Roman Art

1. Roman Art Founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus 753 BCE Roman Republic 509-27 BCE Early Roman Empire 27 BCE-192 Late Roman Empire 192-410

2. Key Ideas • Roman art reflects the ambitions of a powerful empire – monumental buildings and sculptures were built to the glory of the gods and the state • Roman architecture is revolutionary in its understanding of the powers of the arch, the vault and concrete • A history of Roman painting survives on the walls of Pompeiian villas • Romans show an interest in the basic elements of perspective and foreshortening. • Roman sculpture is greatly indebted to Greek models.

3. Historical Background • From hillside village to world power, Rome rose to glory by diplomacy and military might. The effects of Roman civilization are still felt today in the fields of law, literature and the fine arts

4. Historical Background Continued • The legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, established a civilization that was at first ruled by kings – who were soon enough overthrown and replaced by a Senate. The Romans then established a democracy of a sort, with magistrates ruling the country in concert with the Senate, an elected body of privileged Roman men. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jToagTve4hs

5. Historical Background Continued • Variously well-executed wars increased Rome’s fortunes and boundaries. In 211 BCE, the Greek colony of Syracuse in Sicily was annexed. This was followed, in 146 BCE, by the absorption of Greece. The Romans valued Greek cultural riches and a general movement took hold to reproduce Greek art by establishing workshops that did little more than make copies of Greek sculpture.

6. Historical Background Continued • Civil war in the late Republic caused power vacuum that was filled by Octavian, later called Augustus Caesar, who became emperor in 27 BCE. From that time, Rome was ruled by a series of emperors as it expanded to faraway Mesopotamia and then retracted to shadow of itself when is was sacked in 410 CE.

7. Historical Background Continued • The single most recognizable archaeological site in the Roman world is the city of Pompeii, which was buried by volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. In 1748, systematic excavation – actually more like fortune hunting – was begun. Because of Pompeii, we know more about daily life in ancient Rome than we know about any other civilization in history.

8. Patronage and Artistic Life • The Roman state and its wealthiest individuals were the major patrons of the arts. They could be known to spend lavishly on themselves and their homes, but they also felt a dedication to the general good and generously patronized public projects as well. Artists, considered low members of the social scale, were treated poorly.

9. Innovations in Roman Architecture • The Romans were master builders. Improving upon nascent architectural techniques, they forged great roads and massive aqueducts as an efficient way of connecting their empire and making cities livable. Their temples were hymns to the gods and symbols of civic pride. Their arenas awed spectators both by their size and their engineering genius.

10. Innovations in Roman Architecture • The Romans understood the possibilities of the arch, an architectural device known before but little used. Because arches could span huge spaces, they do not need the constant support of the post-and-lintel system. Each wedge-shaped stone of a Roman arch is smaller at the bottom and wider at the top. This seemingly simple development allowed a stable arch to stand indefinitely because the wider top could not pass through the narrower bottom. Mortar is not needed because the shape of the arch does all the work.

11. Innovations in Roman Architecture • Roman architects understood that arches could be extended in space and form a continuous tunnel like construction called a barrel vault. When two barrel vaults intersect, a larger, more open space is formed, called a groin vault. The latter is particularly important because the groin vault could be supported with only four corner piers, rather than requiring a continuous wall space that a barrel vault needed. The spaces between the arches on the piers are called spandrels.

12. Innovations in Roman Architecture • Arches and vaults made enormous buildings possible, like the Pont du Guard and the Coliseum, and they also made feasible vast interior spaces like the Pantheon. Concrete walls are very heavy. To prevent the weight from cracking the walls beneath them, coffers were carved into ceilings to lighten the load

13. Innovations in Roman Architecture • Romans used concrete in constructing many of their oversized buildings. Although not their invention, once again they made this technique workable, using it initially as filler in buildings and then as the main support element. Romans thought that concrete was ugly and its aesthetics seemed displeasing, so although its flexibility and low cost were desirable, all concrete buildings were cloaked with another material, like marble, which appeared more attractive to their eye.

