DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69400#0079
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
55
the whole. In some respects this is one of
Tadema’s best conceived and most satisfactorily
executed pictures. From an atrium on a high
level, down a broad flight of steps, majestically
descends Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the greatest
and mightiest burgher of his day. He is clad in
imperial red, and stands out marvellously against
the white marble of the stairs. His face is set
with a look of stern determination that speaks of
unbending will. He is followed by a crowd of
persons, some of whom are still bowing, though
Agrippa has passed by. Upon the landing at
the bottom of the stairs—a marvel of blue
mosaics with a tiger skin lying across it—there
is a table. On this stands a silver Mars and
materials for writing, for the use of two scribes
standing behind it. Note the character in these
heads, the close-cropped hair that denotes their
servile rank, the cringing salute, each trying to
outbid the other in humility of manner. Just
before these figures, at the foot of the stair-
case, stands the world-famed Vatican statue
of Augustus Imperator, the only man whose
supremacy proud Agrippa would acknowledge,
his device being, “ To obey in masterly fashion,
but obedience to one person only.” Below this
statue, where the staircase seems to turn at the
55
the whole. In some respects this is one of
Tadema’s best conceived and most satisfactorily
executed pictures. From an atrium on a high
level, down a broad flight of steps, majestically
descends Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the greatest
and mightiest burgher of his day. He is clad in
imperial red, and stands out marvellously against
the white marble of the stairs. His face is set
with a look of stern determination that speaks of
unbending will. He is followed by a crowd of
persons, some of whom are still bowing, though
Agrippa has passed by. Upon the landing at
the bottom of the stairs—a marvel of blue
mosaics with a tiger skin lying across it—there
is a table. On this stands a silver Mars and
materials for writing, for the use of two scribes
standing behind it. Note the character in these
heads, the close-cropped hair that denotes their
servile rank, the cringing salute, each trying to
outbid the other in humility of manner. Just
before these figures, at the foot of the stair-
case, stands the world-famed Vatican statue
of Augustus Imperator, the only man whose
supremacy proud Agrippa would acknowledge,
his device being, “ To obey in masterly fashion,
but obedience to one person only.” Below this
statue, where the staircase seems to turn at the