Chapter 04 of Storaro's Rome: the story behind each image of La Civiltà Romana, told from the book by Vittorio Storaro.
Three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro once stood in front of the whole of ancient Rome, small enough to walk around. Temples, arches, theatres, every roof in place, glowing under a low sun.
Then he put a dark arch in front of it, and a goddess with open wings, and captured all of it in one frame of film.
Storaro received his Oscars in 1980, 1982 and 1988, for Apocalypse Now, Reds and The Last Emperor. In 1988 he also made this image, the Arch of Victory, and this week it gains a voice: the story of the photograph, told in his words.
"I photographed this arch as two gates. A gate for victory, and a gate for light."
Vittorio Storaro, from his narration of Arch of Victory
AT A GLANCE
The golden city: the Plastico di Roma, Italo Gismondi's model of ancient Rome in the age of Constantine, at 1:250
Where it is: Museum of Roman Civilization (Museo della Civiltà Romana), EUR, Rome
The relief: a winged Victory beside a trophy of armour, in the Vatican Museums
Storaro's image: Arch of Victory, 1988, La Civiltà Romana
How it was made: A double exposure on film, in a single frame: the arch and the golden city, and the stone relief
A tree hung with armour
Storaro's story begins on a battlefield, long before Rome. After a battle, the Greeks did something simple. On the spot where the enemy turned and ran, they set up a tree trunk and hung on it the armour of the defeated: helmets, shields, cloaks.
They called it a tropaion, from the word for turning. It is where our word "trophy" comes from. A trophy was sacred: not even the enemy was allowed to take it down.
Rome brings its victories home
The Romans took up the custom, but they changed one thing. Rome wanted its victories where the people could see them. So the trophies came home, and the victory was built in stone.
"An arch is the place of return. The victorious army walked through it, and came home."
Vittorio Storaro, from his narration of Arch of Victory
In La Civiltà Romana, Storaro writes that Rome moved under the sign of the Sun: a strong, penetrating light that reached into the dark and made it, more and more, its own. An arch of victory is that light, set in stone.
Two gates in one frame
Look at the photograph and a dark arch fills it, like a door. Through its openings, and all around it, a city glows gold. This is Rome as it was, in miniature: the great model of the ancient city made by the architect Italo Gismondi, Rome in the age of Constantine.
Across the stone of the arch lies the second exposure, a relief. On the left, the trophy: a crested helmet, two oval shields carved with spirals, a cloak falling. On the right, Victory herself, wings open, hair tied up, her hands on a round shield. At the edge of the frame, the sun, low and burning.
Created with a film camera. A double exposure made directly on the same negative, in a single frame. No Photoshop.
The stone makes a frame, and through the frame the day goes on. A gate for the army coming home, and a gate for the light.
When you visit
- The model: the Plastico di Roma belongs to the Museum of Roman Civilization in the EUR district, Piazza Giovanni Agnelli 10. The museum has been closed for renovation for years, with only occasional access, so check the city museums' official site or call 060608 before you go.
- The relief: the winged Victory in Storaro's frame is in the Vatican Museums.
- See a real arch of victory: stand in front of the Arch of Constantine, beside the Colosseum. It was dedicated in 315, but much of it is older. The round panels were made for Hadrian, other panels come from a monument to Marcus Aurelius, and the captives on top were taken from the Forum of Trajan. Two hundred years of emperors in one monument: a double exposure in stone.
- Then do what Storaro did: wait for the sun to go low, and look through the arch, not only at it.
LISTEN
Hear the story of this image in Vittorio Storaro's words. About two minutes.
The artwork
Arch of Victory by Vittorio Storaro, from La Civiltà Romana, is available as a photo print on fine art paper, an acrylic print and a canvas print: a trophy to raise in your own home.
Questions about Arch of Victory
What is the golden city in the picture?
The Plastico di Roma, the architect Italo Gismondi's model of ancient Rome in the age of Constantine, made at 1:250 and kept at the Museum of Roman Civilization in Rome.
Where does the word trophy come from?
From the Greek tropaion, from the word for turning: the spot where the enemy turned and ran, marked with a tree trunk hung with the armour of the defeated.
Was the image edited in Photoshop?
No. It was created with a film camera: a double exposure made directly on the same negative, in a single frame.
Where is the relief of the winged Victory?
The relief of the winged Victory in the image is in the Vatican Museums.
Storaro's Rome follows the images of La Civiltà Romana one by one, each with its place, its story from Storaro's book and his narration. See all the stories or listen to every story told so far.