Roman Art - GRP 7
Roman Art - GRP 7
Roman Art - GRP 7
ART
ROMAN ART
TOPIC OUTLINE
1 INTRODUCTION
2 ORIGIN
3 TYPES
INTRODUCTION
The first roman art can be dated back to 509 B.C.E. up until 330
C.E. It encompasses a broad spectrum of media including marble,
painting, mosaic, gems, silver and bronze work, and terracottas. A
key aspect of Roman public art was the commemoration of
important individuals, and the later Republic is a period of striking
portraits of leading Romans, partly following native veristic
traditions of portraiture and partly influenced by Hellenistic
interest in physiognomy.
ORIGIN
REPUBLICAN ROME
art was produced in the service of the state
veristic style of portrait
patrons chose to have themselves
represented with balding heads, large
noses, and extra wrinkles, demonstrating
that they had spent their lives working for
the Republic as model citizens
MARBLE BUST OF A MAN, MID 1ST
PAINTING THEATRE
SCULPTURE MUSIC
ARCHITECTURE DECORATIVE
ARTS
PAINTING
PANEL PAINTING
TRIUMPHAL PAINTING
MURAL PAINTING
PANEL PAINTING
Highest form of painting in Rome and Greece
Popular for making decorative altarpieces
It is a kind of painting that is executed in a wood or metal
VARIETY OF WOODS
METALS USED
USED
Beech, cedar, chestnut, fir, larch, Silver, tin, lead, and zinc.
linden, white poplar, mahogany,
olive, dark walnut, and teak
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINTS DOMINIC AND
AUREA, TEMPERA ON PANEL BY DUCCIO, C. 1312–15; IN
THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
LEFT: MUMMY PORTRAIT OF A MAN IN ANTIQUE TEMPERA PAINTING
MIDDLE: MUMMY PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN IN ENCAUSTIC
RIGHT: MUMMY PORTRAIT OF A BOY IN ANTIQUE COLD WAX PAINTING
TRIUMPHAL PAINTING
INCRUSTATION
ARCHITECTURAL
ORNAMENTAL
INTRICATE
INCRUSTATION
200 to 60 B.C.
Identified by colorful blocks
painted on the wall to
resemble large marble slabs.
ARCHITECTURAL
60 to 20 B.C.
This style has a distinctly
realistic feel and tends to
reflect everyday objects and
scenery as they actually
appear.
ORNAMENTAL
20 B.C to 20 A.D.
year of
79 A.D.
Consist of a variety of
architectural elements
arranged in an unrealistic
manner with an unrealistic
perspective, set against a flat
background.
SCULPTURE
THREE MAIN CATEGORIES
Portrait Busts
Historical Reliefs Funerary reliefs
and Statues
HISTORICAL RELIEFS
HISTORICAL RELIEFS
The historical relief was as
important an architectural
member in important civic and
religious structures.
Portrayed, military campaigns
and victories, processions and
sacrifices, in fine detail.
HISTORICAL RELIEFS
TRAJAN'S COLUMN
125ft Doric-style monument made of Italian white
marble
Has a spiral frieze that winds 23 times around its
shaft to commemorate the Dacian triumphs of
Emperor Trajan; reminds citizens of Trajan ’s success
Episodes on the column create a continuous
narrative
DETAIL OF
THE COLUMN
HISTORICAL RELIEFS
DETAIL OF
THE COLUMN
HISTORICAL RELIEFS
HISTORICAL RELIEFS
PORTRAIT BUSTS
AND STATUES
PORTRAIT BUSTS
AND STATUES
Mainly out of marble and bronze.
Served as a reminder of Rome’s
reach and as an important unifying
force
The traditional head-and-shoulders
bust was borrowed from Etruscan
art
PORTRAIT BUSTS AND STATUES
Statue of Augustus
Claudius As Jupiter
(Augustus of Prima Porta)
Emperor Gaius , more commonly known as Tiberius Caesar Augustus, second Roman
"Caligula (ruled 37-41 CE) emperor (ruled 14-37 CE)
PORTRAIT BUSTS AND STATUES
Head of Nero
TYPES OF WALLS
opus quadratum - stone walls were built of large squared blocks laid in regular
courses as headers and stretchers
opus incertum - the face of the concrete was studded with 3- to 4-inch irregularly
shaped pieces of stones
opus reticulatum - similar to opus incertum but the pieces of stone were
pyramid-shaped with square bases set diagonally in rows and wedged diagonally
opus testaceum - the points of triangular tiles were turned into the concrete and
their long sides were showing
TYPES OF WALLS
opus mixtum - mixed brick and stone facing
DOMES
one of the defining features of architecture of the Roman Empire
limiting the number of columns or walls needed to support the space of the roof
BASILICA OF
MAXENTIUS
The greatest of the Roman basilicas
Begun by Emperor Maxentius and finished by
Constantine in 313 AD
Built for economic and political tactic: to
demonstrate the prosperity of the Roman
empire under the reign of Emperor Maxentius
PANTHEON
A temple dedicated to the seven gods of
Ancient Rome
Built by Marcus Agrippa between 25 and 27
BC
Rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in 126 CE
The interior space is based on a perfect
sphere; the ceiling is a dome with an oculus in
the middle
FIVE ORDERS OF ROMAN
ARCHITECTURE
TOMB OF
CAECILIA METELLA
A mausoleum built during the reign of Emperor
Augustus in honor of Caecilia Metella, the
daughter of a Roman Consul
BASILICA
OF MAXENTIUS
Built for economic and political tactic: to
demonstrate the prosperity of the Roman empire
under the reign of Emperor Maxentius
ARCH OF TITUS
A Roman triumphal arch that represents the
victory of Titus and his father, Vespasian, as they
conquered the people of Jerusalem revolting
against their Roman rulers
STABIAN BATHS
The oldest baths in the city, dating back to
2nd century BC
BATHS OF
CARACALLA
A public bath house that was built around 200 AD,
during the reign of Emperor Caracalla to gain
political likeability
THEATRE
OF MARCELLUS
The oldest Roman theatre still in existence
commissioned by Julius Caesar. It is most known
for hosting the secular games of 17 BC.
COLOSSEUM
Intended for entertainment value, hosting
gladiator fights, animal fights, etc. It was built as
an effort to revitalize Rome.
PORTA NIGRA
The Black Gate is located in Trier, Germany. It was
built by the Romans in 2nd century AD as part of
the defenses of the city.
PONT DU GARD
Designed to supply running water from a spring
at Uzes to the city of Nemausus
THEATRE
ANCIENT ROMAN THEATRE
Roman plays were imitations or loose translations of Greek dramas
Due to various competitions, the theatres eventually came to an end
NATIVE TRADITIONS
Fescennine verses (fescennia locatio) - sung by masked dancers; origin may
have had a magico-religious intent
phlyax - farces adopted from Greek Middle Comedy plays; burlesques and
travesties of tragedy, mythology, and daily life
Atellan play (fabulla Atellana) - earliest native Italian farce, parody, and political
satire; featured masked stock characters
IMITATION OF GREEK MODELS
A Greek living in Rome
The first to adapt Greek plays (240 BCE),
both tragedy and comedy
Founder of Roman epic and poetry
Odyssia - his main work; a translation of
Homer's Odyssey
Livius Andronicus
The first native Italian playwright
Originator of historical plays based on
Roman historical figures and events
A competitor of Livius Andronicus
He was imprisoned due to his audacious
attempts at satire
Gnaeus Naevius
COMEDIC WRITERS
He blended the comic style of Menander
with the fabulla Atellana to produce
vigorous farces
21 out of his 130 plays had survived and
were in turn inspire the succeeding
playwrights
Plautus
Terence
TRAGEDY WRITERS
His epic Annales was the national epic
until Virgil's Aenid
He excelled in tragedy - titles survive of
20 tragedies adapted from the Greek
He heightened the rhetorical element
and pathetic appeal
Ennius
Seneca
MIME AND PANTOMIME
Derived from Greek mime traditions
Characterized by great diversity
Featured dialogue, acrobatic, songs, and
slapstic routines
Used to ridicule the Christian faith on
stage
Mime
A kind of burlesque ballet
The actor used gesture and dance to
portray various characters in a
succession of masks
Particular emphasis was placed on the
story's erotic element
Pantomime
MUSIC
The Romans adapted their music from Greek principles
The musical culture of the eastern Mediterranean was inevitably altered by local
tastes and traditions.
The diatonic scale became the standard, displacing the Grecian chromatic and
enharmonic structures
MUSICAL HERITAGE FROM
ANCIENT EAST TO ROME
acoustical theory
concept of tonal organization
principles of rhythmic organization
basic principles of instrument construction
system of notation
large repertory of melodies
INSTRUMENTS
Roman instruments include pan flutes, straight trumpets, wooden flutes,
cane reed instruments, finger symbols, skin drums, bagpipe-like
instrument, lyres, shepherd pipes, and the buccina.
shell trumpets, bone flutes, bronze horns - musical instruments found at
Pompeii
Old Roman chants survive in writing from the 11th century and onwards
ten-string lyre, pan pipes, flute, drums, and cymbals - used in cults and
Roman religion
pipes and flutes - used during festivals and holy days to celebrate
INSTRUMENTS
trumpets, cornets, and buccina - used in Roman legion music
trumpet - sounds the charge and the retreat; serve when the soldiers are
ordered out to any work without the colors; directs the motions of the
soldiers on working parties and on field days
cornets - used to regulate the motions of the colors
trumpet and cornet together - time of action
classicum - a particular sound of the buccina, is appropriated to the
commander-in-chief; used in the presence of the general or at the
execution of a soldier
Unfortunately, no one knows what the music in Ancient Rome sounded like.
However, efforts have been made to recreate their music based on the
archaeological remains of instruments, as well as the references in historical texts
and depictions in frescoes, mosaics, and sculptures.
DECORATIVE ART
Jewelry
OVERVIEW
MEN
Wore less jewelry than women
Finger rings and fibulae are common forms of jewelry worn by men.
They also wear bracelets, pendants, and torcs.
WOMEN
Collected and wore more jewelry than men.
Usually they had pierced ears, in which they would wear one set of
earrings.
They also wear necklaces, bracelets, rings, and fibula (brooch or pin for
fastening garments).
E
C
K
L
A
Necklace. Gold and Glass Paste, C
Roman Artwork, 6th–5th Centuries
BC. From a Sarcophagus in Fidene, E
Italy.
EARRINGS
Gallo-Roman Emerald
Earrings of Gold Wire
Mortarium
One of a class of Ancient Roman pottery
kitchen vessels
They are "hemispherical or conical bowls,
commonly with heavy flanges", and with
coarse sand or grit embedded into the
internal surface.
Used for pounding or mixing foods and are
an important indicator of the spread of
Romanized food preparation methods.
Amphora
a type of container with a
pointed bottom