Roman vs. Early Christian Art

In this sculpture of Ceasar Augutus we see the beauty of Roman sculpture and the way it symbolized certain characteristics of the subjects. In this time in Roman sculpture, it was a trend to emphasize the wrinkles and aged quality of the subject to symbolize their wisdom and other characteristics. In this portrait of Ceasar Augustus we see that the wrinkles on his forehead are emphasized which symbolizes that he was a wise and thoughtful ruler, but we also see wrinkles around his mouth which suggest that he smiles often, so we can infer that he was also happy and merciful. We can gather a lot about how the general population was to view Ceasar Augustus from this portrait, and we can gather that we were supposed to feel that he was wise and thoughtful, but also merciful.

In this sculpture of Christ as the Good Shepherd, we see early Christian iconography begin to emerge. At this time, the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd was very popular because of the idea of Christ shepherding his people. The trend of Christ being beardless was also very popular during this time period. In this sculpture we see the style has vastly changed from its Roman roots. The figure of Christ is not proportional and is almost cartoon-like. His legs are too short and his arms are abnormally long. We also see that the face is not very realistic. His facial features are too big which makes his forehead look too short and his whole head look too small. 

Roman and Christian culture were both symbolized through their artwork. We see that in the Roman example that Ceasar Augustus wished to communicate his positive leadership skills through his sculpture portrait. In that time wisdom was symbolized through the lines and wrinkles on the face, so it would have been very clear to the viewers what was being communicated. In the Christian sculpture, we see Christ as the Good Shepherd. In the same way that Ceasar Augustus communicated his positive leadership skills, the sculptor of this piece was communicating the way Christ would lead and shepherd his people. This became a big theme in Christian iconography that is still used today. Both cultures use their artwork to communicate the power and greatness of their leaders.