Stele D Portraying Ruler 13 Analysis

Sculpture was one of the most popular forms of art in the ancient world. In cultures all around the globe, from Mayan culture to Roman, relief sculpture could portray the most significant aspects from said cultures. In this specific example, Stele D Portraying Ruler 13 (Copan, Honduras, 736 CE, Mayan) and the Column of Trajan (Forum of Trajan, Rome, Italy, High Empire), both portray significant rulers from their times, as well as fundamental narratives detailing occurrences in the times.

To start, both pieces are not only visually stimulating but represent many important parts of their culture. With the Stele D portraying Ruler 13, the artist was able to include many visual aspects of Mayan culture. Using high relief, the artist created a very

One of the most significant features is the portrayal of the ruler - his body is broken up in an artistic way. The ruler wears an elaborate headdress, a kilt and sandals, and his face is very idealized. The double-headed serpent bar he holds is a representation of his power among the community. The composition of this stele is full of many small pieces, and it is not constricted by lines. On the back is a paragraph or so of carved in text. The original piece was painted, with bright colors, both to make it stand out and to help make certain points significant. On the other hand, the creator of the Column of Trajan created a spiraling frieze, which both spun a story and replicated the art style of the Romans in this time.The frieze uses low relief to tell stories, pulling stylistic concepts from friezes in the past. The Column of Trajan is extremely tall with a statue of Saint Peter at the top. The statue was of a Trajan himself, but was changed during the sixteenth century. As previously mentioned, it is a spiral frieze, one of the first of its kind. The column contains many small images of very significant political, social and economic views at the time being. The composition allows for a narrative to be told and for the laws to be

Mayan art was very idealized, always painted brightly, and usually extreme in what it explained. Roman art was naturalistic while also usually narrative, and Romans rarely used color on columns. Additionally, the Column of Trajan is a freestanding column; while the Stele is freestanding as well, it was normal for a stele to be freestanding. Columns in Rome were usually weight-bearing. Visually, the two pieces are extremely different - Stele D is very high relief, where the Column is so low it is barely recognizable as relief. Stele D, while greater than life-size, does not compare to the Column, which stands at a remarkable one hundred and twenty six feet. One could barely tell the two are comparable were it not for the historical context. Both pieces share a story of their country with the viewer, while also being visually stunning. Stele D tells the story of Ruler 13, an outstanding leader in his country; the Column of Trajan does the same. While the two leaders have different stories and the pieces weave different tales, they can both be classified as narrative art. Historically, the Stele was not as important until it was later discovered in Copan. However, at the time, the Column took an incredible amount of work to be built. Therefore, it was one of the most important of its time. These two pieces both tell a great deal about the cultures themselves, both