14. Characteristics of Roman Architecture • Much is known about Roman domestic architecture, principally because of what has been excavated at Pompeii. The exteriors of Roman houses had few windows, keeping the world at bay. The single entrance was usually flanked by stores that faced the street. Stepping through the doorway one enters an open-air courtyard called an atrium, which had an impluvium to capture rainwater. Private bedrooms, called cubicula, radiated around the atrium. The atrium provided the only light and air to these windowless, but beautifully decorated, room.

15. Characteristics of Roman Architecture • The Romans placed their studies and dining rooms deeper into the house. Eventually another atrium, perhaps held up by columns called a peristyle, provided access to a garden flanked by more cubicula.

16. Innovations in Roman Sculpture • The Romans erected commemorative arches to celebrate military victories. After the arch was constructed, sculpture was applied to the surface to animate the architecture as well as to recount the story of Roman victories. A combination of painted relief and free-standing works was integrated into a coherent didactic program. Later arches, such as the Arch of Constantine, used works from contemporary artists, as well as sculptures removed from the arches of previous emperors, some two hundred years older. In this way the glory of the past was linked to the accomplishments of the present.

17. Innovations in Roman Sculpture • Another Roman innovation was the hollowed-out column with banded narrative relief sculptures spiraling around the exterior. The first, the Column of Trajan, had an entrance at the base, from which the visitor could ascend a spiral staircase and emerge onto a porch, where Trajan's architectural accomplishments would be revealed in all their glory. A statue of the emperor, which no longer exists, crowned the ensemble. The banded reliefs tell the story of Trajan's conquest of the Dacians. The spiraling turn of the narratives made the story difficult to read. Scholars have suggested a number of theories that would have made the Column, and works like it, legible to the viewer.

18. The Forum • The center of the Roman business world was the forum, a large public square framed by the principal civic buildings. The gods needed to be worshipped and appeased; therefore, the focus of all for a was the temple dedicated to the locally administrative builodings dealing with life’s everyday essentials.

19. Market of Trajan • Market of Trajan, 100 -112 CE, Rome • Original Market mall • Multilevel mall • Semicircular building held several levels of shops • Main space groin-vaulted; barrel-vaulted shops

20. Characteristics of Roman Architecture • Although the Romans sometimes used Greek and Etruscan columns in their architecture, they were just as likely to use adapted forms that were inspired by their earlier counterparts. Composite columns had a mix of Ionic and Corinthian motifs in the capitals. Tuscan columns were unfluted with severe Doric-style capitals. Both columns were raised on large pedestals to diminish the size of the viewer by increasing their sense of awe.

21. Characteristics of Roman Architecture • Greek architecture remained a strong influence throughout Roman history. It was common for Roman temples to be fronted by Greek porches of columns and pediments, as in the Pantheon, even if the core of the building was completely Roman with its yawning domed interior. When Greek buildings were more faithfully copied, as in the MaisonCarree, there were still Roman adaptations. For example, the entrance was indicated by a flight of stairs. The walls of the cella were pushed out to meet the engaged columns, creating a larger interior.

22. MaisonCarree • MaisonCarree, 1 CE, Nimes France • Corinthian capitals • Set on a high podium • Front entrance emphasized • Walls of cella pushed out to meet the engaged columns, interior expanded to the maximum size allowed beyond the porch • Used as a model for the Jefferson’s State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia

23. House of the Vettii • House of the Vettii, second sentury BCE – first century CE, Pompeii, Italy • Narrow entrance sandwiched between several shops • Large reception area, called the atrium, that is open to the sky and has a catch basin called an impluvium in the center; cubicula radieate around the atrium • Peristyle garden in rear, with fountain, statuary and more cubicula; this is the private area of the house • Axial symmetry of house; someone entering the house can see all the way throught to the peristyle garden in the rear • Exterior of house lacks windows; interior lighting comes from the atrium and the peristyle

24. Pont du Gard • Ashlar masonry • Aqueduct meant to bring water to the city of Nimes; Roman cities had large populations because of the Romans ability to bring water to city centers • Heavy, squat arches on bottom level; thinner arches on second level; lighter rhythm of smaller arches on top level, which carries the water of the aqueduct

