Word: commodus
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...American reputation bottomed out in 1964 with a show of nine florid paintings called Discourse on Commodus. They were trashed as a fiasco, in print and by word of mouth. Commodus was the degenerate son of Marcus Aurelius; he became Emperor in the 2nd century A.D., went mad and was strangled. Given the New York art world's self-absorption at the time, it seems fitting that Commodus' assassin was an athlete named Narcissus. Perhaps because of the trauma of their reception, the Commodus paintings are not in moma's show. In any case, Twombly was repatriated to America...
...century, the Senate was ready to vote for any bully or bribegiver who thrust himself forward. Among the worst of Emperors was Commodus, a vice-ridden brute who enjoyed fighting in the arena as a gladiator and was murdered by his favorite concubine and a wrestler. He was succeeded by the aged Pertinax, who tried to institute reforms, only to be murdered after 86 days by the unreformable Praetorian Guard. This garrison of swaggerers, who for a time held the real power in Rome, then insolently auctioned off the imperial throne to a wealthy Senator named Didius Julianus, who offered...