ROMAN ART
GREEK AND ROMAN ART
ROMAN ART
• Roman city-state- first beginnings 8th century BC
• Expanded control in every direction
• Laws, religion, customs, organization and language
to all areas
• Absorbed culture of conquered areas
• What they didn’t import, they copied and created
• Greatest contribution to art- architecture- Roman
influence
• Arch, vault and concrete
ROMAN ART
ROMAN ART
Greek
Roman
Structure
temples
Civic buildings
walls
Cut stone blocks
Concrete,
ornamental
Trademark forms
Rectangles, straight
lines
Circles, curved lines
Column style
Doric, Ionic
Corinthian
sculpture
Idealized gods and
goddesses
Realistic humans,
idealized officials
Subject matter
Mythology
Civic leaders
Support system
Post and lintel
Rounded arch, vaults
ROMAN ART
• Started with
Etruscans
• Lack of evidenceburied under
present day cities,
difficult to excavate
• Began use of arch
• Master builders and
town planners
• Porta Augusta
• 2nd century BC
• Perugia
• Etruscan
ROMAN ART
• Admired bronze sculptures,
even by Greeks (most likely
modeled after Greek
original though!)
• Greek toga, adopted by
Romans
• Statuette of a Rider
• 450-425 BC
• Bronze
• 11 in
• Comacchio
ROMAN ART
• Advanced architecture to
unrivaled heights
• Arenas, huge public baths,
public forums
• The Pantheon- in honor of
the gods (greek meaning)
• Creates perfect circle- 144
ft diameter, and height
• Coffered- waffle like
ceilings
• Oculus- eye like opening
at top for light
• Rain? No worries.
Elaborate underground
drainage system
• Doors original
• Corinthian columns
Pantheon
ROMAN ART
ROMAN ART
• Baths at Caracalla show opulence, several pools
varying temps, rooms used for libraries, offices
meeting rooms, rec rooms etc
ROMAN ART
• Basilicas- large
meeting halls
part of civic
center in
each city
• Later turned
into churches
(next week)
• Forumsplaces to
chat, shop,
discuss etc
• Forum
Romanum
• Rome
ROMAN ART
• Trajans
column
• Depicted
Trajan’s
victory
over
Dacians
• 113 AD
• Rome
• 106-133
AD
• Marble
ROMAN ART
• Commemora
ted victories
and
important
people
• Difference bt
Greeks
• Arch of
Constantine
• 312-315 AD
• Rome
ROMAN ART
• Homes were typically 2 story affairs, garden, atrium
• Excellent planning and town management
ROMAN ART
• Magnificent
plannersaqueducts, etc
• 11 aqueducts350 mil gal/day
• weather/ repairs
Apr 1- Nov 1
• Pont du Gard
• Nimes, France
• Triple story stone
• 30 miles
• 22,000 tons of
water/ day
• Av use- 50
gal/day
ROMAN ART
• The Colosseum- grandest and most recognized of all Roman
structures
• Three emperors- Vespasian, Titus and Domitian
• Staging of lavish spectacles
• 50,000 Romans could be seated inside
• Arches and vaults used
• Outer wall- 16 stories
• Velarium- awning- 1000 men nec.Doric, Ionic and Corinthian
from ground up
• 76 entrances- ticketed- modern influence
• Statues in niches
• Winches and lifting tackle employed
• 100 meter long floor area could be filled with water for mock
naval battles
• Used its marble for other buildings 
• Colosseum
ROMAN ART
• Borrowed heavily, but
used own people for
most part
• Emphasized greatness
of emperors
• Portrait sculpturebusts- predominant
•
•
•
•
•
•
Head of Augustus
27 BC-14 AD
Bronze
Found in Sudan
Prob sculpted in Egypt
Let countrymen know
ROMAN ART
• Commissions to
decorate homes of
wealthy also shown
in busts
• Coiffure and
ornamentation
• Portrait of a Lady
• 180-200 AD
• Marble
ROMAN ART
• Verismexaggerated
natural truths in
sculpture
• Head of a
Roman Patrician
from Otricoli
• c. 75-50 BCE
• marble
ROMAN ART
• Propaganda and
politics
• Augustus of
Primaporta
• 1st century BC
• marble
• 2.03 meters
ROMAN ART
• Denarius (Roman coin)
• Trajan in profile
• Dacian seated right on pile of arms, his hands bound
behind him
• silver, c. 103-11
ROMAN ART
• Equestrian Statue
of Marcus Aurelius
• gilded bronze
• 173-76 AD
• Accidently not
melted bc thought
to be Constantineemperer Christianity
ROMAN ART
• Head of
Constantine part
of larger sculpture
• Large eyescommon in early
Christian period
• Eyes carved so
that shadows, not
paint provide def
of iris/ pupil
• Constantine the
Great
• 330 AD
• Marble
• 8 ¼ ft
ROMAN ART
• Extent of painting influence on Romans not
determined, not a lot left
• Used paintings to decorate and color interior of
houses
• Landscapes and architecture scenes painted to
serve as “windows” and open up space
• Portraits painted on walls to commemorate family
members
• Done in fresco
ROMAN ART
• Woman
Playing a
Cithara
• 79 AD
• Fresco
• Life size
ROMAN ART
• Mosaic workexcelled
• Marble cut,
polished and
fitted together
• Floor mosaics,
wall mosaicssmaller stones
• Young Women
Exercising
• 4th century AD
• Mosaic
ROMAN ART
• Pompeii
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
79 AD
20,000 inhabitants
2,000 stayed
3 days later- city buried under 25 ft of rock and ash
1748 interest in site- excavations
Preserved exactly as was
Vesuvius only active volcano on European
mainland
ROMAN ART
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Who inhabited the land that became Rome before the Romans?
What was the Romans greatest contribution to the art world?
What kinds of structures did the Romans build? Why?
What key architectural pieces did the Romans first utilize?
What is coffered?
What is an oculus?
What is a forum?
Why did Romans create sculpture, for what purpose?
What is verism?
Compare your height to that of the head of Constantine. Why do
you think he was made the size he was?
Why are so many Roman wall paintings preserved in Pompeii?
Two words, that start with a “P”, describe the reasons for most
Roman sculpture. What are they?
How does Trajan’s Column read like a comic book?
Describe the process to making a mosaic. Where were mosaics put?
How are the eyes of Constantine the Great different from the eyes
of a lot of Greek sculpture we studied?