Art Of Ancient Rome

"Capitoline Brutus" Roman bronze of the republican era, ^IV - III ^centuryBC. AD. Capitoline Museums , MC 1183 02.

The Roman art is the art produced in the territories of ancient Rome , since the founding of Rome ( 753 BC. , according to traditional chronology, partially confirmed by archeology) until the fall of the Western Empire ( 476 AD.). It really took off on contact with the Greek art as art historians, the ^nineteenth century , criticize him to imitate, and found new influences in areas submitted by the Empire.

After the fall of the Empire , Roman art continues in the Byzantine and medieval Christian art. It has greatly influenced the artists of the Renaissance and the Classicism and neo-classicism.

Roman art has long been misunderstood by the history of art , particularly devoted to the cult of Greece in the ^nineteenth century ( JJ Winckelmann ).

Portrait of Herodes Atticus , to 161. Louvre Ma 1164. This portrait was discovered in the villa of Herodes Atticus, to Probalinthos in the region of Athens ( Greece ).

The question makes sense from the antiquity and particularly from the ^second century BC. AD , when the Roman legions penetrated into Greece and the Hellenistic kingdoms of Asia Minor (in fact the former Greek territories of present Turkey ). She emerged from the Second Punic War and taking the Greek cities of southern Italy (taken Syracuse in -212 by the consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus and bag of Taranto , in -209 by Fabius Cunctator . In -146 the consul Lucius Mummius take Corinth and sacked. In -133 , the king of Pergamum Attalus III bequeathed his rich kingdom to Rome.

In the city, the Hellenistic Greek art is viewed with contempt by the old conservative Roman aristocracy, especially as it meets the favor, sometimes without nuance, the plebs. Witness the description of the consequences of taking Syracuse in -212 which stands Plutarch . Likewise, -184 , Cato the Elder , in his speech transmitted by Livy , wilts philhellenism ambient and fought for the repeal of sumptuary laws ( Act Oppia ). However, some families, including Scipio , are going to change the taste of the elite.

We can say that the ^first century BC. BC , the Hellenistic Greek art is finally received by the ruling classes of society, not slavishly, but in an attempt to reconcile with traditional artistic traits. Roman art will remain a political content in that it expresses, at that time, the ideals and references nobilitas. In the Republican regime, which in Rome is an oligarchy , all ensure that no acquires a hearing outside the institutions and the family context. Any initiative in the arts must either remain in the private sphere (the case of the art of portrait ) or exercised in public, but anonymously. It is symptomatic that in -184 the censor Cato the Elder to attach the name of his people at the Basilica Porcia he is building on the forum for a purely civic (and imitated in any way the terms of stoa Hellenistic), while Pompey , in -55 , must use the alibi of a small temple to Venus Victrix , to construct a building dedicated to the arts, the first theater in stone of Rome, without being able to attach his name (which does not appear on the Forma Urbis ). The foundation of the Empire by Augustus , and the emergence of personal power, will completely change this thing from -27.

Hadrian , 160. Archaeological Museum of Olympia

In the ^first century , asserts a sort of quarrel between ancients and moderns. Intellectuals, often from the old aristocracy, or the homines novi , eager to avail himself of the values of the latter, will proclaim the superiority of Greek art. But the sighting was again conservative. Greek art is having its place in Rome, he is fighting against the innovative trends that are emerging in Roman artistic circles, which move away from classical Greek models and Hellenistic and take a shine with a order booming, the Roman knights , and a class of nouveaux riches from the postage.

The idea that art is for Greeks will evolve after the ^first century. Under Hadrian , the Romans were unabashed in relation to their great ancestors. The Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli will display all styles, remember all the times, all the artists mentioned in the empire. It became obvious that art born under the influence of Rome synthesizes and reinterprets, extends forms designed in the Greek world. Innovation will take its place. The figure of Herod Atticus , which is run by Greek artists (two steps from the workshop of Phidias !), armored statues of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius (ruled that this type of Pliny the Elder said to be typically Roman ) and representations of other members of the imperial family for nymphaeum he erected at Olympia , is the very symbol of the creation of a Roman art assuming both its heritage and originality. The question of the existence and legitimacy of Roman art has finally been solved.

