Rise And Fall Of Empires

Rise and Fall of Empires

Thoughts on symbolism, a short history lesson and Details under the cut!

Based on the Gladiateur Mourant by Pierre Julien (1779), I wanted to pick up the Theme of Impera, but, kind of before Impera. The neoclassical theme of the statue sparked the historian energy in me:

Using the antique laurel wreath - but inspired by the one Napoleon, as one of the biggest symbols for Imperialism, wears in paintings, a golden one, instead of one made from the plant - in a homage to both Roman Emperors and later ones, like Napoleon, referencing them, to depict Copia as the ruling figure, the one who built the empire.

The dagger, a roman pugio, too, is a nod to the Antiquity, but the late Republic: It's Brutus' (we know the shape from coins; i just satanised the cross a bit) that he used to stab Caesar, who is so iconic that his name even became the word for emperor in many languages.

I put Copia here in the roles of some famous ruling figures, who, yes, brought their respective empires to new heights, reached a god-like status, but also, ultimately, failed.

But, it's not necessarily an end, a failure, here - the dagger, glowing brightly, as it stabs him through his mark of the beast tattoo. The thought was to maybe make this the end of the Cardinal, who had just ascended to Papacy (old face, old paints) and now fully grows into Papa Emeritus IV, achieving even more. Or something. Maybe it just looks rad. (I put quite a bit of thought into this for once and I actually really like how it turned out; Caravaggio & co are some of my faves; I love Ghost and the roman antiquity and hopefully didn't bore y'all to death with nerd ramblings)

Proof that it sparkles which can't be seen in the edited scan: