Romulus' Victory Over Acron

Romulus' Victory Over Acron, 1812, tempera on canvas, 276 x 530cm, "Romulus, then, after making a vow that if he should conquer and overthrow his adversary, he would carry home the man’s armour and dedicate it in person to Jupiter, not only conquered and overthrew him, but also routed his army in the battle which followed, and took his city as well" Plutarch, Lives. Romulus.[1]

Romulus’ Victory Over Acron (Romulus, Conqueror of Acron) is a painting by the French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Completed in 1812, Ingres’ source for this subject comes from Plutarch’s Life of Romulus. The painting depicts the war that resulted from the Roman abduction of the young Sabine women in an effort to remedy the shortage of women in the newly founded city of Rome. In retaliation Acron, the king of the neighbouring tribe, the Caeninenses, declared war upon the Romans. He and his tribesmen are mercilessly defeated and their city is sacked by the Romans.[2]

Style and composition

Head of a horse of Selene from the east pediment of the Parthenon. Acropolis, Athens, 438–432 BC[3]

The subject, style and size of the piece make it clear that this piece embodies the Neoclassical tradition. At 276 x 530cm it is one of Ingres’ largest paintings and this grand scale is consistent with his previous classical subject paintings, such as Jupiter and Thetis.[4] The canvas is cast in the form of a long frieze, a style traditional of the ancient world. Ingres introduces several motifs from ancient art; the horse for example is a clear homage to the marble horse of the Parthenon frieze. Ingres also uses tempera to evoke the matte quality which is consistent with the style of ancient Roman frescos.[5]

In the painting there is an element of stunted action which creates a somewhat icy and unemotional aspect which a feature of the new Gothic style that was emerging forcefully in the early 19th century.[5]

Influences

Jacques-Louis David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799

It is not just from the ancient world that Ingres takes his inspiration. Elements of the painting recall the work of Jacques-Louis David, Europe’s leading painter at the turn of the century and Ingres’ master with whom he studied for four years. Romulus' Victory Over Acron has several points of similarity with David's The Intervention of the Sabine Women of 1799. The figure of Ingres’ slain Acron mirrors exactly that of his master’s dead Sabine. The shield, depicting the she-wolf and infant twins Romulus and Remus characteristic of the Roman foundation myth, is also the same save that Ingres omitted the inscription. The warrior to the extreme left of the Sabines, whose stance derives from the antique, finds a fairly confirming echo in Ingres' victorious Romulus.[6] It has also been suggested that the pose of Romulus was inspired by a fragment of a Roman bas-relief after a work by Phidias, a classical Greek sculptor.[7]

Commissioning and history

The painting was commissioned by General Miollis in 1811, along with The Dream of Ossian, for Napoleon Bonaparte's residence, the Palazzo Monte Cavallo (now the Palazzo Quirinale) and was intended as decoration of the empress’s second salon.[4] In 1815 the Romulus was taken out of the Quirinale and brought to the Palazzo di San Giovanni in Laterano. In 1857 it was given by Pope Pius IX to Napoleon III who presented it to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, where it was hung in the Salle de l’Hemicycle (French Parliament).[7]

References

  1. ↑ Plutarch, and Bernadotte Perrin. 1914. Lives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.http://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-lives_romulus/1914/pb_LCL046.137.xml?rskey=g0qgUH&result=3
  2. ↑ Plutarch and Bernadotte Perrin. 1914. Lives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL046/1914/volume.xml.
  3. ↑ http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/h/head_of_a_horse_of_selene.aspx
  4. 1 2 Hauptman, William (2006). Ingres. Milan: Continents Editions.
  5. 1 2 Vigne, Georges (1995). Ingres. Paris: Abbeville Press. 103
  6. ↑ King, Edward S. (1942). "Ingres as Classicist". The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 5, 73-74.
  7. 1 2 Wildenstein, Georges (1956). Ingres. 2nd ed. Great Britain: Hunt Barnard and Co. LTD. 175.

Bibliography

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