The Roman point of view

Eros Centocelle type , called "Eros Farnese ", Roman copy after an original traditionally attributed to Praxiteles , Naples , National Archaeological Museum.

Cicero

The case of Cicero is typical of the ambiguity of attitude against the Roman Hellenistic Greek art. Cicero knows the provinces of Greek tradition of the Empire. Like any Roman of rank, he went to complete his education in Athens, -79 . He then visited Asia Minor and returned to Italy by Rhodes. It is not clear whether he attended the arts community and it seems he is especially interested in philosophy, with from Antiochus of Ascalon , the Epicurean Zeno of Sidon and Phaedrus and orator Demetrius of Syria; Rhodes ( -77 ), with the Stoic Posidonius of Apamea and Apollonius Molon and rhetoricians Menippus Stratonikeia, Dionysius of Magnesia, Aeschylus of Cnidus, Xenocles of Adramytte . In -75 , he began his political career by quaestor in Sicily. It handles well enough to finance the Sicilians came to ask him in -70 to plead their cause against the praetor Verres. In Verrines , he utters the plea on this occasion, Cicero divided into five points against the objections Glass: betrayed his duties in Rome during his quaestor and praetor urban Verres has done wrong, Sicily, in the administration of justice; Verres embezzled and extorted money from the tax; Verres committed abuses of power the most atrocious. Faced with these four counts, extremely serious, Cicero establishes a fourth: the theft of works of art. The work of art is therefore in his eyes, and those judges whom it is addressed, very important. Certainly, one reason is that these works came from sanctuaries and that they attached a sacred character (especially for a lender, such as glasses). Cicero also says that "it is amazing how the Greeks are fond of these things that we despise" , but it's a tragedy for them, that being stripped of these objects transmitted by their ancestors or the reputation of their cities. But more importantly, they represent a colossal wealth, meaning that their market value is very high. Indeed, these works are, for many of the creations of great Greek artists. Cicero and offended that the Eros of Praxiteles was extorted by Verres miserable for 1600 sesterces ! For Cicero, the artistic quality seems secondary.

But then how is it that a man who lived in the most prestigious art centers in Greece do so little of the beauty and technical perfection of the works of Praxiteles , of Myron , of Polykleitos , he cites ? Why did he confess but contempt and no pleasure, a goal set by sovereign yet to art ... oratory ? He speaks of fine art with caution to judges that it assumes a marked bias in fact he does not share? Is that why he never describes the works which he speaks, merely vague adjectives: bonus egregius, magnificus, nobilis, optimus, praeclarus, pulcher? In fact, when at the beginning of the speech he quotes a great first name, Praxiteles , he explained that he had to learn the names of artists for the purposes of his investigation . This simplicity, this admission a bit awkward is not feigned. In -70 , Cicero was only 36 years. He knows that Greece for seven years. Keen on Greek philosophy and rhetoric, in good Roman citizen, he lacks taste for art and does not hide his ignorance (like the old aristocrats in novus homo , he dreams of supplanting). However, from the years 68-65 BC. AD, his correspondence reveals a process of collector, avid statues , tables , terrain ... But again, in addition to the ostentation of wealth, Cicero seems mostly expect these works a backdrop for its properties. Artistic expression has few. It is from -55 , with the writing of De Oratore , which, in his writings on rhetoric and philosophical works, Cicero began a reflection on artistic expression and he uses a vocabulary common to the aesthetic plastics, oratory and philosophy. The language of art is the very language in Cicero's philosophy . In these years of maturity, the approach in Ciceronian rhetoric, which is to make art of Roman art Greek speakers, announces a parallel process that will translate in Roman art that Greek artists.

