Praetorian cavalry......Can anyone help

[Anonymous]

Hello, I am new to this site.<br>
Could anyone help,I have a beautifully sculpted mounted<br>
figure of an Eques Praetorianus, 1st Dacian war A.D.101-102<br>
and I really want to do justice to it both in terms of research<br>
and the paint job<br>
<br>
What I need to know are things such as colours of saddle<br>
cloths colours of breeches (I read they can be decorated with celtic designs?) and anything else that may be of use<br>
to make this figure truly unique and authentic.<br>
<br>
Thank's in advance<br>
Frank U.K. <p></p><i></i>

[JRSCline]

Your best bet for visuals is picking up a copy of Boris Rankov's Osprey volume on the Praetorians.<br>
<br>
Praetorians didn't wear purple or black a la "Gladiator," we can be sure, so stick to white or red, the most typically attested legionary colors.<br>
<br>
Main motifs in shield and armour decorations were stars-and-moon, and everyone's favorite: scorpions! Again, you can see examples in Rankov.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Jenny <p></p><i></i>

[Uwe Bahr]

Frank,<br>
<br>
another good reference is in Osprey's Men-at-Arms Nr. 158 "Rome's Enemies (2) - Gallic and British Celts". Angus McBride’s Plate H shows two Praetorian Cavalrymen. I have no picture of this available, but I painted my own scratched Praetorian Horse Guard in the same way:<br>
<br>
<img src="http://people.freenet.de/u-bahr/Avecaesar.bmp" style="border:0;"/><br>
<br>
Today I am not sure if the purple stripes on the white tunic are correct and would paint the tunic just in white or red.<br>
<br>
Uwe<br>
<p></p><i></i>

[Crispvs]

Nice painting Uwe!<br>
<br>
He's based on figures shown on the Great Trajanic Relief I believe, so should be about the right period for Frank's figure (I'll leave my usual opinions about the accuracy of public sculpture out this time).<br>
<br>
Crispvs <p></p><i></i>

[Andrew Brozyna]

Does anyone have a source for a photo of the full surviving Trajanic relief? I can only find parts as seen in Osprey's Praetorian book.<br>
<br>
-Andy <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Thank's to everyone for their help<br>
I shall get a copy of ospreys the Praetorians.<br>
<br>
Frank <p></p><i></i>

[JRSCline]

I think I'll relocate this thread to Gaming & Modelling as it seems to pertain most closely to that area.<br>
<br>
Good luck, Frank! Send us photos when you're done.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Jenny <p></p><i></i>

[Praefectusclassis]

Hey Uwe,<br>
Nice job! How about showing us some more? <p>Greets<br>
<br>
Jasper</p><i></i>

[Uwe Bahr]

Thank You Jasper,<br>
<br>
Your praise particularly makes me happy, because I saw in-process photos of Your slinger and Your aquilifer and so I know that You are an experienced modelleur and painter. By the way, did You complete them in the meantime?<br>
<br>
Concerning the 6 figures in the foreground I was inspired by the so-called Praetorians relief from the Louvre. I tried to build the 3 front figures and the Aquilifer with the unusual eagle standard as near as possible to the original. For the 2 other praetorians in the background I took different helmet types (Imperial Italic A and Cremona). The other figures on the stairs should animate the scene only somewhat. Most figures are scratched or partly scratched, with the exception<br>
of Andrea's Tribune on the stairs and the Emperor (Sanderson).<br>
<br>
<img src="http://people.freenet.de/u-bahr/Praet1.jpg" style="border:0;"/><br>
<br>
<img src="http://people.freenet.de/u-bahr/Praet3.jpg" style="border:0;"/><br>
<br>
<img src="http://people.freenet.de/u-bahr/Praet5.jpg" style="border:0;"/><br>
<br>
Greets Uwe <p></p><i></i>

[JRSCline]

It's one thing to paint a cast figure well, but creating lifelike figures from scratch is truly an art form. Beautiful, Uwe!<br>
<br>
Andrew:<br>
Yes, there is an excellent, but rare, monograph that not only shows the whole relief, with closeup photos and line drawings, but discusses its elements in detail. Unfortunately my reference library is back in Heidelberg and I am in Egypt, but here are some ideas:<br>
<br>
- do a web search for "Great Trajanic Relief" (or Frieze)<br>
- ask Jasper for the reference (I believe he has it also)<br>
- meet up with me in Heidelberg (will be home on holidays 1-18 APR) and I'll let you copy the book<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Jenny <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=jrscline>JRSCline</A> at: 3/21/04 5:37 am<br></i>

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Uwe,<br>
Yup, it's a great job you seem to have done there. Any chance of giving us some more info on the construction?<br>
<br>
Jen, I believe you mean Lepper & Frere, Trajan's Column, right? <p>Greets<br>
<br>
Jasper</p><i></i>

[Uwe Bahr]

Jasper,<br>
<br>
sure, I will gladly give further information. But need some time for scanning pictures.<br>
<br>
Uwe <p></p><i></i>

[JRSCline]

Nope, not Lepper and Frere. Remember that softcover volume that two of us bought on the Great Trajanic Frieze? Maybe it was Sander and not you who got the other copy. My memory -- never reliable -- fails me.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Jenny <p></p><i></i>

[Praefectusclassis]

Oh that, yeah, Sander's got that one. I didn't get a copy (among other reasons because the Lepper and Frere book reproduce all Cichorius's photos) <p>Greets<br>
<br>
Jasper</p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Greetings!<br>
<br>
Uwe-<br>
Truly amazing work! I am most impressed. Will you favor us with more photos?<br>
<br>
Andrew-<br>
Yann Le Bohec's book The Imperial Roman Army (1994) has detail drawings of Trajan's column which might prove informative. Perhaps you have this book or know about it already.<br>
<br>
Hail Caesar!<br>
<br>
Narukami<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>