25. Colosseum • The Coloseum, 72 – 80 CE, Rome • Real name is the Flavian Amphitheatre • Accommodated 50,000 spectators • Concrete core, brick casing, travertine facing • 76 entrances and exits circle the façade • Interplay of barrel vaults, groin vaults, arches • Meant for wild and dangerous spectacles – gladiator combat, animal hunts, naval battles – but not, as tradition suggests, religious persecution • Façade has engaged columns: first story Tuscan, second floor Ionic, third floor Corinthian, top flattened Corinthian; each thought of as lighter than the order below

26. Pantheon • Pantheon, 118 – 125 CE, Rome • Dedicated to all the gods • Inscription: “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, having been consul three times, built it” • Corinthian capital porch in from of building • Façade has two pediments, one deeply recessed behind the other • Interior contains slightly convex floor for water drainage • Square panels in floor and in coffers contrast with roundness of walls • Coffers may have been filled with rosette designs to stimulate stars

27. Pantheon • Cupola walls are enormously thick; 20 feet at base • Oculus 27 feet across: allows for sunlight and air; acts as a moving spotlight across the interior • Height of building equals its width; building basked on the circle, a hemisphere • Walls have seven niches for statues of the gods • Thickness of walled thinned at top, coffers take some weight pressure off walls • Triumph of concrete construction • Was brilliantly decorated • Originally had a large atrium before it; originally built on a high podium; modern Rome has risen up to it

28. Pantheon Interior

29. Hadrian’s Villa • Huge complex for the delight of Emperor Hadrian • Highest quality workmanship lavished on the mosaics, murals, and architectural settings • Canopus: colonnade with a cornice connecting the tops of columns; alternating rounded with flattened lines; sculpture placed inside the rounded arches

30. Hadrian’s Villa

31. Arch of Constantine • Arch of Contantine, 312-315, Rome, Italy • Built to commermorate Constantine’s victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 • Friezes and sculpture taken from monuments to older emperors; Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius; Constantine draws a parallel between their accomplishments and his • New friezes are done in situ • Renunciation of the classical ideal in contemporary sculpture; heads are larger than bodies; squat figures; lack of space; eyes are larger; frontal state; mechanical and repeated stances and gestures; shallow relief; heads not distinguished from one another • Placed at this location so that the central arch would, at a distance, frame a 100-foot-tall statue of the Sun god, sol

32. Aula Palatina • Aula Palatina, early fourth century CE, Trier, Germany • Solid brick; plain audience hall once covered with marble on the interior • Semicircular triumphal arch is apse • Basilican architectural plan inspired Christian churches on the Middle Ages • Hall is heated by hypocausts, a space under the floor that retained heat from a furnace • Exterior: buttresses arch as two-story arches embraced windows • Large windows used lead to bind glass panes together

33. Augustus of Primaporta

35. Augustus of Primaporta • Idealized view of Roman emperor, no individualized approach • Contrapposto (very similar to the Spear Bearer) • Confusion between God and man intentional • On his breastplate there are a number of gods participating in the return of Roman standards from the Parthians • Breastplate indicates he is a warrior; judge’s robes show him as a civic ruler • Back not carved, to be placed against a wall • Characteristic of Augustus is the part in the hair over the left eye, and two locks over the right • May have carried a sword, pointing down, in his left hand • Right hand in Roman orator pose, perhaps held laurel branches • At base: Cupid on the back of a dolphin – a reference of Augustus’s divine descent from Venus

36. Augustus of Primaporta • Caesar’s grandnephew Augustus • Says he’s re-establishing the senate but uses this notion to restore control of the senate. • More about what he want to be portrayed to the public; very stoic and godlike • Represents both the warrior and the civic side of government • Cupid is to say Augustus he is divine • Breastplate: God of the sky and the God of the Earth. Roman’s reclaim their standards from the Parthians

37. Republican Sculpture • Republican busts of noblemen called veristic sculptures, are strikingly and unflatteringly realistic, with the age of the sitter seemingly enhanced. This may have been a form of idealization: Republicans valued virtues such as wisdom, determination, and experience, which these works seem to possess.

