10+Roman+Art



#8 Roman Art and Architecture ATA: 231-298

 Appropriation ...............“//Captive Greece made Rome captive//.” (Greek art and architecture captivated the Romans) Pragmatism ...................where the greatest good and popular opinion established the standard of art Propaganda ..................Power and authority of Republicanism and Imperialism Utilitarianism .................engineering, road building, public works to manage government and Empire (useful civil engineering projects) Eclecticism ................... a tolerant and open minded approach to differences Architecture.................. new technological innovations in engineering including the arch, vault, dome, concrete
 * Republican Period ** ..............509 BCE – 27 BCE
 * Imperial Period .................... **27 BCE – c. 200 CE
 * Late Empire ........................** 193 CE -- 237 CE
 * Roman Art Context: **

//__Republican Rome__ //: [|Head of a Patrician] ...........................80 BCE ~ Subjects of portraits at this time werre usually only of men and often of elder men who held power in the Republic. The patricians didn't asked to be portrayed more noble than they were, but rather they were brutally realistic figures with distinctive figures. One of the most striking so called //veristic// (superrealistic) is the head of an unidentified patrician from Osimo. He carefully depicted the rise and fall of each fold in his face, much detail. Scholars debate whether these portraits were truly blunt records of actual features or exxagurated in order to make statements about the person's personality: serious, expirenced, determined, loyal to the family and the state-- virtues that were admired during the republic. (RK) Roman…Busts of his Ancestors ........50 BCE
 * Works of Sculpture: **

//__Imperial Rome:__ // [|Augustus Primaporta]<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> ...................... c. 20 BCE ~ This portrait, which was found at his wife Livia's villa at Primaporta portrays Augustus as a general, standing in the pose of Plyklietos' //Doryphoros,// but with his right arm rased to address his troops. Augustus' head also emulates the idealized head of Polykletian Spear Bearer in its overall shape. He is not a naked athlete and the details of the statue reflect political messages. The reliefs on the cuirass (sword) advertise an important diplomatic victory and the cupid at his feet alludes to divine decent. (RK) [|Portrait of a Flavian Woman]<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> ...........c. 90 CE ~ The main sculptor of Flavian portraits was a man named Vepasian who emerged victorious in the short civil war that followed Nero's death. He was an unpretentious career arm officer who desired to distance himself from Nero's extravagant misrule. His portraits reflect much simpler tastes. This portrait bust of a Flavian woman's purpose was to project not Republican virtues but rather an idealized beauty through contemporary fashion rather than references to Greek goddsses. It is notable for the delicasy that the sculptor rendered her hair and flesh. The corkscrew curls were punched out using a drill instead of a chizel which became used more and more in Roman sculpture. (RK) Various portraits of emperors: Vespasian, Hadrian Reliefs from the Arch of Titus ..........c. 80 CE Trajan’s Column (relief sculpture) Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius c. 175 CE Ludovisi Sarcophagus .........................260 CE Colossal Head of Constantine .............315 CE

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">__Republican Rome__ //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: [|Temple of Fortuna Virilis]<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> c. 100 BCE ~ This temple is sort of a mix between Greek and Etruscan temples. It is not a peripteral temple but rather a pseudo-peripteral temple. The retained the idea of the columns all the way around but the columns are enganged and not supportive which is different form the Greek temples. The temple has a porch with columns running around the outside. It is a much smaller temple than the greek temples (4 to seven ratio) since massiveness was not the purpose. You enter only up the front stairs and walk through the porch to get to the main, single-room cella. (*) [|Temple of Vesta c. 100BCE] ~ The temple is round which makes it a tholos structure. The columns are of Corinthian order, there is an entablature at the top with a decortative frieze. The columns are not made out of marble but rather concrete, which is a roman invention. It sits on a high podium which is an Etruscan feature and there is only one major staircase at one end which is another Etruscan feature, and something that makes it an axial plan. It is from Tivoli, Italy, not Rome. [|Sanctuary of Fortuna c. 100 BCE]<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">~ The most innovative use of concrete during the Republic was at the Sanctuary of Fortuna at Palestrina, made to honor the goddess Fortuna. Spread out over several terraces leading up the hillside to a tholos at a peak of an ascending triangle, the layout reflectsthe new republican familiarity with the terraced sanctuaries of the Hellenistic East. The means of construction were completely Roman though. The builders used concrete barrel vaults to support the terraces and cover up the great ramps leading to the grand central staircase as well as to give shape to the shops selling food, souvenirs, alligned on two consecutive levels. The Sanctuary is eblematic of the growing dominance of Rome in the Mediterranean world. (RK) //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">__Imperial Rome__ //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Ara Pacis Augustae 13-9 BCE Maison Caree, Nimes c. 10 CE Pont du Gard, Nimes c. 16 BCE Porta Maggiore, Rome 30 CE Colosseum, Rome 80 CE Arch of Titus 81 CE Forum of Trajan 112 CE (Appollodorous of Damascus) Pantheon, Rome 125 CE (Hadrian) [|Baths of Caracalla] (KS)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">212 CE- interior was an arched dome and had enormous columns with corinthian capital. several baths in the center of the building with different temperatures. very important to roman citizens. excercise room where you could go after from a cold bath to a hot bath. required a great deal of organization. like a modern health spa on a grander scale. covered over 50 acres of land. (KS) [|Arch of Constantine]<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, (KS)Rome 313 CE. largest arche to be built in rome for a century. took elements from other arches to place on his own- evidence of decline in creativity/skill that came at the end of the roman emipire (KS) Aula Palatina 400 CE
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Works of Architecture: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">__**Architecture:**__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> ...... Doric Order .........Ionic Order ...........Corinthian Order ............Tuscan Order necropolis ............ catacombs .............tumulus ..............pseudo-peripteral .............veneer exedrae ............catacombs ................pilaster ............ engaged column ....................portico cross vaulting ....... coffers ..................oculus ............ dome ................... apse arch ...................centering ................springing ...............voussoirs .................. arcade barrel vault ............buttressing ..........travertine ............opus caementicium .................pozzolana bath ..................... calidarium .............tepidarium ...............frigidarium ..................amphitheater basilica ................longitudinal ...........clerestory ................nave ............aisles .............forum __**Sculpture:**__ Patina .............. cuirass ..............antiquarium .............portrait bust ....................death mask Terra cotta ..........sarcophagus
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Technique / Terminology / Vocabulary **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">__**Painting:**__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> the __four styles of Roman__ wall painting fresco illusionism modeling

