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    Roman Art PDF

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    Roman sculpture had its roots in adapting Greek models. There was a high demand for sculptures that led to much production and copying of past works. Portraiture and narrative relief sculptures were consistent trends that served important functions in Roman society by commemorating achievements and important figures. Early Roman portraits lacked context before the 1st century BC. Techniques included using allegories, displaying psychological aspects of subjects, and emphasizing facial details to depict personality traits like sternness. Major works included the Column of Trajan which depicted Emperor Trajan's victories in a continuous spiral relief. Spatial settings were carefully planned to clearly narrate historical events without inscriptions.

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    Roman Art PDF

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    baba
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    Roman sculpture had its roots in adapting Greek models. There was a high demand for sculptures that led to much production and copying of past works. Portraiture and narrative relief sculptures were consistent trends that served important functions in Roman society by commemorating achievements and important figures. Early Roman portraits lacked context before the 1st century BC. Techniques included using allegories, displaying psychological aspects of subjects, and emphasizing facial details to depict personality traits like sternness. Major works included the Column of Trajan which depicted Emperor Trajan's victories in a continuous spiral relief. Spatial settings were carefully planned to clearly narrate historical events without inscriptions.

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    Roman sculpture had its roots in adapting Greek models. There was a high demand for sculptures that led to much production and copying of past works. Portraiture and narrative relief sculptures were consistent trends that served important functions in Roman society by commemorating achievements and important figures. Early Roman portraits lacked context before the 1st century BC. Techniques included using allegories, displaying psychological aspects of subjects, and emphasizing facial details to depict personality traits like sternness. Major works included the Column of Trajan which depicted Emperor Trajan's victories in a continuous spiral relief. Spatial settings were carefully planned to clearly narrate historical events without inscriptions.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    1K views33 pages

    Roman Art PDF

    Uploaded by

    baba
    Roman sculpture had its roots in adapting Greek models. There was a high demand for sculptures that led to much production and copying of past works. Portraiture and narrative relief sculptures were consistent trends that served important functions in Roman society by commemorating achievements and important figures. Early Roman portraits lacked context before the 1st century BC. Techniques included using allegories, displaying psychological aspects of subjects, and emphasizing facial details to depict personality traits like sternness. Major works included the Column of Trajan which depicted Emperor Trajan's victories in a continuous spiral relief. Spatial settings were carefully planned to clearly narrate historical events without inscriptions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 33

    Roman Art

    ROMAN SCULPTURE

    Dispute over the authenticity of Roman style

    Adaptations of Greek models at every stage

    What was the natural trend of Roman Sculptures?


    Nature and Trends -

    A tremendous demand for sculptures caused


    a fair amount of production.

    A good deal of it was the study of antiques.

    Attributed to antiquarianism or copy of the


    sculptures of the past

    Meet with the taste of interior decoration.

    A consistent trend, of portraiture and


    narrative relief sculpture, deeply rooted to
    the Roman society.

    Both these art trends had an important


    Queen Matidia
    function in the Roman society.
    Unfortunately the first four hundred years of this Roman tradition is a closed
    book as not a single roman portrait has been found yet that can be dated
    before the first century BC.
    Tradition derived from the Greek custom of placing votive statues of athletic
    victors and other important individuals in the sanctuaries of Delphi and
    Olympia.

    Like the Hellenistic heads, Roman portraits deal with the Psychological aspects
    and display certain characteristic feature that unable us to read the mind or
    thought of the character portrayed
    Use of Allegories and symbols Augustus

    Statues of meritorious political and military leaders put on public display.


    There was a Roman custom of considerable
    antiquity; At the death of the head of the
    family, a waxen image was made of his face,
    which was then preserved in a special shrine or
    family alter. At funerals these ancestral images
    were carried in the procession. We can see the
    roots of this kind of ancestor worship in
    primitive societies.
    Emphasis on intrinsic detail.

    May strike at first glance as detailed


    record of facial topography

    The wrinkles true to life

    Displays Roman personality – stern,


    rugged, iron-willed in their devotion
    to duty

    Impressive head, a copy of the lost


    original made of wax

    Desired to duplicate wax models in


    marble considering the longevity of
    the medium

    Portrait of a Roman, 80BC


    IMPERIAL PROCESSION, 13c.BC, 63 in.
    Propagandistic tendency in art

    Objective showing the permanence of peace and order under the new dynasty

    A great concern with spatial depth.

    Softening of the relief background with partly immersed images in the stone

    Use of concrete details with each and every character identifiable as portraits
    ROMAN RELIEF SCULPTURES

    Existing practice of depicting war


    scenes and important events.

    Such artifacts are narrative in


    nature that could be in the form of
    narrative relief-sculptures, murals,
    paintings, scrolls etc that tells a
    story in a visual language.

    Possible reasons:
    •Heroic deeds to be documented
    •Public display for glorification
    •Greater awareness
    •Narration of incident
    •Instigate faith and fear
    •Inspire successive generations
    THE COLUMN OF TRAJAN 106-113A.D
    Erected to celebrate the Emperors victorious campaign against the Dacians (the
    ancient inhabitants of Romania).

    Single, freestanding columns used as commemorative monuments from the


    Hellenistic times on and their source may have been the obelisks of Egypt

    The column is considered as the most ambitious composition attempted up to that


    time in the ancient world.

    Theme: Recounting history of the Dacian war.

    The column is distinguished by:

    Its height (125 feet including the base)

    Continuous spiral band of relief each of 50 inches

    Relief band if un-winded is 656feet long

    Base serves as burial chamber of Emperor’s ashes


    THE COLUMN OF TRAJAN 106-113A.D

    Detail
    Geographic settings, the logistics of war and the political aspects receive detailed
    attention.
    Framework for this historic narrative imposed a number of difficult conditions for
    the sculptors: since there could be no clarifying inscriptions, the pictorial account
    had to be as explicit, detailed, and self sufficient as possible.
    Spatial setting of each episode worked out with great care and planning.
    Visual continuity preserved connecting the individual scenes
    Landscapes and settings look like stage sets.
    Ground on which the figures stand is tilted upwards.
    Shallow depth of carving to prevent the shadows cast by the projecting parts
    Problem of clarity and visibility from a distance resolved by removing the use of
    illusionist spatial depth
    Roman sculptors assert themselves once more, against the achievements and
    tradition of foreshortening and use of perspective space, and which was to
    become a dominant trend again in the coming centuries.

    BASE OF THE COLUMN


    Portrait of Trajan, top right and left
    A sketch of Trajan’s market in Rome, bottom left
    Emperor Philip of Arab Emperor Octavian Augustus
    Aulus Metellus
    (The Orator)

    Statue of Hercules
    Center

    Statue of Marcellus
    right
    Gordian III
    238- 244 AD
    Marble
    H 77 cm
    Hadrian
    117-138 AD
    Bronze
    H 48 cm
    Emperor Leon
    457-474 AD
    Alabaster
    H head 25 cm
    Caesar

    Fighter
    Apollo Bacchus
    2nd century AD 2nd century AD
    Gilt bronze Marble
    H 190 cm H 180 cm
    Brutus
    Chariot driver Caesar

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