So many people know the story of Julius Caesar — the Roman general whose power became too great a threat to his closest friends. But how many know the story of Calpurnia, Caesar's third wife, who watched as her husband made his final walk to the forum, and never came home again?
I made this piece for two reasons — 1) To attempt to make a better entry than The Goddesses' Displeasure, and 2) To salvage my art archives, as this will automatically rebuild them.
Caesar had three wives over the course of his life. His first, Cornelia, was rumored to be his true love, but he was forced to divorce her for political reason to marry Pompeia, the daughter of Sulla (a powerful dictator of Rome, and the first general to lead an army against it — Caesar was the second). He divorced her, as well, for her flagrant social misbehavior and embarrassment. Because of this, Caesar was reputed to have said the following:
"Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."
—Julius Caesar
This leads us to Calpurnia, his third wife. The story has it that Calpurnia awoke in the middle of the night because she had a vision of her husband's body swathed in blood. She warned him repeatedly that day to stay home from the forum, but Caesar, being the powerful man he was, considered the business too routine to be dangerous. Along the route, an augur — basically a seer — warned him to "Beware the Ides of March!". Now, when people hear that, they assume one particular day in the month, although the Ides spanned multiple days, like most other "holidays" [such as the Nones and Kalends] — either the 13th OR 15th of every month. Caesar was reputed to have died on this second Ides of March. While overseeing a normal business interaction in the forum, his conspirators acted, and legend says that as he died, he fell against a statue of Pompey — a man who used to be his friend, and son-in-law albeit being older, and was turned against him by the politics of the world.
I suppose what I want this piece to convey is helplessness. At this point, Calpurnia has tried everything she can and is forced to watch her husband leave. Her eyes try to appeal to the viewer. I'm actually considering altering the view of the image so that it's more of a profile of Calpurnia begging and Caesar being impassive. More on that when I feel I can get this image looking the way I want to!
Read 3 comments (Leave a comment?)
Honey said:
That’s interesting, very interesting! And that piece of work is beautiful, great!
Posted on September 11, 2006 6:58 AM; Permalink
Harveen said:
you wrote that?! woww, i loved it. you wrote that?! woww, i loved it.
Posted on September 11, 2006 8:32 AM; Permalink
Candace said:
I think your piece is a great interpretation. (Very talented!)
Posted on September 12, 2006 10:58 PM; Permalink