Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 1
March 9, 2016
Summary of Roman Historical and Cultural Background
Republican Period
510 BC to
Early Imperial Period
27 BC to
Late Imperial Period
AD 284
to
Division of the Empire
AD 395
27 BC
AD 284
400
Significant People
Etruscan
Political Leaders and Events
1200- 700
Arrival of Etruscans in Italy
c 753
Foundation of Rome (traditional)
900-600
Greek colonization of S Italy
c 509
Expulsion of Kings
510-27
Roman Republican Period
Cultural and Scientific Developments
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 2
March 9, 2016
Vergil
Republican Periods
70 - 19 BC
Founded after last of the possibly Etruscan
kings forced out
Expansion abroad, consoliodation of
imperial power
351
Peace between Rome and Tarquinii
350 - 275
c510 - 27 BC
Unification of Italy264 - 201
Punic Wars (with Cartage)
146
Corinth destroyed by Rome
Roman conquest of Greece
129
Pergamon became Roman province
86
44
Athens sacked by Romans under Sulla
Julius Caesar assinated
See page 198
100 years of civil wars exhausted state
Series of dictators:
Marius
Sulla
Caesar
Pompey
Atrium House
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 3
March 9, 2016
Augustus rule 27 BC - 14 AD
Vitruvius c 90 - 20 BC
The Ten Books of Architecture
Early Imperial Period
27 BC - AD 284
AD
14-68
64
79
98-117
117-138
136-192
192-235
235-284
234-305
Julio-Claudians
Great Fire of Rome
Destruction of Pompeii
Trajan rules
Hadrian rules
Antonines rules
Severans rules
Barracks Emperors
Diocletian rules
See page 216
Pax Romana
Development of multi-story apartment
blocks (insula)
Wasteful space of Atrium house now
obsolete
Expressions of prosperous stability:
1. Developed water supply systems as
part of urban planning
2. Officail style of Augustus was
deliberately classicizing
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 4
March 9, 2016
Late Imperial Period
284 - 400 AD
Imperial authority restored by
Diocletian
one of the last pagan emperors
overseer of savage persecution of
the Christians
324-337 Constantine rules
325
Constantine recognizes
Christianity
395
Division of the Empire
See page 240
410
455
488
Decline of the
Western Roman Empire
400 - c 500 AD
Sack of Rome by the Visigoths
(Alaric)
Sack of Rome by Vandals
Occupation of Italy by
Ostrogoths
Diocletian
one of the last pagan emperors
overseer of savage persecution of the
Christians
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 5
March 9, 2016
Summary of Roman Painting
Republica Period
Early Imperial Period
Late Imperial Period
Division of the Empire
AD
AD
510 BC
27 BC
284
395
to
to
to
27 BC
AD 284
400
Typical Examples
First Style
or
Incrustation Style
G6-26
First style (incrustation) wall painting from a Samnite
house, Herculaneum, 2nd c BC
Stylistic Characteristcs
In the first style, known as incrustation
(G6-26),
the wall is divided into numerous rectangular
panels of different colors, with many of the
panels modeled to resemble stone of various
types.
occasional, schematically rendered textural
contrasts
This probably served as a substitute for more
expensive stone facings.
It was popular from approximately 200 B.C. to
about 60 B.C.
This style is a continuation of Hellenistic practice,
and examples of it have been found in houses
at Priene and on the island of Delos
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 6
March 9, 2016
Second Style
or
Architectural Style
G6-26
First style (incrustation) wall painting from a Samnite
house, Herculaneum, 2nd c BC
G6-27
G6-29
Odyssey Landscape:
Ulysses in the Land of the Lestrygonians , second-style
wall painting from a house in Rome, late 1sr c BC. Apx 60"
high. Vatican Library, Rome
Odyssey Landscape:
Hurling Rocks at Fleet of Odysseus, second-style wall
painting from a house in Rome, late 1sr c BC. Apx 60"
high. Vatican Library, Rome
6-30
G6-30
Garden Scene, detail of a second- style wall painting from
the House of Livia, Primaporta, late 1st c BC. Museo
Nazionale, Rome
The second style was known as
the Second or Architectural Style (G6-27)
and lasted from 60 B.C. to 20 B.C.
Decoration no longer restricted to a single visual
plane
space of the room is made to look as though it
extended beyond the flat the flat wall, thus
creating an illusionistic effect of space.