Diptych of the Muses (ivory), ^fifth century. Muse du Louvre , LP 1267. Horace is recognized in the seated figure on the left bottom of the slip on the right.

Horace

From Horace , it is often retains the famous passage in one of his most important letters, a veritable cultural agenda for the use of the emperor:

"Greece subdued subdued its fierce conquerors
And brought his art in the wild Lazio . "

It forgets that it is in this passage as poetry and especially the theater. However, Horace is a witness of his inquisitive enough time to expand his thinking in all areas of art. And indeed, Horace recognizes anticipation (not superiority) of the Greeks in all art forms:

"It was late, in fact, that the . "

Is it because he is the son of freed Horace appears more sensitive to emerging trends that are emerging in Roman art? In any case, it echoes of these artists and their clients for whom the horizon Greek may be exceeded:

"From the day the Greeks ceased to make war

Began to joke and be spoiled in a life without turmoil,
They sparkled there for athletes here for horses
In marble, in ivory or bronze, they worshiped their artists.
Their eyes and mind rested in the paintings,
Sometimes flutes, sometimes tragedies rejoiced.
Thus the child has fun hanging in his young nurse:
What made him seek his desire, that he leaves, grown up.

Is there anything that delights us or we are odious, we might believe forever frozen ? "

Horace thus recognizes the debt of the Latin culture to Greece, but he thinks it is time to invent new forms of artistic expression. He mocks the people (vulgus) those who revere the old and unqualified indignation against the old (patres, senes) who reject the innovations of younger (minor), or one who extols an old author that did not even read.

"He does not cherish the spirit of the missing
But ours fight is us and our works that do blanch with disgust.
Eh what? If novelty had been so odious to the Greeks
It is for us, what would we keep old today? And that would,
Read that, that U.S. community of readers, man after man ? "

At the opening of his epistle, Horace said, after praising the new age inaugurated by Augustus, whose side he stood. Augustus and Horace showed concludes the arts of his time surpassed those of the past.

"If because the writings of the Greeks, of all, the oldest
As well as the best, we weigh the Roman writers
At the same scale, then there is nothing to discuss.
Let there be more of kernels with olive or walnut shell
If we are not now at the pinnacle of greatness: we paint,
we sing, we fight better than the Greeks oiled body . "

Aeneas fleeing Troy in flames, on his shoulders his father Anchises and holding the hand of his son Ascanius. Discovered at Pompeii. ^first century. Naples , National Archaeological Museum , Inv. 110,338 (h = 17 cm).

Virgil

This is a epic in dactylic hexameter , a form could not be more Greek than Virgil will tell the beginnings of the Roman people, how Aeneas , escaped from Troy in flames on his back with his father Anchises and his gods in his luggage Penates , will settle in Latium. It is in the favor of nekuia, visit the world of the dead obviously inspired by that of Ulysses in the Odyssey , Virgil, in the mouths of fire Anchises will express the relationship of the Roman people to the arts:

"Other hit, I think, bronzes breathing more difficult,

They will draw the marble faces full of life
They plead causes more attractively, describe the movements of the heavens
Their compass and predict the emergence of stars.
You, Roman, remember to lead the people under your empire.
That is what will be your arts: to crown peace through laws,

Be good with the subject and break the proud in war "