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">__**Mosaics:**__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> various mosaics from Ostia, Pompeii and Herculeneum

Introduction to Roman Art: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1. ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What is so significant about the year 211 BCE and the surrender of the Sicilian city of Syracuse? ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> In 211 BCE, Marcellus, conqueror of the Greek city of Syracuse, brought back not only the usual spoils of war but also the methods and techniques of Greek artistry. Thus launched the Roman craze for Greek art, both that created in Greece and imitations in the style. As the Romans began to expand their borders, the desire for this type of art soared through the roof. EK<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> In 146 BCE, Greece fell to Rome and became just another province of the extensive Roman Empire. Although this represented the end of a strong and revolutionary society, it also demonstrated the new major player on the scene: Rome. This also enabled Rome to incorporate the Greek Art style more fully into their modified Roman style. In 133 BCE, the last king of Pergamon said that upon his death, his kingdom would be willed to Rome. With this, Rome attained the kingdom of Pergamon, which had a huge impact on the artistry of the time. Although Greek influences infiltrated the Roman world, the Etruscan methodology and style remained a powerful pull. This contributed to a highly eccentric style for Rome that could not be defined in close parameters. EK <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Republican Period – Architecture 3. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What two characteristics of the Temple of “Fortuna Virilis” are Etruscan and which two are Greek? What element is distinctly Roman?
 * Essential Questons:**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2. When did Greece fall to the Romans and what happened to the city of Pergamon in 133 BCE? **

Republican temples, such as the Temple of “Fortuna Virilis” (also known as the Temple of Portunus) combine elements of both Greek and Etruscan architecture. The temple’s Etruscan elements include its high podium and a flight of steps at the front of the temple. Freestanding columns are only on the porch of the temple. The structure is constructed of stone, but was originally covered in stucco in order to imitate the Greek’s marble. The columns are ionic and there is also an ionic frieze on the temple. The architect attempted to imitate a peripteral Greek temple while sticking to an Etruscan plan by adding engaged ionic columns to the back and sides of the cella. Therefore, the temple is called a “pseudoperipteral temple”. The mixture of the Greek and Etruscan elements is what makes this temple distinctly Roman. RJ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What is concrete and how was it used? (Note that buildings built of concrete were often faced with marble veneer or stucco to approximate the appearance of a Greek temple). Concrete in Roman times was made from a mixture of lime mortar, volcanic sand, water, and small stones. The builders would pour the concrete into wooden frames and let it dry. Once the concrete was completely dry and hard, they would remove the molds which left a sold mass of concrete behind. The Romans would then cover the concrete with stucco in order to smooth out the rough sides and imitate the Greek’s marble structures. Concrete was much more inexpensive than imported marble or any other building material available. With concrete, it was possible to create shapes that construction using stone would not have been able to create. Concrete allowed for huge vaulted and domed rooms that did not have internal support. As the book says, “Roman concrete became a vehicle for shaping architectural space” (Kleiner, 2009). Some examples of Roman concrete domes and vaults are barrel vaults, groin vaults, and hemispherical domes, which enabled the builders to revolutionize architecture, vary design, and shape the interior of buildings in new and innovative ways. RJ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What technical developments enabled the Romans to create architecture of space rather than of mass? The Romans used the arch and <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">their improvements in the use of concrete facilitated the building of the many aqueducts throughout the empire. The dome premitted construction of <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">vaulted ceilings and provided large covered public space. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Great pillars supporting broad arches <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">domes rather than dense lines of columns suspending flat <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">architraves. HH <span style="background: white; border-bottom: black 1pt solid; border-left: black 1pt solid; border-right: black 1pt solid; border-top: black 1pt solid; display: none; mso-hide: all; msoborderalt: solid black .75pt; msohide: all; padding-bottom: 8pt; padding-left: 8pt; padding-right: 8pt; padding-top: 8pt;">   Source-Gardner's Art Through the Ages Republican Period – Sculpture 6. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What stylistic features differentiate Roman Republican portraits from Greek examples? <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Roman Republican sculpture is noted for its patrician portraits of old and distinguished families. In the funerary relief, figures are shown bust-length, cut off at the base of the chest, like the Etruscans. For example in Head of a Roman patrician. Greek portraits such as the Seer and Head of Alexandra the Great show that Greek show a more idealized and godly portraits. People were not portrayed with age but rather as ageless and perfect no matter what age they subject was. HH Source-Gardner's Art Through the Ages

7. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What are //veristic// portraits? The term ‘veristic’ means ‘true to natural appearance.’ In veristic portraits in Roman art, prominent Roman Republican figures were reproduced in sculpture as literal appearances of the individuals they represented. They did not ask sculptures to portray them as any nobler or handsomer than they actually were.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">8. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How does the statue of the general from Tivoli demonstrate the mix of greek and Roman features? In this statue, the portrayal of the general echoes the style of Greek heroes and athletes. The Romans often incorporated these Greek references into their art because of how they admired the cultural superiority of the Greeks. The statue features a typical Roman head, however it sits atop a more Greek youthful nude body.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pompeii: 9. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Note the organization of the forum, basilica and amphitheater, and or a typical Roman patrician house 10. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Briefly describe the four painting styles found in Pompeii. (one or two sentences each) 11. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">List three pictorial devices used by the Roman painters to suggest depth.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Three techniques Roman painters used in their painting to suggest depth were **surface textures, shading, and coloration**. These were the first steps towards developing perspective in painting, but they still failed to render scale and spatial depth accurately. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_art)

12. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Note we see some of the first portraits, landscapes, historical scenes, still lifes, and genre scenes in the history of western painting.


 * Portraits**- Roman portraiture depicts subjects from a wide range of social classes. Roman portraiture was often used to convey ideas about the subject it was depicting, sometimes falsely, and sometimes distorting or completely misrepresenting the subject of the portrait, usually to make them appear in a more positive image. For example, rulers and military leaders were often idealized to convey power and authority. Often public figures were repeatedly depicted as youthful no matter how old they actually were. However, even ordinary citizens like those depicted in the "Portrait of a husband and wife" used portraiture to convey an idealized image of themselves. These subjects are not idealized in terms of physical beauty, but they are shown holding a scroll, a stylus, and a wax writing tablet to suggest that they were well-educated, an indicator of status, although they may very well have been uneducated. The ideas they were conveying about themselves were often times idealized, but the Romans had a good understanding of the human and were capable of rendering realistic or idealized images in portraiture.


 * Landscapes**- Roman landscapes include a wide variety of subjects ranging from mythology to nature. The most important thing to note about Roman landscapes is the development of their use of perspective to suggest depth and distance. Roman artists used linear perspective and atmospheric perspective, as well as surface textures, shading, and coloration to depict depth and distance in their landscapes. Although they did not entirely master it, these first steps were some major ones in the history of art.


 * Still lifes**- Roman artists created magnificent, and advanced still-life paintings because of their wonderful attention to detail, especially the use of light and shadow. Because of this, they were especially skilled in representing the way objects literally appeared, as one can see in the example of "Still-life with peaches."


 * Genre scenes**- Roman genre scenes were generally paintings that depicted scenes from ordinary occurrences and events from Roman life. They sometimes featured mythology or gods and goddesses (as was a common theme in Roman art) but genre scenes typically portrayed aspects of everyday life and leisure.

=<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ideas and Concepts: THE BIG PICTURE = <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How do ideas of __utilitarianism, pragmatism,__ and __appropriation__ shape the essential nature of Roman arts? 2. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What are the four contributions to the history of architecture by the Romans? 3. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Outline the characteristics of a Roman forum, bath and basilica. 4. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What role does propaganda play in Roman art and architecture? Give specific examples. 5. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In point form and / or chart form, outline the __essential difference__ between the Greek temple (Parthenon) and the Roman temple (Pantheon). 6. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How does __utilitarianism__ manifest itself in Roman architecture, building and government? 7. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What is the significance of the __Roman portrait bust__ (in contrast to most Greek sculpture) in the history of sculpture? 8. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Outline the development of painting (Pompeii) during the Republican era, high lighting its four “styles” or periods.