Sana Siddiqi

Professor Backer

ARTS 1303-5001

19, February 2025

Ancient Roman art, an introduction

Roman art: When and where

● Roman art spans across 1000 years and three continents.

● First Roman art can be dated back to 509 B.C.E. or much longer if including Byzantine

art.

● Ancient Rome was a melting pot of cultures so it's often to Greek, Etruscan, Egyptian,

and other Mediterranean influences in their art.

● Greek art had the most powerful influence on Roman artistic practices.

○ Roman porter Horace said..

○ “Greece, the captive, took her savage victor captive,” meaning Rome (though it

conquered Greece) adapted much of Greece’s cultural and artistic heritage.

○ Romans had artists commission their version of Greek artworks.

■ Did they copy directly? I don't think so, I think they took inspiration or at

least changed things because even though Roman art was heavily

influenced by other cultures, it was distinct.

● Romans didn't believe, like we do today, that to have a copy of an artwork was of any

less value that to have the original.

○ Copies were often variations with small changes

Republican Rome
● Mythic founding of the Roman Republic was supposed to have happened in 509 B.C.E.

after the last Etrsucan king was overthrown.

○ Last Roman Etruscan king: Tarquinius Superbus

● During the Republican period..

○ Romans governed by annually elected magistrates

○ Two consuls being the most important among them

○ Senate, which was the ruling body of the state

■ Did the U.S. government system take inspiration from them?

○ Eventually the system broke down and civil wars started.

■ Civil wars lasted from 100-42 B.C.E.

■ Wars brought to an end when Octavian (Augusuts) defeated Mark Antony

in the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.E.

● Could this be possible foreshadowing for the United States..?

● Art in this time period was produced in the service of the state

○ Depicted public sacrificed

○ Celebrating victorious military campaigns like the Monument of Aemilius Paullus

at Delphi.

○ Etc..

● Communal goals of Republic

○ Hard work

○ Age

○ Wisdom

○ Being a community leader and soldier

○ Balding heads

○ Large noses

○ Extra wrinkles

■ Demonstrates that they had spent their lives working for the Republic and

its citizens. This style, at the time, flaunted their wisdom at each furrow at

the brow.

■ Called portrait style versitic

● Refers to hyper-naturalistic features that emphasize every flaw to

create a sense of personality and essence within the depicted

individual.

Imperial Rome

● Augustus' rise to power signaled the end of the Roman Republic and its imperial rule.

● Major periods in Imperial Roman that are named after rulers or major dynasties..

○ Augustan (27 B.C.E.–14 C.E.)

○ Julio-Claudian (14–68 C.E.)

○ Flavian (69–98 C.E.)

○ Trajanic (98–117 C.E.)

○ Hadrianic (117–38 C.E.)

○ Antonine (138–93 C.E.)

○ Severan (193–235 C.E.)

○ Soldier Emperor (235–84 C.E.)

○ Tetrarchic (284–312 C.E.)

● Imperial art = “Classical,” “Classicizing”

○ In Roman art reference it refers to the influences of Greek art from the Hellenistic

periods (480-31 B.C.E.).

○ Uses smooth lines, elegant drapery, idealized nude bodies, highly naturalistic

forms and balanced proportions that the Greeks had perfected over time.

● Augustus and the Julio-Claudian dynasty were particularly fond of adapting classical

elements in their art.

○ Augustus of Primaporta was made at the end of Augustus' life yet he was

represented as a youth athlete.

○ Emperor Hadrian, known as Philhellene, or lover of all things began the trend of

“philosophers beard” in his official portraiture which was unheard of at the time.

○ Decor at the Villa at Tivoli included mosaic copies of famous Greek paintings.

● Later, imperial art moved on from the classical influence and to the art of Late Antiquity.

● Characters of this art period included..

○ Frontality

○ Stiffness of pose and drapery

○ Deeply drilled lines

○ Less naturalism

○ Squat proportions

○ Lack of individualism

● Constantinian art continued to integrate elements of late Antiquity that had been

introduced in the Severan period.

● We don't know because of the lack of documentaries.

● We have evidence of little attention to contemporary artists and focus more on the Greek

artists of the past.

What did they make?

● Elite Romans provided for owners to display wealth, taste, and education to visitors,

dependents, and clients.

● Since Roman homes were regularly visited, art was very important to them as it displayed

their social status in society.

● Erudite patrons steeped in culture.

● Romans died and left behind imagery that identified them as individuals.

● Funerary imagery emphasized unique physical traits or trade, partners or favored deities.

○ Spans across several media in all periods and regions

■ Included portrait busts

■ Wall relief set into working-class groups tombs

■ Elite decorated tombs

■ Fayum portraits were placed on mummies and sarcophagi because death

touched all levels of society.

● Funerary art recorded the diverse experience of the various people who lived in the

Roman empire.
● Public sphere is filled with work commissioned by the emperor and commemorative

works like the triumphal arches and columns that served didactic as well as a celebratory

function.

● Depicted emperors success and failures (depending on what region you overtook or were

overtaken by)

● Religious art was also included such as statues of the gods and Christianity related

statues.