Colossus of Constantine
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| Colossus of Constantine |
| c. 307-312 CE |
| White marble, brick,wood, gilded bronze. , height (originally): about 1200 cm |
| Rome, Musei Capitolini |
The Colossus of Constantine was a colossal acrolithic statue of Constantine the Great (c. 280-337) that once occupied the west apse of the Basilica of Maxentius in the Forum Romanum in Rome. Portions of the Colossus now reside in the Courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori of the Musei Capitolini, on the Capitoline Hill, above the west end of the Forum.
The Basilica, on the northern boundary of the Forum, was begun in 307D by Co-Emperor Maxentius, who had a colossal statue of himself erected in the West apse. Constantine completed the Basilica after he defeated Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 312. Constantine's head was probably re-carved from the head of a realistic original of Maxentius, although it is possible that a completely new head of Constantine was added.
The great head, arms and legs were carved from marble, while the rest of the body consisted of a brick core and wooden framework, possibly covered with gilded bronze. (“Acrolithic” means “stone at the extremities”.) Judging by the size of the remaining pieces, the seated, enthroned figure would have been about 12 m (40 ft) high. The head is about 2 ½ m high and each foot is over 2 m long. The great head is carved in a typical, abstract, Constantinian style (“hieratic emperor style”) of late Roman portrait statues, whereas the other body parts are naturalistic, even down to callused toes and bulging forearm veins. The head was perhaps meant to convey the transcendence of the other-worldly nature of the Emperor over the human sphere, notable in its larger-than-life eyes which gaze toward eternity from a rigidly impersonal, frontal face. Although it does contain some remnants of individualistic portraiture (such as the hooked nose), the head typifies the trends of Late Roman portraiture by focusing on symbolism and abstraction, rather than detail.
The colossus was pillaged in Late Antiquity, most likely for the bronze body portions. The marble portions of the statue were brought to light in 1487. The surviving remnants are arranged in the Palazzo dei Conservatori Courtyard as follows from left to right: the right arm (with elbow), the head, the right kneecap, the right hand (with upraised index finger), [a columned museum entrance], the left shin, the right foot, the left kneecap, [an ornamented column remnant] and the left foot.
- The marble colossus parts underwent restoration during 2000 - 2001.
- Between 6 and 10 February 2006, a 3D laser scan of the fragments was carried out on behalf of the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate in collaboration with the Capitoline Museums in Rome. Reconstruction and castings will be displayed from 2 June to 4 November 2007 as part of the major cultural and historical “Constantine the Great” Exhibition in Trier, Germany.
