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A Description of the Trajan Column
In the following description of the Trajan Column there is no attempt to give a complete account of Roman arms, accoutrements, or warlike engines, nor more of the history of Trajan than is required to illustrate the wars portrayed on his column, and the more important architectural structures erected during his reign. The casts, which form the subject of these pages, are taken from a series reproduced in metal by direction of the late Emperor Napoleon the Third, and are built round a core of brick in the South-east Court of the South Kensington Museum.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1874
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About the author
John Hungerford Pollen
48 booksFamily:
His son, the Jesuit: John Hungerford Pollen
His wife, the author of works on lace: Maria Pollen
His uncle, the architect: C.R. Cockerell.
John Hungerford Pollen (1820–1902) was an English writer on crafts and furniture.
He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1845, with a parish in Leeds from 1847, writing of his experiences.
He became a Catholic convert and left the Church of England in 1852. He worked on numerous decorative projects in the 1850s, starting with the hall ceiling at Merton College, Oxford, where he was a Fellow from 1842; his conversion entailed his giving up that fellowship. Other works, mainly in collaboration, were on the University Museum in Oxford, and the Arthurian murals at the Oxford Union, in a group led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and including William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Val Prinsep, and Roddam Spencer Stanhope.
He worked with John Henry Newman on church architecture and decoration. He was responsible for the design of the Catholic University Church in Dublin. He also worked on the Brompton Oratory. Newman invited him to take up a position at the Catholic University of Ireland, and Pollen was Professor of Fine Arts there, from 1855 to 1857.
He returned to England in 1857, settling in Hampstead, London. He worked for The Tablet, and through John Everett Millais expanded his contacts with the Pre-Raphaelite circle.
Later he worked for the South Kensington Museum, where he was appointed assistant keeper in 1863, and was made editor to its science and art department, producing catalogues. He compiled with Henry Cole a Universal Catalogue of Books on Art. This was a multi-volume project, beginning publication in 1870, its aim being to furnish a complete bibliographical record of art books in libraries of the West.
His son, the Jesuit: John Hungerford Pollen
His wife, the author of works on lace: Maria Pollen
His uncle, the architect: C.R. Cockerell.
John Hungerford Pollen (1820–1902) was an English writer on crafts and furniture.
He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1845, with a parish in Leeds from 1847, writing of his experiences.
He became a Catholic convert and left the Church of England in 1852. He worked on numerous decorative projects in the 1850s, starting with the hall ceiling at Merton College, Oxford, where he was a Fellow from 1842; his conversion entailed his giving up that fellowship. Other works, mainly in collaboration, were on the University Museum in Oxford, and the Arthurian murals at the Oxford Union, in a group led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and including William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Val Prinsep, and Roddam Spencer Stanhope.
He worked with John Henry Newman on church architecture and decoration. He was responsible for the design of the Catholic University Church in Dublin. He also worked on the Brompton Oratory. Newman invited him to take up a position at the Catholic University of Ireland, and Pollen was Professor of Fine Arts there, from 1855 to 1857.
He returned to England in 1857, settling in Hampstead, London. He worked for The Tablet, and through John Everett Millais expanded his contacts with the Pre-Raphaelite circle.
Later he worked for the South Kensington Museum, where he was appointed assistant keeper in 1863, and was made editor to its science and art department, producing catalogues. He compiled with Henry Cole a Universal Catalogue of Books on Art. This was a multi-volume project, beginning publication in 1870, its aim being to furnish a complete bibliographical record of art books in libraries of the West.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 9, 2025
Description of Trajan’s Column
The author says Trajan was wise in council, farsighted in policy, sagacious in dealing with men, unsuspicious, generous, a strategist, brave, humane, patient, and tolerant of hunger and thirst.
The column was intended as the tomb of the emperor, where his ashes would be laid. The intricately detailed artwork on the column commemorates his main military accomplishment of victory over Decebalus and the inclusion of the Dacian lands to the Roman Empire.
It remains debatable whether the column artwork with its intricate details could be seen. There were Roman and Greek libraries nearby, where standing on the top floors, one could possibly see some of the scenes of detailed artwork.
The author says Trajan was wise in council, farsighted in policy, sagacious in dealing with men, unsuspicious, generous, a strategist, brave, humane, patient, and tolerant of hunger and thirst.
The column was intended as the tomb of the emperor, where his ashes would be laid. The intricately detailed artwork on the column commemorates his main military accomplishment of victory over Decebalus and the inclusion of the Dacian lands to the Roman Empire.
It remains debatable whether the column artwork with its intricate details could be seen. There were Roman and Greek libraries nearby, where standing on the top floors, one could possibly see some of the scenes of detailed artwork.
Displaying 1 of 1 review