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Praetorians Relief
Praetorians Relief
Artist	Unknown
Year	c. 51–52 AD
Type	High relief, bas-relief
Medium	marble
Dimensions	163 cm (64 in) × 134 cm (53 in) × 28 cm (11 in)
Condition	Extant
Location	Louvre-Lens, France
Collection	Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities of the Louvre
Accession No.	Ma 1079
	[edit on Wikidata]

The Praetorians Relief is a Roman marble relief dated to c. 51–52 AD from the Arch of Claudius in Rome, now housed in the Louvre-Lens.^[1]

It depicts three soldiers in high relief in the foreground, while two others in the background, accompanied by a standard bearer, are made in bas-relief. The standard-bearer holds an aquila standard, where the eagle grasps a thunderbolt in its talons. The soldiers have been identified as Praetorians due to the richness of the apparel, particularly the helmets, the ceremonial dress and oval shields.^[2] The figures are wearing calcei and not caligae, worn by ordinary soldiers. However, according to Boris Rankov, "the Attic-style helmets are almost certainly an artistic convention".^[3] Rankov suggests that "early in their history the Praetorians were still using the Montefortino-style helmet normal in the legions of the Republic and early Empire".^[3]

The relief was previously dated to the early 2nd century AD. The lower half of the left-hand figure, portions of the middle two and the heads of all three foreground figures are modern restorations. In 2006 the relief underwent restoration by N. Imbert and A. Méthivier.^[4]

Provenance

The Praetorians Relief was once part of the Arch of Claudius, erected in AD 51 to commemorate the conquest of Britain.^[1] The relief is mentioned as early as the 16th century. The head of the standard-bearer is depicted in Album by Jacques d'Angoulême [fr] of Reims, on the page dated to 1577.^[4] The relief was once in the possession of the Mattei family, in 1824 it was purchased by the French.

References

^ ^a ^b "Highlights of Roman art from the Louvre" (PDF). American Federation of Arts. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 23 Aug 2014.
^ Lawrence Keppie (1998). The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 233–234. ISBN 0806130148.
^ ^a ^b Boris Rankov (1994). The Praetorian Guard. Osprey Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 1855323613.
^ ^a ^b Рельеф с преторианцами (in Russian). Ancientrome.ru. Retrieved 23 Aug 2014.