Greco-Roman Vulcan Relief Sculpture

3D Model

This marble relief scultpure depicts Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking, one of the oldest Roman gods, whose worships dates back to the archaic kings of Rome. He is here depicted in a typical style as amiddle aged bearded man, holding a double-headed axe. Following the amalgamation of Greek and Roman gods, Vulcan linked to Hephaestus as a counterpart. Hephaestus was more closely associated with metalworking, while Vulcan had closer links to fire and the destructive forces of nature.

This sculpture is based on a fragment from a religious pillar known as a Jupiter column, a monument type regional to Roman Germania. These columns could stand 10 meters tall, and were typically at 4m inn height. These columns supported statues of Jupiter on horseback, trampling a giant, representing victory over the forces of chaos.

This model was compiled in Agisoft Metashape from 465 colour-checked images. As the carving was too heavy to move, artificial depth and a backing board was added in Blender.