I am Jupiter, the King of the Gods, with my eagle. But it's also saying, I mean, it looks very silly. You can imagine that classicists go two ways on this. One is, you know, they didn't quite pull it off, did they? The other is that even in the imperial sculpture workshops, the desire to satirise the Emperor actually won that. He does look like he's hoping that, according to soap dish, in a loofah. His accessories are a bit unfortunate. It's not as if men and the representations of men are completely straightforward. They're all so bound up with the problems of representations of women.
How has Western culture depicted powerful women down the ages? To what extent have they been packaged into a male template? And how much have they been able to control their own image? Featuring classicist Mary Beard and Sotheby’s specialist Holly Braine, and chaired by cultural critic Shahidha Bari, the conversation will range from sculptures of ancient goddesses such as Aphrodite and Athena, to portraits of Queen Elizabeth I as ‘Gloriana’, to the empowered politicians and cultural icons of today. This conversation was produced in partnership with Sotheby's for Sotheby’s Talks: (Women) Artists.
To view the accompanying images for this conversation please visit: https://intelligencesquared.com/sothebys-women-artists-women-in-power/
This event was recorded on the 26th of February 2023, at Sotheby's in London. It was produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye and editing was by Producer Catharine Hughs.
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