Drawing A Roman Legion

This drop-in workshop in the Great Court, one of several Big Draw activities in the Museum, involved a Roman Legion, Legii Augustus, parading hourly in the Great Court, linking it to the Hadrian: Empire and Conflict exhibition. Artists Rebecca and Georg devised a workshop to explore Images of Power: Portraiture, combining the performances of the Roman Legion with self-portraits on paper coins.

Participants created their own currency inspired by images of Roman coins, and by the costumed legionnaires, with their authentic wolfskin helmets, shields and armour. The workshop successfully combined portraiture, ancient history and creativity. It captured the imaginations of hundreds of adults and children throughout the day, attracted by the unexpected invaders. They minted their own coins of differing size and character – in groups or individually – with metallic gold, silver and bronze paints. These were displayed in a rapidly expanding ‘coin collection’ on the Great Court wall.