I am looking for a picture of the statue of Augustus "Prima Porta". 
The statue is in the Vatican Museum.  The specific picture I'm looking
for has a black background and the statue is "tinted" gold.  There are
many replicas of this picture on the web, but no one seems to know
where or how to get an actual print or even a poster.  I called the
Vatican & was told they have it and even gave me a fax number but my
faxed request has gone unanswered.  Can you get this print for me or
tell me how to find it?

Hello.

There's an online store called Vaticanart.com that specializes in
Vatican Museum-related collectibles.

They offer a poster of the Augustus statue. It's on sale for $6.50.
Visit their web site for more information:
http://www.vaticanart.com/acx/store/store.cgi?page_name=view_category&category=4632283

It's definitely the "prima porta" statue, as seen on the Vatican's web
site:
http://www.vatican.va/museums/patrons/documents/vm_pat_doc_14101999_augustus_en.html

Here is additional contact information for Vaticanart.com:
http://www.vaticanart.com/contact_us.shtml
search strategy: "vatican museum" gift shop

I hope this helps. Good luck.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 09 Jul 2002 18:39 PDT

It is the same statue. And it does have a black background. The fact
that it has slightly less "gold tint" is  probably the result of
different lighting. Given that Vaticanart.com imports its collectibles
from Vatican Museum, I think it's somewhat unlikely that the museum is
selling a different poster, but perhaps they are. If you decide that
the poster that I found is unacceptable, I advise you to apply for a
refund.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 09 Jul 2002 19:33 PDT

The poster may indeed depict a more "gold" statue when viewed in
person.
http://www.vaticanart.com/acx/store/store.cgi?page_name=view_product&product=4657763&category=4632283
Look closely at Vaticanart.com's scan of the poster. The background is
clearly black, but the sides appear white. To me, this indicates that
the Vaticanart.com's scan of the poster is lighter than the actual
poster.

Nice, but no cigar! If you want to see what it looks like go here -
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/vaticano/SC2-Augustus.jpg. The
pictures you discovered are nice, but this is the one I need.  Can you
look further?  I don't know how to rate this - should not be rated
until finished. Voyager
voyager646

Hello voyager646,

I was unable to contact a store that sells the print of Augustus
"Prima Porta" but did come up with a few leads if you'd like to
contact your local art reproductions store:

An image of the statue (gold tinted) against a black background can be
found here:
Augustus Statue
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/vaticano/SC2-Augustus.jpg

The Texas Council for the Humanities has a listing on their website
for a travelling exhibition from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
entitled "The Vatican Collections: The Papacy and Art"
http://www.public-humanities.org/exhibitsRtoZ.html#anchor1404333

This exhibition contains a poster print of the Augustus statue with
measurements of 24" X 38" (#8 on the list).

If this is indeed the poster that you may have seen or are thinking
of, contacting the Texas Council for the Humanities and/or the Met may
be your most promising avenues.

Hope this helps,
carwfloc-ga


Search strategy:
augustus prima porta metropolitan museum

It may be difficult or impossible to get a print with the colors that
you're looking for.  In reality, the statute is not gold on a black
background; it looks like it does in the image found by juggler-ga. 
The image you've identified on the Christus Rex web site might be a
poor quality reproduction, or it might be colored differently for
dramatic effect.

And note that even on the Christus Rex web site, the statue comes in a
color more like the image on the Vatican web site (though it's still a
bit yellow):

http://www.christusrex.org/www1/vaticano/SC-Augustus.jpg

The photo on the ChristusRex site is a photo of the statue itself.

The photo on the Vatican website is a photo of a photo.

The colors will necessarily look different - photos of photos,
compressed for web use, don't reproduce well.

It is, however, the same statue.

missy-ga

I really think the poster he found is the one you're looking for.  If
you look at the last link he posted, the lightness on the poster is
clearly just a glare.  I would be willing to bet the poster is a fully
black background and that the brighter statue and light edges are
merely glares.

Questions of color aside, the poster found by juggler-ga can't be
using exactly the same image as the one on the Christus Rex website.
The statues are at different angles. VaticanArt's poster shows the
statue straight-on, but the Christus Rex image is at an angle. (Look
at the base, if it's hard to tell from the statue itself.)

Here's another potential source of confusion.  As noted by the initial
Vatican page identified in juggler-ga's orginal answer, the statue in
the Vatican is made of marble.  (I assume that means it looks more
white than gold.)  However, as the web site also observes, the statute
may be a copy of a (presumably lost) bronze original.  This may be the
reason why I have also seen an image of a smaller 19th century bronze
version of the statue, in the Peabody Art Collection of Maryland:

http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc4600/sc4680/html/unkaugustuspp.html

And perhaps there are other bronze copies out there too.  But I still
tend to think that the image on the Christus Rex web site is an
incorrectly-colored image of the marble statue in the Vatican, though
I haven't confirmed this.

For "orginal", read "original"; for "statute", read "statue".  That's
what happens when you post before proofreading and spell-checking. 
;-)