Twelve Caesars. Images of Power from Antiquity to the Present Day

Historian Mary Beard, author of the bestseller "SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome," immerses us this time in an engaging narrative about how, for 2000 years, images of Roman emperors have influenced European art and even politics. This beautifully illustrated book offers a journey through the history of European art from Antiquity to the present day. Mary Beard explores how the visual "canon" of the twelve Caesars was formed and then traces how it was reinterpreted, altered, and, willingly or unwillingly, made mistakes, confusing emperors, their wives, and mothers. The author reveals all the links of her "detective" investigation that solved a number of puzzles and mistakes in the history of art. Mary Beard reconstructs the forever lost celebrated series of paintings and tapestries and uncovers the true identity of a number of works.

But the main question of the book is why and for what reasons artists and patrons repeatedly turned to the images of Caesars when the Roman Empire had long since ceased to exist — a passion for collecting? a statement of political agenda? Instead of the notorious "formal" display of imperial figures, Mary Beard offers us a deep reading of the most complex portraits of power ever created by great masters — Titian and Veronese, Mantegna and Memling... up to the conceptual works of our contemporaries. At the same time, the author sheds new light on seemingly simple and understandable works from generations of weavers, cabinetmakers, goldsmiths, and engravers.