Illustrating Tullie House Museum’s Roman gallery
The Brief
The purpose of hiring an illustrator for this gallery project was 'to bring the artefacts and people of Roman Cumbria to life' in a visually accessible way. Each illustration I created depicted someone utilising an actual artefact on display to show how it would have been used at the time. This project was really fun because I got to make a variety of different displays/projects:
'People of Roman Cumbria': x4 wall cut-out portraits of people who lived in Roman Carlisle, evidenced by their gravestones and dedications.
'Roman Site Scenes': x5 gallery case illustrations of everyday life at local Roman forts and towns, utilising artefacts on display.
'Roman Carlisle Industry': x1 extra large gallery case illustration of everyday life in Roman Carlisle, with a focus on local industry.
'Roman altars': x2 wall cut-out scenes of Romans interacting with the stone altars on display.
People of Roman Cumbria
The idea was to display gravestones and dedications made for/by local people and then have poster-board cut-outs of the person standing behind them. The curatorial team picked out some really fun and interesting characters, and let me have free reign in filling in their personalities and choosing what they looked like. There was a focus on showing a diverse cast of characters, as people came here from all over the empire, and women were just as involved in the society. The people are:
Publius Sextanius, a prefect from Germania (Germany), who died from wounds sustained slaughtering a band of 'barbarians' (local Britons). Originally I had him interacting with Vacia (see below) to give a familial vibe, rather than the usual gladius wielding.
Flavius Antigonus Papias, the Christian from Graecia (Greece), who died at 60.
Antonianus, the merchant, who made a dedication to the 'Mother Goddess', and said if she would make him successful he would come back and fill in the letters with gold. The dedication was excavated unadorned.
Anicia Lucilla, the citizen, who died at 55 years old.
(honourable mention) Vacia, the child, who died at 3 years old. Sadly her tombstone was too large and we didn't have enough space and budget to move her, so we gave Publius a dog instead (sorry Vacia!). We were really sad about this as she was the only one with an actual depiction on her stone, and I think it would have been really moving to see a child standing among the dead.
Originally we wanted the illustrations to be super colourful, but it was pointed out they needed to match the illustrations in the connecting Prehistory gallery (which were in a sketchy style and monochrome). While this meant all the illustrations aren't in my usual style, I think they complement the artefacts better and don't overpower them! For the Roman people of Cumbria, I still got to make a colourful version for online use:
Roman Site Scenes
The five gallery case illustrations of everyday life at local Roman forts and towns, utilising artefacts on display.
The curatorial team chose to represent a variety of sites, including a town and cemetery as well as the military centres.
Old Pentrith Town - Two men lounge in the back drinking while a woman with a child admires some locally-made jet necklaces held up by the artisan. In the window a man holding a tablet yells at the dog outside. The buildings are typical for vici (roman towns next to forts), and would have faced the road through town.
Bewcastle Roman Fort - this fort has the remains of a bath complex, including fragments of painted plaster that would have adorned the interior! Two soldiers socialise in the back while the front two catch some steam. The forts would have been manned by auxiliary units from all over the empire, including Asia minor, Europe, and North Africa.
Brougham Cemetery - a dead body is carried on a bier flanked by mourners holding locally-made pottery vessels. The bier is decorated with carved ivory like the pieces excavated at the site.
Hardknott Roman Fort - This gallery refresh was done in part with WallCAP, and several areas focus on the landscape of the wall. This illustration was to highlight the open (and dare I say bleak) rolling hills that surround the fort.
Birdoswald Roman Fort - Two soldiers play dice while two women watch; one cleans a gladius, the other one spins thread with a spindle whorl. While it is entirely feasible that a soldier could have used a spindle whorl, we couldn't find hard evidence that Roman gender norms bent that far (spinning was very much womens work). This, plus some female-associated jewelry found on site, implied that women (soldier's partners?), lived there despite the army's rules against it.
Roman Carlisle Industry
Notice any familiar faces? Although Vacia got axed from the Roman People of Cumbria earlier, I was still able to include her in this scene, as well as the merchant Antonianus!
The focus of this panel was to highlight the industry going on in the town. The original brief called for 4-5 different artisans in view, but ultimately we settled on just two so it wouldn't be an overwhelming scene (plus we could show more of the work stations). On the left a glassmaker is forming a glass bangle like the ones on display. The glass vessels on his shelves are also local finds (one is on display), and the oven is based on ones found elsewhere. On the right a local Briton considers buying some Roman-style sandals. The lamp and basket behind the cobbler are based ones found in Carlisle, and on display. In the very back of the scene there is graffiti 'Maximus scrisii' (Maximus wrote this), which is an actual message found on a stone from a local Roman quarry!
Roman altars
The final part of this project was illustrating the Roman altars. Tullie has quite the collection, and while they are of course fascinating sources of history, on display they can be a bit... well look like a bunch of monochrome rocks...
Elsa Price, the curator, had the idea to make some life-sized cut outs of people interacting with the altars to show how they were used. On the left we have a "clergy"-led religious scene - I illustrated a flamen, priest, pouring libations over burning offerings, with some vessels on a table next to him, including a jug that looks like the one inscribed on the actual altar. His head is covered by his toga in reverence.
On the right, we have a military general-led religious scene - The general is about to pour libations, but is also preparing to sacrifice a white bull while his soldiers look on. This one was very fun to research, because I got to spend an afternoon deep-diving about Roman cattle. This beast is based on a breed of wild cows named 'Chillingham cattle', which is posited to be the closest living relative to the cow bred by Romans in Britain. White animals were often used in Roman religious ceremonies too, and the worshippers of Mithras (usually soldiers), would sacrifice bulls.
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Wooh if you made it this far I salute you! Overall we started this commission in November of 2020, and finished in October 2021. There were a few chunks of time where C-19 lockdown had museum staff furloughed so we couldn't continue work at the time. However, it all got done in the end and I am so pleased with the results!
If you find yourself in Carlisle, please stop by and see the whole museum. They have some amazing collections, including Prehistory, Viking, Reiver, period costumes, and a designated status natural history collection!
