Trajan’s Column

The Foreign Graphic Art Collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art has 12 outstanding series of works by the 18th century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi in which his theoretical works and etchings are gathered. The “Trajan’s Column” engraving from the series “The Trophy or Magnificent Spiral Column of marble composed of large drums on which are etched the two Dacian Wars of Trajan ...”* provides striking evidence of past events. The horizontal and vertical lines organise the space, placing the chosen objects in a number of belts and giving the composition a harmonious image. The peculiarity of the spatial construction is determined here by the composition’s vertical accent – the commemorative monument, which is composed into the architectonic environment, and in the context of the dimension of time, has become one of the city’s main symbols, about a deeply internal metaphor of the historical process. The column’s cubic plinth supports a cylinder-shaped monument, which has a relief frieze weaving around its entire length and is crowned by a statue of Trajan. Rhythm has special significance in the creation of the overall image – in the arrangement of the sections, in the sophisticated winding of the lines, in the flowing alternation of light and dark fields and the delicate gradation of tones in the specific changes in density. The column’s long relief frieze, winding upwards, provides a visual message about Trajan’s military expeditions: the scenes flowingly move from one to the next, and each subsequent event is connected with the previous one, marking the succession in time in this way.

* Trofeo o sia Magnifica Colonna Coclide di marmo composta di grossi macigni ove si veggono scolpite le due guerre daciche fatte da Trajano inalzata nel mezzo del Gran Foro eretto al medesimo imperadore per ordine del senato e popolo romano doppo i svoi trionfi (Roma, 1774–1779)