art. From a central Italian provenance in ancient times tribes from this area used
Terracotta and
Bronze to make a somewhat realistic portrayal of the human head. The issues relating to chronological time casts doubts as to the accuracy of the theory.
Etruscan death mask theory Some scholars consider the ancient Roman custom of making wax portraits, a.k.a. funerary or
death masks of their ancestors as a convincing source for the veristic style. H. Drerup argues that death masks molded straight from the face were used early in Rome, and exerted a ‘direct influence’ on Republican portraits. Yet research has cast doubt on this theory. None of the funerary masks date from before the 1st century AD. Evidence suggests that the ancestral funerary masks merely kept pace with contemporary portraits in the round. Chronology seems to be an issue with supporting the theory.
Egyptian influence theory Scholars debate whether Egyptian influence started Roman verism. A group of portraits in hard
Egyptian stone from the Roman
Ptolemaic Kingdom show a harsh realism that is similarly seen in Republican portraits. Scholars believe the Egyptian portraits began to be made before the Republican portraits and strongly influenced the Romans into establishing the veristic style when Egyptian priests and cults came into contact with Italy and Greece. Although this theory like the others has merit, lack of concrete dating of this certain Egyptian style makes scholars doubt the creditability. Suggested stylistic dates often fluctuate by two or three centuries leaving scholars with no solid evidence for when the style of harshly realistic
Egyptian portraiture begun. Historians also note Romans did not have extensive military or commercial contact with
Egypt before 30 BC, which was after the Late Republic when verism was being used on portraiture. Scholars conclude that it is unlikely that Egyptian portraits influenced the Republican style.
Hellenistic culture theory Another theory presented to scholars in classical academia suggests that verism came about from Greek reactions to the conquering Romans. The theory goes that Romans in the Republic privately cherished the
Hellenistic culture yet still held onto Republic values. This interest leaked similar portrayals seen in the more realistic Hellenistic royal portraits of the
Pontic and
Bactrian kings of the first half of the 2nd century BC, such as the slight turn of their heads and upward glance of the eyes, into Roman veristic busts. As Rome conquered Greece the empire saw an influx of talented Greek artists who were commissioned by the Romans to create their portraits that portrayed both the
Hellenistic look and Republic values. Greek artists notoriously portrayed foreigners in an unfavorable light as a result of Greek attitudes of superiority. For the Romans the Greeks found them not only to be foreigners, yet to be increasingly pompous and unlikeable oppressors. Greek artists were little concerned to put the sitter's case favorably and portrayed Romans with an unsympathetic likeness. As a result, the Greek artist would maintain the Hellenistic ‘
pathos formula’ – turn of the head and neck, eyes looking upward – but the Greek sculptor, rather than adapt the Roman's features to a Hellenistic ruler ideal, had concentrated on bringing out an air of caricature to the face leading to what scholars call veristic portraiture. Some scholars refute this theory as being the cause of verism. Scholars doubt that Romans would not have been angered by the caricature like portrayal given to them by the Greeks. Many question why the Romans did not punish the Greeks for this obvious slight. Yet scholars who are in favor of this theory state that the Romans simply didn't care for this over realistic portrayal. The Republic values of that time favored the straightforward and honest Roman citizen who did not need the deceits of art, but instead should be portrayed as they were, without artifice, for this would best bring out their Republican values. As a result, some art historians, like
R. R. R. Smith, believe verism originated from the negative Greek attitudes, if not somewhat unconscious attitudes, the artists felt towards these particular foreign clients, which was allowed to work itself into the Roman portraits because the artists had been freed from the usual obligation to flatter and idealized the sitter and instead allowed to sculpt without artifice. == References ==