Creating a Roman bust
Name: ........................................................................ Date: ........................
Roman sculpture sketches:
Left profile:
Right profile:
Face on:
Back of head:
© www.teachitprimary.co.uk 2015
25362
Page 1 of 3
Creating a Roman bust
Images of Roman busts:
Image courtesy of © Luis García https://flic.kr/p/hSVty
Image courtesy of © Luis García https://flic.kr/p/hSVty
Image courtesy of © takomabibelot https://flic.kr/p/6Fp5zz
Image courtesy of © Elliott Brown https://flic.kr/p/czxhfm
Image courtesy of © matt brown https://flic.kr/p/rcZ3ya
Image courtesy of © Xuan Che https://flic.kr/p/9bG31r
© www.teachitprimary.co.uk 2015
25362
Page 2 of 3
Creating a Roman bust
Sketching out the design
Getting started
Background information: wealthy Romans had busts made as portraits of themselves and their ancestors,
and kept them on display in their homes. The early Romans were particularly keen to have these busts
made as accurately as possible – showing the true face of the subject, “warts and all”. In other words, they
didn’t want the sculptor to flatter them by making them look more attractive than they really were!
Give groups of children a range of pictures of Roman busts (sample sheet above): What do you notice?
What do you find interesting? What questions do you have? Draw out from the children that all of the
sculptures depict only the head, or head and shoulders, of the subject. Explain that this is called a bust.
Main task
Tell the children that they are going to become Roman sculptors, and that they will be producing a threedimensional portrait of their partner in clay. In order to create the best and most accurate sculpture
possible, they must first create detailed pencil ‘studies’ of their partner from different angles. Give each
child a copy of the Roman sculptures sheet (see above), and ask them to decide who is Partner A and who
is Partner B. Explain that they will have five minute intervals to fill in each ‘view’ on the worksheet, taking
it in turns to be the model and the artist. You may find it helpful to set a large timer on the interactive
whiteboard for this.
Rounding things up
Ask the children: Which part of your partner do you think will be the most difficult to recreate in clay?
Which part will be the easiest?
Creating the design in clay
Getting started
Explain that many of us will think of marble when we think of Roman sculptures. Marble is a type of rock,
usually white in colour, and when it is first removed from the ground it is quite soft to work with. Roman
sculptors would use a chisel to chip out the rough shape of their bust from a block of marble, but would
then change to finer tools and rasps to create detail and texture. What would be difficult about this
process?
To make the bronze sculptures, the artist would first have created the bust in wax, which is soft and easy to
work with. The wax bust would then be encased in clay, and the clay would be allowed to dry. The bust
would then be heated, to melt away the wax. After that, hot molten bronze would be poured in. The bronze
would then cool and set inside the clay case, and the clay would be broken away to reveal the solid bronze
bust. What would the advantages be of this process? What would the disadvantages be?
Early Roman sculptors used clay, which they fired in ovens and then painted. We are going to use clay to
make our busts of each other.
Main task: Provide each child with clay and tools for sculpting. Refresh the basics of clay sculpture: rolling,
pinching, pressing, marking. Demonstrate to the children how they can form protrusions such as the nose
by pinching, and how to create pupils in the eyes by pressing in the sharp point of a pencil. Demonstrate
how to use a fork or other marking tools to create lines to mimic hair. Encourage the children to refer to
their pencil studies as they work the clay.
Rounding things up
What do you think the advantages of working with clay would be for a Roman sculptor? What would the
disadvantages be? If you were a Roman sculptor, would you work in marble, bronze or clay? Why?
© www.teachitprimary.co.uk 2015
25362
Page 3 of 3