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Roman art |
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Roman art) A Roman mosaic of a charioteer, at Trier. The Romans frequently used mosaic in their baths and villas. ) A fresco of ‘Europa and the bull’, from a house in Pompeii, Italy, which was buried for over a thousand years under volcanic ash. Paintings, furniture, and other everyday items were discovered at Pompeii, giving a view of Roman life in the 1st century. ) A wall-painting at Stabiae, Italy. Stabiae, with Pompeii and Herculaneum, was the third of the cities destroyed by the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in AD 79. The wall-painting probably depicts the goddess Venus in her aspect as goddess of the spring. Before she became identified with the Greek deity Aphrodite, the Roman Venus was the goddess of garden fertility, to whom the month of April was sacred. ) Terracotta ex-voto of a head of a woman, 2nd century BC, from the Via Prenestina in Rome. Ex-votos in the shape of the body part affected by illness were offered to the gods in the hope of a cure. (National Railway Museum, York.) Sculpture and painting of ancient Rome, from the 4th century BC to the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century AD. Much Roman art was intended for public education, notably the sculpted triumphal arches and giant columns, such as Trajan's Column AD 106-113, and portrait sculptures of soldiers, politicians, and emperors. Surviving mural paintings (in Pompeii, Rome, and Ostia) and mosaic decorations show Greek influence. Roman art was to prove of lasting inspiration in the West. SculptureRealistic portrait sculpture was developed by the Romans. A cult of heroes began and in public places official statues were erected of generals, rulers, and philosophers. The portrait bust developed as a new art form from about 75 BC; these were serious, factual portraits of men to whose wisdom and authority (the busts implied) their subject nations should reasonably submit. Strict realism in portraiture gave way to a certain amount of Greek-style idealization in the propaganda statues of the emperors, befitting their semidivine status.Narrative relief sculpture also flourished in Rome, linked to the need to commemorate military victories. These appeared on monumental altars, triumphal arches, and giant columns such as Trajan's Column, where his battles are recorded in relief like a cartoon strip winding its way around the column for about 200 m/655 ft. Gods and allegorical figures also featured with Rome's heroes on narrative relief sculptures, such as those on Augustus' giant altar to peace, the Ara Pacis 13-9 BC. PaintingVery little Roman painting has survived; much of what has owes its survival to the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 which buried the southern Italian towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash, thus preserving the lively wall paintings that decorated the villas of an art-loving elite. Trompe l'oeil paintings and elements of still life were popular. A type of interior decoration known as Grotesque, rediscovered in Rome during the Renaissance, combined swirling plant motifs, strange animals, and tiny fanciful scenes.MosaicThe art of mosaic was found throughout the Roman Empire. It was introduced from Greece and used for floors as well as walls and vaults, in trompe l'oeil effects, geometric patterns, and scenes from daily life and mythology. |
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Roman art
