Etruscan & Roman Art, 1
“The Etruscans, as everyone knows, were the
people who occupied the middle of Italy in
early Roman days and whom the Romans, in
their usual neighbourly fashion, wiped out
entirely…. They couldn't have wiped them all
out, there were too many of them. But they
did wipe out the Etruscan existence as a
nation and a people….
Now, we know nothing about the Etruscans
except what we find in their tombs. There are references to them in Latin writers. But of first-hand
knowledge we have nothing except what the tombs offer.” D.H. Lawrence, Etruscan Places, 1932
900BCE
700BCE
600BCE
Villanovan
Orientalizing
Archaic
 Etruscans
emerge as
distinct artistic
culture
 Language
written in Greek
derived script,
but unrelated to
the IndoEuropean
linguistic family
 Trade with
Mesopotamia
inspires the
incorporation
of monsters
and other
“Orientalizing”
motifs in
Etruscan
funerary goods
 bucchero
pottery (7th-5thc
BCE)
480BCE
89BCE
Classical & Hellenistic
 Apex of Etruscan
power (Etruscan
kings even ruled
Rome until 509BCE)
 Etruscans construct
temples
 Cerveteri, bury dead
in multichambered
tombs resembling
houses
 Tarquinian tombs –
fresco paintings
 Greeks defeat Etruscans off of
Cumae in 474BC, ends
Etruscan dominion over seas
 Rome destroys Veii in 396BCE
and Cerveteri in 273 BCE.
Entire Italian peninsula
Romanized by 89BCE
 Somber mood pervades
works
 Etruscan sculptors excel in
bronze casting, engraving
mirrors & cistae; and carving
stone sarcophagi
*Timeline adapted from Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, ed. Fred Kleiner.
Necropolises from 7th through 5th centuries BCE
Regolini-Galassi Tomb, Sorbo necropolis, Cerveteri, Fibula with Orientalizing Lions
Tomb of the Shields and Chairs, Banditaccia necropolis, Cerveteri
Monterozzi necropolis, Tarquinia, Tomb of the Augurs, frescoes
Tomb of Hunting & Fishing, diving & fishing fresco
Tomb of the Leopards, Banqueting Couple/Banqueters & Musicians frescoes
Cinerary urns
Sarcophagus with reclining couple
Bucchero
Etruscan temple
Apulu (Apollo)
Etruscan & Roman Art, 2
Etruscan tomb decoration from the 4th century BCE
Tomb of the Reliefs
Sarcophagus of Lars Pulena, from Tarquinia
Etruscan bronze sculpture
Capitoline Wolf (disputed date some scholars say Etruscan, some say medieval)
Chimera of Arezzo
Ficorine Cista
Aule Metele (Orator)
ANCIENT ROMAN ART
Republican Rome (509-27BCE)
Imperial Rome/Roman Empire (27BCE-476AD)
753BCE
27BCE
97CE
753 Monarchy/ Early Empire
High Empire
509 Republic
 Influence of
Hellenic &
Etruscan styles
 Republican
veristic
portraiture
 1st and 2nd
styles of
Pompeian
painting
 Augustan revival
of Classical style
in art &
architecture
 Architects master
the use of arches
and concrete.
 3rd and 4th styles
of Pomeian
painting
192CE
Late Empire
 Period of the “five good
emperors”
 Under Trajan, the Empire
reaches its greatest extent
 Hadrian, interested in all
things Greek, builds the
Pantheon and makes
beards fashionable
 Classical style no longer a
given under Antonines.
 Late antique style
takes root
 Age of Anxiety portraits of soldier
emperors reveal the
insecurity of the age
 Constantine issues the
Edict of Milan and
moves the capital to
Constantinople.
*Timeline adapted from Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, ed. Fred Kleiner.
REPUBLICAN ROMAN ART (300-27BCE)
Architecture
Temple of Portunus (aka Temple of Fortuna Virilis), Rome
Temple of Vesta (?) at Tivoli
concrete
Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste (now Palestrina, Italy)
arch
barrel vault
Sculpture
Portrait of a Roman (Head of a Roman Patrician)
Roman Patrician with Busts of his Ancestors
337CE
Etruscan & Roman Art, 3
ROMAN PAINTING (100 BCE-100 CE)
Vesuvius, 79 CE
Herculaneum
Pompeii
Roman City Planning
Roman House
atrium
impluvium
tablinium
peristyle
Roman Painting Styles
fresco
First Style (“Masonry Style”)
Samnite House, Herculaneum
Second Style (“Architectural Style”)
Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Dionysiac mystery frieze
Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor, Boscoreale, architectural view
Third Style (“Ornate Style”)
Villa of Agrippa Postumus, Boscotrecase
Fourth Style
House of Vettii, Ixion Room, Pompeii
Subject Matter in Painting
religious
Villa of Mysteries: Scenes from Dionysiac Cult
still life
Peaches and Glass, Herculaneum
House of Julia Feliz, Pompeii
landscapes
Laestrygonians Hurling Rocks at the Fleet of Odysseus (story from Homer), Rome
View of a Garden, Villa of Livia at Primaporta
old master copies
Hercules and Telephus, Herculaneum
Alexander Mosaic, House of the Faun, Pompeii floor mosaic
tesserae
portraits
Roman husband and wife
Portrait of a Man, Faiyum (Egypt under Roman rule)
encaustic
Mummy case of Artemidoros
Etruscan & Roman Art, 4
ROMAN IMPERIAL (27 BCE-330 CE)
(Early Empire)
Julio-Claudians
Augustus of Primaporta
Curiass reliefs
Pax Romana
Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace)
Commemorative architecture
Allegorical and Ornamental Panel from Ara Pacis
Procession of the imperial family, south frieze, Ara Pacis
Maison Caree, Nimes, France
Pont-du-Gard, Nimes, aqueduct
public works
arch and pier system
Domus Aurea (Golden House)
Flavians
Colosseum, Rome (use of concrete, groin vaults, applied arcade)
Portrait of Vespasian
Portrait of a Flavian woman
Arch of Titus
Spoils of Jerusalem
Triumph of Titus
(High Empire)
Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, the Antonines, Marcus Aurelius)
Roman colony- Timgad, Algeria
Plan of Forums, Rome
Column of Trajan, Victory over Dacians
Portrait bust of Hadrian
Pantheon, Rome
Apotheosis of Antoninus Pius and Faustina and Discursio
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
(Late Empire)
Severans
Portrait of Caracalla
Soldier emperors/ Age of Anxiety
Phillipus the Arab
Battle of Romans and Barbarians (Ludovisi Sarcophagus)
The Tetrarchy/ Diocletian
Four Tetrarchs
Constantine
Plotinus
Arch of Constantine, Medallions of Hadrian & Constantinian frieze
Basilica of Constantine, Rome (nave, aisles, apse, clerestory)
Colossal Statue of Constantine