Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs, Roman sculpture at St Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy
The Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs is a porphyry sculpture group of four figures in military dress, arranged as two pairs standing back to back at a corner of St Mark's Basilica. Each figure is 1.36 metres tall, wears a belted, layered skirt of pleated strips, a chest piece and a cloak, and rests one hand on a sword hilt. The stone is dark reddish-purple, mottled with lighter specks, and the figures stand on a rough base against a wall of pale and green patterned stone.
The work was created around the year 300 in Constantinople during the reign of Diocletian. Venetian forces brought the sculpture to their city in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade.
The four rulers wear identical clothing and military equipment, showing the equal status under the tetrarchy system. Each pair embraces while both hands rest on sword hilts – a gesture expressing both unity and constant readiness for defense.
The group is fixed to the corner of the treasury of St Mark's Basilica, on the side facing the Piazzetta and the two granite columns. The figures stand about 1.36 metres high, roughly eight metres above the pavement on their console, so they are seen from below. Approach from the Piazzetta dei Leoncini to look up at them without entering the church.
Excavations in Istanbul during the 1960s uncovered a missing foot from one of the figures. This discovery proved the Constantinople origin and settled the debate about the original location.
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