Germanicus bij een offer 1781

Pietro Vitali created this print, depicting ‘Germanicus at a sacrifice’, sometime around 1771. We see Germanicus, a popular Roman general, participating in a religious rite. It’s worth considering the cultural context in which Vitali, who lived in Rome, made this image. By the late eighteenth century, Rome had long been a pilgrimage destination for artists eager to study its ancient ruins and artworks. Neoclassicism was in vogue, and artists looked to the art and culture of the ancient world for models of civic virtue. How might this image serve to construct Germanius as a model for contemporary leaders? Note the details: the priest, the sacrificial bull, and even the bust of a Roman emperor presiding over the scene. This print suggests the importance of historical and cultural research in understanding not just the past, but the political uses to which it is put in the present.