Togati and dressed statues from Barcino

Abstract

This article analyses in detail the dressed statues and that wearing the toga of Barcino preserved until the present. The objective is to obtain an overview of these productions and to place them at the level of knowledge that has long been on other productions from this colony, such as portraits or epigraphy. In addition, it is intended to clarify the chronological controversies published so far on a part of this material. In total there are 16 pieces, 10 of which wear the toga, one dresses tunic, 2 represent female statues according to the Schulterbausch-typus and 3 more correspond to remains of various statues: a right hand, a plinth with a pair of calcei and a fragment of tunic or chiton. The iconographic and stylistic studies of these pieces in relation to the historical context in which they were made and the consideration of their stone material, mostly of Montjuïc sandstone, has led to conclusions about the production and use of the sculpture in Barcino. The use of these statues is verified during the first century AD and the survival in them of triumviral models also is confirmed during the course of the Julius-Claudius period, mainly in the representations destined to the funeral context. Local creations are determined to adapt the received models to the exhibition environment of concrete sculptures, but in general a high respect to the metropolitan iconographic language can be observed, which is received through italic currents and through the south east of Gaul. The high reach of these influences on the productions from Barcino determines the support of its artisans on the tradition and that of the costumers on the established codes to express messages of prestige and self-representation.