Trajan Crowned by Victory

Marcantonio Raimondi was an engraver who worked from drawings under the direction of Raphael, among other artists. He derived this print, however, from a bas-relief on the Arch of Constantine celebrating the Roman Emperor Trajan’s 105/06 A.D. victory over the Dacians (from an area now encompassing Romania). The friezelike shape of the composition and the depth of the visual field mimic that shallow type of sculpture, while celebrating Rome’s historical past at a moment just before the 1527 sack by the troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.