Rarely has the contrast between a warlike people and artistic people have been clearer. Yet these are all the contradictions of the Augustan policy towards the arts which are included under the calamus Virgil. Officially, Augustus legitimate power by showing a return to ancient forms of the Republic. It exalts the toga costume cons Greek . In doing so he gave assurances to the conservative aristocracy that dominates the Senate , which has proclaimed the ideal Cato , Cincinnatus , and other ancient Romans. In fact, the case of the Virgilian epic shows, Augustus in no case do the economics of cultural and artistic dimensions of the policy he wants to lead. The new regime that wants to build can certainly reuse the old representations, the old symbols, but must also create their own imagery. It must fall within a relative break from past years of the republic and clan leaders whose egos splendidly embodied in portraits and statues inspired by the practices of the Hellenistic kings. It can not (or does, no doubt) rooted in the traditions of old families patrician , austere taste (or needy), because it is not hostage to the patricians. Augustus therefore chooses a style that is both ancient and relatively poorly represented in Roman art of the ^first century BC. BC : Athenian classicism. On the other hand, it will push artists to invent new forms, representations unpublished unprecedented power, clear images for a regime ambiguous (royal or republican? Human or divine ?...) . From now on, art must be to scale of an empire under one authority and this will be one of the great achievements of Roman art.

Treasury Boscoreale mirror (silver), the ^first century. Muse du Louvre , BJ 2159. Leda and the Swan.

Pliny the Elder

Dignitas artistic Morientes, the dignity of a dying art: these are the terms in which Pliny the Elder Justice painting of his time, which is largely his Natural History . This view seems at once too, for after the Roman painters still decorate the walls in ^the fourth century , 300 years after that final exclamation. Why the difference between the trial of Pliny, usually measured, and the reality remains?

Pliny uses these words to explain that funeral will be talked of old paint, mostly Greek. For the "dying art" according to Pliny, it is the easel painting, on wood or canvas, in his time. Indeed, he cites, among dozens of artists, Zeuxis of Heraclea , Ephesus Parrhasius , Timanthes of Cythnos , Pamphilus of Amphipolis and his pupil Apelles of Cos , all easel painters. It details their most famous works, some of which, he says, have reached perfection. None of the works which he speaks has survived because there remains no vestige of painting, Greek or Roman (except, perhaps, so-called funerary portraits Fayum ). These are frescoes , a different technique, we can see at Pompeii , Herculaneum , Stabiae , Boscoreale Boscotrecase, Oplontis , that is to say about the sites that we have the vast majority of archaeological documents on painting Roman. The prefect of the fleet Misenum says nothing when he holds forth in detail in works forever gone.

Samnite House entrance, fresco first Pompeian style , Herculaneum.

Pliny thus emits no judgments about the mural of his time. Judge it decadent painting easel, but we can never assess the correctness of his views. One might wonder, however, his silence on the frescoes that covered the walls of his contemporaries. Indeed, Pliny died in 79 , during the eruption of Vesuvius . His day is the fulfillment of the Last Pompeian style of painting. It's that time of greater diversity, the greater freedom, the highest point of control of Roman fresco painters. Is that to Pliny, the mural does not have the same rank, the same prestige and glorious history that the same easel painting. Perhaps it is therefore difficult to imagine the agony of painting (easel), he regrets, is concomitant with a change of technique, medium, scale, and probably customers as if pictorial art sought to renew after reaching certain limits.

As often, the general renewal of the conditions in which art has not met immediately unanimity in its favor. One considers the conservative owner of the huge and magnificent house of the Faun in Pompeii , which continues to enlarge and beautify his home, but that does not change the wall decor, yet old, nearly two centuries 79 (First Style) . But unlike Vitruvius , Pliny does not condemn the effort to create the mural painters. He simply ignores. It does not even criticism of easel painters of his time. A good read, there is no aesthetic appreciation, stylistic or sensible in his remarks. What he points out, what are the innovations of the old masters, what they excelled.

Head of the Pugilist Spa discovered in the Baths of Constantine , ^the second century or the ^first century BC. AD. palate Massimo alle Terme , Rome.

The issue of rejection of modern art of his time arises more seriously when Pliny the book lists XXXIV , which deals with copper and bronze statues, countless artists who distinguished themselves, year after year, in the art of bronze. Last year he evokes is the 121st Olympiad (the years -296 - 292 ). Then he writes, "cessavit deinde ars", "then art ceased. This date corresponds exactly to the beginning of the Hellenistic period , one of the brightest for ancient sculpture, which gave us the Pugilist des Thermes bronze and phbe d'Agde , among other masterpieces of bronze.

