Art History-Ancient Roman art.pdf

Ancient Roman Art

1. ART HISTORY
(ANCIENT ROMAN ART)
Asst. Prof. Crisencio M. Paner, LPT, MSc.

2. Ancient Roman Art
◦Ancient Roman art is a very broad topic, spanning almost 1,000
years and three continents, from Europe into Africa and Asia.
◦The first Roman art can be dated back to 509 B.C.E., with the
legendary founding of the Roman Republic, and lasted until 330
C.E. (or much longer, if you include Byzantine art).
◦The art ofAncient Rome, itsRepublicand
laterempireincludesarchitecture,painting,sculptureand
mosaic work.
◦Sculpturewas perhaps considered as the highest form of art by
Romans, but figure painting was also highly regarded.
Augustus of Prima Porta, statue of the
emperorAugustus, 1st century
AD,Vatican Museums

3. Ancient Roman Art
◦Ancient Roman potterywas not a luxury product, but a vast
production of "fine wares" interra sigillatawere decorated with
reliefs that reflected the latest taste, and provided a large group in
society with stylish objects at what was evidently an affordable
price.
◦Roman coinswere an important means of propaganda, and have
survived in enormous numbers.
◦Luxury objects inmetal-work,gem engraving,ivory carvings,
andglassare sometimes considered to be minor forms of Roman
art.
Roman red glossterra sigillatabowl
with relief decoration.

4. Ancient Roman Art
(Painting)
◦Of the vast body of Roman painting we now have only a very few
pockets of survivals.
◦The best known and most important pocket is the wall paintings
fromPompeii,Herculaneumand other sites nearby, which show
how residents of a wealthy seaside resort decorated their walls in
the century or so before the fatal eruption ofMount Vesuviusin
79AD.
◦Roman painting provides a wide variety of themes: animals, still
life, scenes from everyday life, portraits, and some mythological
subjects
HeraclesandOmphale, Roman
frescoPompeian Fourth Style(45-
79AD),Naples National Archaeological
Museum, Italy

5. Ancient Roman Art
(Painting)
Fresco from theVilla of the
Mysteries.Pompeii, 80 BC
A Roman fresco depictingAmphion and
ZethussubjectDirceto the bull (from
theHouse of the Vettii,Pompeii)
Female painter sitting on a campstool and
painting a statue ofDionysusorPriapusonto a
panel which is held by a boy. Fresco
fromPompeii, 1st century

6. Ancient Roman Art
(Painting)
◦Romanstill lifesubjects are often placed in illusionist niches or
shelves and depict a variety of everyday objects including fruit, live
and dead animals, seafood, and shells.
◦Examples of the theme of the glass jar filled with water were
skillfully painted and later served as models for the same subject
often painted during theRenaissanceandBaroqueperiods.
◦The portraits were attached to burial mummies at the face, from
which almost all have now been detached.
◦They usually depict a single person, showing the head, or head
and upper chest, viewed frontally.
◦The background is always monochrome, sometimes with
decorative elements
Fayum mummy portraitof a woman
fromRoman Egyptwith a ringlet
hairstyle.Royal Museum of Scotland.

7. Ancient Roman Art
(Painting)
◦Gold glass, or gold sandwich glass, was a
technique for fixing a layer ofgold leafwith a
design between two fused layers of glass,
developed inHellenistic glassand revived in the
3rd century AD.
Detail of thegold glassmedallion inBrescia(Museo di
Santa Giulia), most likelyAlexandrian, 3rd century AD

8. Ancient Roman Art
(Painting)
Roman fresco from theVilla Boscoreale,
43–30 BC,Metropolitan Museum of Art
Roman fresco with a banquet scene from the Casa dei
Casti Amanti,Pompeii

9. Ancient Roman Art
(Sculpture)
◦Roman sculpturemay be divided into four main categories: historical reliefs; portrait
busts and statues, includingequestrian statues; funerary reliefs, sarcophagi or tomb
sculpture; and copies of ancient Greek works.
◦Like architecture, a good deal of Roman sculpture was created to serve a purpose:
namely, to impress the public -be they Roman citizens or 'barbarians' -and
communicate the power and majesty of Rome.
◦In its important works, at least, there was a constant expression of seriousness, with
none of the Greek conceptualism or introspection.
◦The mood, pose and facial features of the Roman statue of an Emperor, for instance, was
typically solemn and unsmiling.
Detail from theAhenobarbusreliefshowing
twoRoman soldiers, c. 122 BC

10. Ancient Roman Art
(Sculpture)
Section ofTrajan's Column, 113 AD, with scenes from
theDacian Wars
Arch of Constantine, 315:Hadrianlion-hunting (left) and
sacrificing (right), above a section of the Constantinian
frieze, showing the contrast of styles.

11. Ancient Roman Art
(Sculpture)
The "Capitoline Brutus", dated to
the 4th to 3rd centuries BC
Augustus of Prima Porta, statue of
the emperorAugustus, 1st century
AD,Vatican Museums
The Four Tetrarchs, c. 305, showing the
new anti-classical style, inporphyry,
nowSan Marco, Venice

12. Ancient Roman Art
(pottery,terracottas,glass, & mosaic)
◦Roman art did not use vase-painting in the way of the ancient Greeks, but vessels inAncient Roman
potterywere often stylishly decorated in mouldedrelief.
The BlacasCameo of
Augustus, from his last
years or soon after
VariousRoman
glasswareson display at
theMetropolitan Museum of
Art

13. Ancient Roman Art
(mosaic)
Roman mosaicof female athletes playing ball at theVilla
Romana del CasaleofPiazza Armerina,Roman Sicily,
4th century AD
Romanmosaicof a gypsy girl, 2nd century CE?,
Gaziantep Zeugma,Turkey.

14. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
◦It was in the area of architecture that Roman art
produced its greatest innovations. Because the
Roman Empire extended over so great of an area
and included so many urbanized areas,
◦Roman engineers developed methods for city
building on a grand scale, including the use
ofconcrete.
◦The concrete core was covered with a plaster, brick,
stone, or marble veneer, and decorative polychrome
and gold-gilded sculpture was often added to
produce a dazzling effect of power and wealth.
Aqueduct of Segovia.

15. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
◦It was during the age of Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE)
and Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE) that Rome
reached the zenith of its architectural glory, attained
through numerous building programs of monuments,
baths, aqueducts, palaces, temples and mausoleums.
◦Many of the buildings from this era and later, served
as models for architects of theItalian Renaissance,
such asFilippo Brunelleschi(1377-1446) designer of
the iconic dome of the cathedral in Florence, and
bothDonato Bramante(1444-1514)
andMichelangelo(1475-1564), designers of St Peter's
Basilica.
Dating back to Etruscan times, this was the
main Roman chariot racing venue in Rome,
Italy. Measuring roughly 2,000 feet in length
(610 metres) and 400 feet in width (120
metres), it was rebuilt in the age of Julius
Caesar to seat an estimated 150,000
spectators, and again during the reign of
Constantine to seat about 250,000. It is now
a park.

16. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
Circus Maximus today

17. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
◦Colosseum(72-80 CE).
◦Built in the center of Rome by Vespasian to
appease the masses, this elliptical
amphitheater was named after a colossal
statue of Nero that stood nearby.
◦Built to seat some 50,000 spectators, its
intricate design, along with its model system
of tiered seating and spacious passageways,
makes it one of the greatest works of Roman
architecture.

18. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
◦The Arch of Titus(c.81 CE)
◦The oldest surviving Roman triumphal arch,
it was built after the young Emperor's death
to celebrate his suppression of the Jewish
uprising in Judea, in 70 CE.
◦Standing on the Via Sacra, south-east of
the Roman Forum, the Arch of Titus was the
model for Napoleon'sArc de Triomphein
Paris (1806-36).
The Arch of Titus

19. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
◦Pantheon(c.125 CE)
◦Built by Marcus Agrippa as a temple dedicated
to the seven gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt
by Hadrian in 126 CE, the Pantheon is a daring
early instance of concrete construction.
◦The interior space is based on a perfect
sphere, and its coffered ceiling remains the
largest non-reinforced concrete dome in the
world.
◦In the middle of its dome an oculus lets in a
beam of light.

20. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
Pantheon, Rome, Italy

21. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
◦The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome
dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great.
◦The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate
to commemorate Constantine's victory over
Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312.
The Arch of Constantine, Rome, Italy.

22. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
St. Peter square, Vatican

23. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)

24. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)

25. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)

26. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
Gates of Paradise, Ghiberti,
St. John Baptistry, Florence,
Italy
Statue of David by
Michelangelo, Florence, Italy

27. Ancient Roman Art
(Architecture)
My school, Istitutoper Il Restauri, Rome My Italian Professors

28. Videos
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKKMCcaoUkc&list=RDLV46ZXl -V4qwY&index=19
◦Rome: Ancient Glory
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XxA4CX_Ip8&list=RDLV46ZXl -V4qwY&index=20
◦What Did Ancient Rome Look Like? (Cinematic Animation)
◦https://www.artic.edu/highlights/19/ancient-roman-art
◦Ancient Roman Art
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6wnyjCmOHk
◦Roman Art
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM2D7iJHWXQ
◦Roman Art History from Goodbye-Art Academy
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoEpNjgKzg
◦Ancient Rome 101 | National Geographic
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ZXl-V4qwY
◦Ancient Rome in 20 minutes
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ2NWXp-1Y4&list=RDLV46ZXl-V4qwY&index=6
◦Virtual Rome: What Did Ancient Rome Look Like?+
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW8ED1Y_Emc
◦Ancient Treasures of the Vatican Museums+
◦https://cmpaner.blogspot.com/2010/07/witnessing-glory-of-italy-in-its-art_07.html
◦My article written when I was in Rome, Italy+
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xfBU -dy2dM
◦Ancient Roman Fresco Painting
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELYoWlozNcc
◦Roman wall paintings styles

29. Videos
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA -m0IjYPn4&list=RDLV46ZXl-V4qwY&index=5
◦What If You Lived in Ancient Rome?
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3FFDPdLVNw&list=RDLV46ZXl -V4qwY&index=10
◦The Roman Empire Explained in 12 Minutes
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoi7KzsAUuw&list=RDLV46ZXl -V4qwY&index=15
◦What Being a Spectator at the Rome Colosseum Was Like
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJz15Y6hKMM&list=RDLV46ZXl -V4qwY&index=16
◦The Fall of Rome Explained In 13 Minutes
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCXA0bok9 -E&list=RDLV46ZXl-V4qwY&index=18
◦How was Rome founded? -History of the Roman Empire -Part 1
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEqs69GESto&list=RDLV46ZXl-V4qwY&index=21
◦What Normal Life Was Like In Ancient Rome | Meet The Romans | Timeline
◦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOmB3QohaPA
◦Pompeiian Sexuality | National Geographic