Although the architectural forms are visually
convincing, they do not follow the rules of
scientific perspective as one would find in a
Renaissance painting.
Columns, pilasteres, an window frames painted on
the wall serve to enframe distant views of cities
and landscape
Using a technique known as "herringbone
perspective," the orthogonals converge along a
central axis, rather than at a single vanishing
point.
Several vanishing points tend to be distributed on
an axis that runs vertically throughthe center of
the panel
Second-style mural in the Villa of the Mysteries
near Pompeii c 50 BC
Includes some of the finest painted figures of the
ancient world
The second style illusion here is confined to a
painted ledge that looks like a shallow
extension of the room proper and affords the
figures a kind of narrow, supporting stage
Perhaps a place for celebration of rites for some
cult such as the cult of Dionysos
Odyssey Landscapes - Second style
from the house on Esquiline HIll in Rome
Painted piers divide the other wise continuos
landscape into 8 compartments
Scenes from the Homeric epic
In the representation of Odysseus' fleet running
from the rocks being hurled at them by the
Lestrygonians(G6-29) the landscape is painted
and creates the illusion of moving into space.
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 7
March 9, 2016
Third Style
or
Ornate Style
G6-36
Herakles and Telephos, from Herculaneum, c AD 70, after
an original from the second c BC, Wall pinting, apx 7'2" x
6'2". Museo Archaeological Nazionale, Naples
G6-31
Third-style (ornate) wall painting from a villa at
Boscotrecase, near Pompeii, early 1st c AD, Museo
Nazionale, Naples
In the Third, or Ornate Style,
during early time of Roman empire
Wall ceased to serve as a framed view into
nature and became a mere support for
smaller, framed views.
Simulated architecture disappeared, as the
wall was sub-divided into a number of
panels by means of vertical and horizontal
bands filled with vine scrolls or other
decorative designs.
the architectural elements serve merely to
frame segments of the wall, often
enclosing small scenes (G6-36).
At times the slender columns, which are used
to divide segments of the wall(G6-31),
become completely fantastic.
This style flourished from approximately 20
B.C. to A.D. 60.
The flat nature of the wall was reaffirmed
delicate forms and color
graceful elegance
Rejection of monumental constructions and
broad illusionism of 2nd style
What could have developed out of the 2nd
style as view through illusionistic wndow
is here in 3rd style reduced to a flat, ahite
panel with floating landscape motif on it.
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 8
March 9, 2016
Fourth Style
or
G6-32
Fourth style (intricate) wall painting from the Ixion Room.
House of the Vetii, Pompeii, 1st c AD
G6-33
Fourth style wall painting from the Domus Aurea of Nero,
Rome, AD 60-67
Style
G6-35
Genre scene (?) from the House of the Dioscuri, Pompeii,
first century AD. Detail of a wall painting transferred to
wood, entire painting apx 15" x 17". Museo Nazionale,
Naples.
The fourth, or Intricate Style,
began around A.D. 60 and
flourished until the destruction of the city in
A.D. 79 (G6-32).
In this style there is a return to architectural frames
and open vistas, but they are combined with
framed pictures.
Aerial perspective rather than a linear one
It is thought that these forms developed under the
influence of Roman theatrical design.
Framed scenes (G6-33) were often flooded with
light and color, with emphasis in contrasts
between modeled light and dark, both depicted
with quick, flickering brush strokes (G6-35)
We cannot say with absolute certainty that the
Romans contributed the new sense of space
surrounding the figures, because our lack of
Greek paintings from an earlier period leaves
us to speculate about how much was actually
invented by the Roman painters and how much
they adopted from now lost Greek
masterpieces
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 9
March 9, 2016
Summary of Roman Architecture
Republican Period
Early Imperial Period
Late Imperial Period
Division of the Empire
AD
AD
510 BC
27 BC
284
395
to
to
to
27 BC
AD 284
400
Typical Examples
Republican Period
510 BC to
27 BC
Early Imperial Period
Late Imperial Period
Stylistic Characteristcs
Etruscan / Roman Study Charts 10
March 9, 2016
Summary of Roman Sculpture
Early Roman Period
Early Imperial Period
Late Imperial Period
Division of the Empire
AD
AD
510 BC
27 BC
284
395
to
to
to
27 BC
AD 284
400
Typical Examples
Republican Period
Early Imperial Period
Late Imperial Period
Stylistic Characteristcs