The fact is that Pliny did not write a cultural history, but a natural history, and, moreover, a moral and philosophical perspective. He speaks of the arts in terms of materials (colored minerals, marble, metal, etc..) And describes its use by men . This practice is good or bad and that assessment is based on criteria that are not aesthetic. Pliny considers the art of his time as threatened by the excess, abuse and waste of property of nature which he holds forth. He contrasts the innovative approach of some artists to use free of unbridled imagination, the art turned to the audience to an art-oriented private ownership, the market . These objections are justified in a philosophical conception of history, for which every society, every people, every political system undergoes a phase of decline inevitable after centuries of progress. For many ancient writers, the death of Alexander the Great meant the beginning of the decline of Greece and its arts, including public speaking. The rise of Rome takes place in parallel with the decline until the conquest of the East come to spoil the Roman virtues.

Mgalographie the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii , circa -60. A young boy reads a text under the gaze of his mother.

. "

"And I reject that the paraphrase is an interpretation, but a contest or rivalry around the same thoughts . "

For Quintilian, there must be progress in the field of art:

"Because, otherwise, where would we be if nobody had done nothing more than to imitate? . "

Quintilian calls are not in vain, because when wealthy Romans want a faithful copy of a famous work, they must explicitly specify that the copy must be accurate . This exceeded the model, in Roman art, will be achieved mainly by the combination of several models within a single work, and adaptation to the environment, from the perspective of an overall composition of the decoration. It is the foundation of Roman eclecticism.

Place of the Artist

Sponsors of honor

Roman society has never known developments which have benefited from the ^fifth century BC. BC , Greek artists. The best among them were found in their lifetime, they have left their famous works and put their names on their achievements. In its natural history , including books XXXV, Pliny the Elder cites dozens of artists' names, ranks them in schools, distinguishes their originality and tells anecdotes about them. They are almost exclusively Greek artists, with the exception of Fabius Pictor and Pacuvius. The uncertainty surrounding the former is revealing: the cognomen "pictor" means "artist", but it is common to a group of senior judges of the Roman ^third century BC. AD. Fabius Pictor is he a painter or a magistrate who had painted the temple of Salus? The text of Pliny shows perfectly that for the Romans, the name of the sponsor, the originator, owner, or even one who gave such a work to do in a temple or portico, is more important than the artist. No artist has therefore left the Roman name similar to that of Praxiteles or Zeuxis.

Ars dicendi ante omnia

This anonymity is obviously not due to poor Roman artists. It is to be sought in cases of both cultural, social and historical. The first of these cases is that for the Romans, is the first literary arts, visual arts production before, so beautiful it is. The education of young Roman was first learning the language, speech, reasoning and numeracy. This taste for the language comes from the place of politics among the elite: they built his career knowing talk, argue, argue, even on the battlefield (the famous speech, or adlocutio). If so many statues - including statues of the dead children died in infancy - we show the Romans holding a scroll of papyrus in his hand and their foot capsa containing a result of their speech is that the Speaking - and also musical, but it's almost the same thing - is considered the pinnacle of engineering.

A relatively humble status

Statue of Marcellus , to -20. Louvre Ma 1207

In Roman society, the word "artist" (artifex) has a different meaning today, it means more "artisan" and "creator". The habit of copying famous models, already present in the Hellenistic Greek art and taken over by artists / artisans Roman confuses the issue. Although it is never identical copies, but rather adaptations or variations around a major work, this approach, since ancient times, helps to diminish the status of the craftsman / artist, whose free expression is apparently destroyed. Finally, reflection artistic and intellectual work that now characterize a sensitive artist were often given a gratuity, but not required and certainly not reciprocated.

