page_title: Velificatio
hierarchical_section_title: Velificatio
caption_attribution_description: English: On the eastern side of Ara Pacis is a relief of Tellus Mater, the Roman earth-goddess Nederlands: Aan de oostelijke kant van Ara Pacis is een afbeelding te zien van Tellus Mater (moeder Aarde). De sluier verwijst naar Ceres, het afvallend gewaad naar Venus. Moeder Aarde wordt geflankeerd door de personificaties van land- en zeewind. Dit symboliseert de vrede onder Augustus ter land en ter zee. Français&#160;: Bas-relief de la Terre-Mère, Tellus Mater, sur la façade orientals de l'Ara Pacis (entre 13 et 9 av. J.-C.)
context_page_description: Velificatio is a stylistic device used in ancient Roman art to frame a deity by means of a billowing garment. It represents "vigorous movement," an epiphany, or "the vault of heaven," often appearing with celestial, weather, or sea deities. It is characteristic of the iconography of the Aurae, the Breezes personified, and one of the elements which distinguish representations of Luna, the Roman goddess of the Moon, alluding to her astral course.
  A figure so framed is a velificans. Not all deities are portrayed as velificantes, but the device might be used to mark a member of the Imperial family who had been divinized.
  Velificatio is a frequent device in Roman art, including painting, mosaic, relief, and sculpture, though it poses technical difficulties for freestanding sculpture. The Athenian sculptor Praxiteles was able to achieve it. The term is also used to describe Hellenistic art. The device continued to be used in later Western art, in which it is sometimes described as an aura, "a breeze that blows from either without or from within that lifts the veil to reveal the face of an otherwise invisible being."
context_section_description: Velificatio is a stylistic device used in ancient Roman art to frame a deity by means of a billowing garment. It represents "vigorous movement," an epiphany, or "the vault of heaven," often appearing with celestial, weather, or sea deities. It is characteristic of the iconography of the Aurae, the Breezes personified, and one of the elements which distinguish representations of Luna, the Roman goddess of the Moon, alluding to her astral course.
  A figure so framed is a velificans (plural velificantes). Not all deities are portrayed as velificantes, but the device might be used to mark a member of the Imperial family who had been divinized (a divus or diva).
  Velificatio is a frequent device in Roman art, including painting, mosaic, relief, and sculpture, though it poses technical difficulties for freestanding sculpture. The Athenian sculptor Praxiteles was able to achieve it. The term is also used to describe Hellenistic art. The device continued to be used in later Western art, in which it is sometimes described as an aura, "a breeze that blows from either without or from within that lifts the veil to reveal the face of an otherwise invisible being."
caption: A pair of velificantes on the Augustan Altar of Peace (late 1st century BC)
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