Portrait Of A Ruler

At the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C, stands a home for discovered sculptors of the Hellenistic World. This home is known as the Power and Pathos exhibition. Here lies the Portrait of a Ruler, a monumental bronzed head sculpted in Ancient Greece during 310-290 BCE. Although the sculptor is unknown , this figure is exemplary of how sculptors of the Hellenistic period used physical and emotional expressions to create godly figures. In this visual analysis and comparison, the physical and emotional features of the Portrait of a Ruler will be explicated in order to develop an understanding of the sculpture.

The Portrait of a Ruler is a very large sculpture of a young male’s face/head. The face expression of the figure seems to be gloomy.

Bronze allows the sculpture to remain stable despite the fact that the only support it’s receiving is a metal rod and a small base. It stands stationary without any additional support. The bronze also has a tremendous relationship with the light. When light hits the bronzed surface, it gleams in a profound way. The highest points of his face—the forehead, nose bridge, cheekbones, chin and philtrum reflect the most light and outline the face vertically down the center and across the eyes. As a result, the entire face appears illuminated. This effects makes the sculpture look even more godly thus emphasizing its

The Head of a Man is more stylized in comparison to the Portrait of a Ruler, which is more naturalistic. The Head of a Man has features that are far from ordinary human characteristics. For example, the large over-arched eyebrows and large eyes are disproportioned to the face. The hair on his head lacks lines that represent individual strands of hair. It appears more flat thus lacks three-dimensional features. It has stylized diamonds shapes to portray braided hair. Although the long, curly beard from the Head of a Man and the curly, flowing hair of the Portrait of a Ruler are both stylized, the beard appears much more solid and firm than the curly hair. Therefore, the curly hair appears more life-like and natural. On the other hand, the sizes of the sculptures express the opposite idea. Since the Head of a Man is life-sized, and the Portrait of a Ruler is beyond life-size the Head of a Man appears more human-like in that aspect. In addition, the sculptures also express different emotions. The Head of a Man is smiling and has a more elevated facial expression while the Portrait of a Ruler is gloomy and solemn. This suggests that their people may have viewed their rulers differently or it may simply say something about the kind of rulers they were. Regardless, this is evidence of cultural differences in