Cherie's Place » The V&A

PhotoHunt – Point

CherryPie — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:30:44 +0000

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out Whistlestop PhotoHunt.

The V&A – Trajan’s Column

CherryPie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:49:26 +0000

This column from Rome, Italy was erected in AD 13 and the original column is marble.

The original column in Rome is some 30m high and included an internal spiral staircase which led to a platform at the top. The cast is of the huge pedestal and the entire column, but excludes the viewing platform. The original statue on the top was lost in antiquity. The pedestal is covered in illustrations of booty from the Dacian Wars and the column is covered in a detailed frieze illustrating the conquest of Dacia by the Roman emperor Trajan.

The frieze spirals around the column and is in narrative form something like a comic strip. There were in fact two wars against Dacia, the first (AD 101-102) is illustrated in the lower portion of the column, and the second (AD 105-106) in the upper portion. The dividing point on the column is marked by a personification of Victory writing on a shield and this is approximately the point at which the cast of the column is divided.

To the left of the photo is the upper portion and to the right the lower portion. The best view of them was from the 1st floor because they are far too tall to appreciate from below.

The V&A – Achilles

CherryPie — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:50:24 +0000

Info from the V&A:

Thomas Banks 1735 – 1805
Thetis dipping Achilles in the River Styx
1790

Thetis, a sea nymph, dips her newly born son, Achilles into the River Styx. She hoped the sacred waters would protect him, but Achilles was eventually killed when an arrow struck his heel, the one part of his body left vulnerable. The heads of Thetis and Achilles are portraits of the client’s wife and baby.

London
Marble on the original mahogany plinth
Commissioned by Colonel Thomas Johnes for the conservatory of Hafod,
Cardiganshire