38. Republican Sculpture • Republican full-length statues concentrate on the heads, some of which are removed from one work and placed on another. The bodies were occasionally classically, idealized, symbolizing valor and strength. The Romans had great respect for ancestors: Figures can sometimes be seen holding busts of their ancestors in their hands as a sign of their patrician heritage.

39. Early Imperial Sculpture • While busts of senators conveyed the gruff virtues of Republican Rome, emperors, whose divinity descended from the gods themselves, were portrayed differently. Here, inspiration came from Classical Greece, and Roman sculptors adopted the contrapposto, ideal proportions, and heroic poses of Greek statuary. Forms became less individualized, iconography more associated with the divine.

40. Late Imperial Sculpture • At the end of the Early Imperial period, a stylistic shift begins to take place that transitions into the Late Imperial style. Perhaps reflecting the dissolution and anarchy of the Roman state, the classical tradition, so willingly embraced by previous emperors, is slowly abandoned by Late Imperial artists. Compositions are marked by figures that lack individuality and are crowded tightly together. Everything is pushed forward on the picture plane, as depth and recession were rejected along with the classicism they symbolize. Proportions are truncated -- contrapposto ignored; bodies are almost lifeless behind masking drapery. Emperors are increasingly represented as military figures rather than civilian rulers.

41. Innovations in Roman Painting • Interior wall paintings, created to liven up windowless Roman cubicula, were frescoed with mythological scenes, landscapes, and city plazas. Mosaics were favorite floor decorations – stone kept feet cool in summer. Encaustics from Egypt provided lively individual portraits of the deceased.

42. Innovations in Roman Painting • Murals were painted with some knowledge of linear perspective – spatial relationships in landscape paintings appeared somewhat consistent. Orthagonals recede to various vanishing points in the distance. Sometimes, to present an object in the far distance, an artist used atmospheric perspective, a technique that employs cool pastel colors to create the illusion of deep recession. Figures were painted in foreshortening, where they are seen at an oblique angle and seem to recede into space.

43. Characteristics of Roman Painting • Much of the surviving wall paintings come from Pompeii • First Pompeian Style is characterized by painted rectangular squares meant to resemble marble facing • Second Pompeian Style had large mythological scenes and/or landscapes dominating the wall surface. Painted stucco decoration of the First Style appears beneath in horizontal bands. The Villa of Mysteries frescoes are in the Second Style.

44. Characteristics of Roman Painting • Third Pompeian Style is characterized by small scenes set in a field of color and framed by delicate columns of tracery. • Fourth Pompeian Style combined elements from the previous three; The painted marble of the First Style is at the base, the large scenes of the Second Style and the delicate small scenes of the Third Style are intricately interwoven. The Still Life with Peaches and the Ixion Room are from the Fourth Style.

45. Still Life with Peaches • Arrangement of peaches, stem, and half-filled pitcher of water • Concentration on the different textures of the surfaces, roundness of the peaches, and the pitcher • Reflective surface of the glass emphasized • Compositions emphasizes curves and arcs • Delight in showing how light plays on a given surface

46. Dionysiac Mystery Frieze • Dionysiac Mystery Frieze, 60 – 50 BCE, fresco, Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii • Cycle is in one room of a ninety-room mansion at Pompeii • Scholarly debate over the exact meaning of the frescoes; perhaps shows the initiation rites of a novice into the cult of Dionysus • In center is god Dionysus, drunk, in the lap of his wife • Figures act out rituals and rites on a very narrow green stage before Pompeian red walls that propel them close to the picture plane • Figures modeled convincingly; contrapposto

47. Ixion Room • Ixion Room, 70 CE, fresco, Pompeii • Painting set in fields of red and white • Mythological panels are red and floating couples of satyrs and personifications of the seasons are white • Interspace: paintings of window openings, views of architecture behind; vistas of each scene unrelated to on another • Paintings of sea battles below framed pictures • Ixion: murdered his father-in-law and planed to seduce Hera; prevented by Zeus, who created a cloud in the shape of Hera, which Ixion made love to; Ixion then fathered a race of centaurs; Zeus ordered Hermes to tie him to a ceaselessly revolving wheel in hell