AP ART HISTORY: SHMERYKOWSY
ROMAN ART: SCULPTURE
SOME BACKGROUND
 Roman art refers to the visual arts made in Ancient Rome and in the territories of the Roman Empire.
 Roman art includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work.
 Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass, are sometimes considered in modern
terms to be minor forms of Roman art.
 Sculpture was perhaps considered as the highest form of art by Romans, but figure painting was also very
highly regarded. The two forms have had very contrasting rates of survival, with a very large body of sculpture
surviving from about the 1st century BC onwards, though very little from before.
 Ancient Roman pottery was not a luxury product, but a vast production of "fine wares" in terra sigillata
(pottery technique) were 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 coins were an important means of propaganda, and have survived in enormous numbers. Other
perishable forms of art have not survived at all.
DEATH MASK: wax or plaster cast of persons same after death
VERISM: ‘taste for realism”
“PORTRAIT OF AN OLD MAN”
 80BCE/ Marble
 Naturalism/ Verism
 ‘Map of life”
“PORTRAIT BUST OF A MAN”
 First century BCE/ Marble
 Republic Era
“AUGUSTUS OF PRIMAPORTA”
 20BCE/ marble
 Perhaps a copy of a bronze
 Originally painted
 Slightly idealized
 Compare to POLYKINOS “SPHERE BEARER”
 Sophisticated combination of GREEK IDEALISM and ROMAN DIVERSITY
 148 replicas
 Orator gesture
 Baby cupid by feet (son of Venus)
 Traces family to Aeneos
 Cuirass= torso armor
 Bare feet= divine status
 Apotheosis= after death
 CHEST PLATE:
o Added onto marble copies
o Depicting scenes of Roman victory over the Parathions
o Commissioned by Tiberius (Augustus adopted son)
‘REPUBLICAN WITH BUSTS OF ANCESTORS”
 80BCE Greco/Roman style
 5’ 5” marble (copy of an earlier one)
 Honor portraits of sprit
 When family passes, carry their portraits in a procession
 Carried at funerary events
“LIVIA”
 20BCE Augusta (wife of Caesar Augustus)
 Strong and resourceful woman
 Promoter of laws
“YOUNG FLAVIAN WOMAN”
 90CE/ marble
 Typical hairstyle/ basket weave braids
 Chisel and drill work
 Chiaroscuro= contrast of light and shade for artistic effect
EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF MARCUS AURELIUS
 Imperial Era
 Casted Bronze
 Originally gilded
 170-176CE
 11’6”
 In front of piazza front of the palace and church of St. John (1187-1538CE)
 Slightly idealized
 Horse= military side
 Himself= represents peace and prosperity
‘COMMODUS HERCULES & THE INCARNATION OF THE GOD JUPITER’
 191-192 CE Marble
 Considered to be possibly insane
 Shown in a guise of Hercules, with items to reference his Labors
 Expert drill work and modeling
‘CARACALLA’
 Early 3rd century CE Marble
 Rules 211-77CE
 Consistently represented with malignant, scowling expression
 A battle toughened man/ lethal opponent
 Strong contrasts with chisel and drill work
 Shows internal emotion
CARACALLA
 215CE
 Austere and hard facial features
 Sword belt over shoulder- ready to fight
 Strong contrast of light and dark
 Chilling ruthfulness
‘PHILIP THE ARAB’
 244-49CE/ Marble
 Philip Arabus
 A hard reign
 Pupils staring off to the distance
 Sense of guilt and despair
 Facial stubble seen/ twisted brow
‘THE TETRACHS’
 300CE
 PROPHYRY (purple Egyptian stone)
 51 inches height of figures
 Divided empire in half to distribute tasks of defending and administrating the Empire.
 Augustus= "the anointed one" or "revered one"
 Dioctetian ruled EAST
 Augustus Maximian ruled WEST
 Tetrarchy= “rule of four’
 293CE devised tretarchy
 Each Augustus designated a subordinate and heir (called Caesar)
 Abstract/ more of a symbolic representation
 Dressed in military gear
 Shows unity/ protection/ peace through strength and vigilance
‘COLOSSAL HEAD OF CONSTANTINE’
 324-337 CE
 Classicizing image of portrait head
 Gazes into distance
 Clean shaven
‘CONSTANTINE THE GREAT’
 From Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine in Rome
 325-326CE/ Marble
 Fragments of the seated emperor
 Combined marble possibly with bronze supports and a core of wood and bricks
 Constantine moved Catholic capital to Constantinople, Turkey
 Around 80ft tall
 Exaggerated features (especially eyes)
 Rigid/ symmetrical
 No hint of human frailty or imperfections
‘PLOTINUS’
 Late Roman/ early Christian
 Late 3rd century 280CE
 Stylized/ abstract
 End of portraiture/ no versim
‘EUITOPIAS’
 450CE/ Marble
 Face frozen in visual space
 Thin rigid lines/ portriture officially died out.