Don McCullin: Vision of Rome
After decades covering conflict, in his book “The Roman Conceit” photographer Don McCullin turned his lens to the “broken bodies and minds” carved in stone during the Roman Empire.
25 years ago, Don McCullin started photographing Roman sculptures in museums all around the world, outside public hours. The images convey the resilience of these artifacts, weathered by centuries of conflict, religious upheaval, and natural disasters, yet still embodying the ideals that defined the Roman world.
Kneeling figure of Venus The Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo, Rome, Italy © Don McCullin
Feet from a statue of Artemis Istanbul Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, Turkey © Don McCullin
Cupid and Psyche Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany © Don McCullin
Cuirass bust of Caligula New Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark © Don McCullin
“It is never as an academic, nor as a scholar, that I respond to these stone gods and goddesses, but as a respectful admirer. (...) We must not allow ourselves to forget that such beauty came at a price; this, after all, was stone quarried by enslaved people and the statuary itself became the spoils of war, looted across the centuries, from country to country, to this day”.
Symplegma with Hermaphrodite and Satyr Dresden State Art Collections, Dresden, Germany © Don McCullin
Discobolus The Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo, Rome, Italy © Don McCullin
Head of the goddess Venus Istanbul Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, Turkey © Don McCullin
The book “The Roman Conceit” is published by GOST and available at the price of 90 Euro.
