Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Roman Emperor portrait miniature



Science fiction and fantasy fans are often major history researchers too. They will spend years of their time finding out about various Roman and medieval era cultures, wars, costumes, weaponry, politics, etc. Many of them identify with a historical time period and often acquire or make garb to match it. The Society for Creative Anachronism is only one of countless re-enactment groups for whatever time of human history you can think of.

David was a Roman Empire fan and he asked that he be portrayed as a Roman Emperor on his nametag miniature. He wasn't about to play the part of an Emperor in a re-enactment, but at least he could be Imperial on a very...small...scale. He looks much younger than he really was at the time, as if he were one of those decadent boy emperors of the turbulent Middle or Later Empire. Looking back, I am fond of the ink-and-watercolor style I used in this picture and in other miniatures, and I wonder whether I could re-create it, perhaps even in a digital simulation. I used to call it my "storybook style," as it resembled illustrations for children's books done in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Emperor David is ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, 2 1/4" x 3 1/2", February 1981.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

Very nice, and I like this style as well.