Signature of Cleomenes, to -20. Louvre Ma 1207

The work of art in the modern sense was only a low value-added production that was little more than the materials which had formed faber. The workforce was therefore a modest cost. She was bonded for the lowest tasks, we can not qualify as "art". The artist / craftsman, however, sometimes a man was born free, prepaid often, very often a foreigner. In the ^first century BC. AD , we have examples of artists came to Rome as prisoners of war. In 301 , the Edict of Maximum Diocletian fixed the maximum daily rate for members who hold different categories of craftsmen and the parietarius pictor, painter of large surfaces of walls, win, in addition to food, 75 denier, the pictor imaginarius painter complex scenes, won under the same conditions, 150 denier, the mosaic which makes the soil earns 50 pence, the mosaic of arches or walls, 60 pence. The marble cutter (sculptor?) Earns 60 pence. A carpenter earns 50 pence, as the blacksmith, the baker, the lime burner, the dyer. This has nothing to do with a professor of public speaking (250 denier) or a lawyer who pleads to a trial (1000 denier).

It is however certain that customers distinguish very well the best artists and the less gifted. Some reputation around them, they were fashionable or not favorable and their benefits could command high prices. Clearly, the imperial court had recourse to the best. Those sometimes affixing their signatures on their works, like the Hellenistic. This is where the Marcellus Louvre museum, a statue-portrait funeral of nephew and son of Augustus, Marcus Claudius Marcellus. The immense quality of this work leaves no doubt about the closeness of its sponsor with the emperor. A turtle is represented at the feet of Marcellus , because the latter is figured Hermes , the animal is an attribute. On the carapace, one reads in Greek: "Cleomenes the Athenian, son of Cleomenes, Adapting the middle

But, with the exception of funeral industry, the plastic arts is primarily seen as a decoration, an ornament. Cicero's correspondence shows this very well: it's not about bringing the best teachers Athenian statues to admire, but to enhance its palestra . The staging and layout are paramount. One has the impression that the Roman point of view on art is an architect's perspective. Archaeological findings (eg Bavay in the North ), show that the sponsors do not hesitate to finance statues copied from Greek masterpieces to form groups unexpected (but not devoid of meaning), even pop groups as units designed - as Invitation to the dance known on coins of Cyzicus the ^second century BC. AD - the intention to decorate a place, not without leaving room for new meanings.

Statue of Augustus as Pontifex Maximus , -12 - 14. Museo Nazionale Romano , Rome, Inv. 56230. Discovered on the Via Labicana. The head and arms were carved separately.

Economic factors

Veiled head of Augustus from the Via Labicana. National Roman Museum. The gown is an ordinary job, while his face showed great sensitivity.

Another factor that hinders the emergence of strong personalities artists, especially evident in the sculpture: it seems that in Rome than in Greece, the division of labor in the workshops has been taken to extremes. It has long been known that the burden of carving in stone and that of a face sculpt a body could only rarely gown fall to the same hand, as shown clearly the Augustus of the Via Labicana. But it seems that the task of sculpting the hair has been restricted to less gifted arm or more specialized. It is not certain that Horace in his Epistle to exaggerate Pisoni, when he writes: "Almost circus Emilia, one artist will make the nails, and imitate the bronze in the flexibility of the hair, unhappy perfection of art ! Because it will not bring a whole . "

This division of labor is associated with the practice outlined in the Hellenistic period, but used extensively in the empire: make use of the heads by placing several pieces of marble - usually the face, skull and occiput - glued or mortised together. It is, if a speaker makes a mistake, you can easily "fix" for the sake of saving the best raw material that weighs heavily in the cost, because of the smallness of the hand of work.

Details at the bottom of the tank of the sarcophagus of Saint-Medard-d'Eyrans (Near Bordeaux ): Centauress and child, to 230-240. Louvre Ma 1346

Production and artistic freedom for everyone

In conclusion, one may wonder whether the deletion of the artists behind their principals was not an opportunity for Roman art. First, it has a real generalization of art, failing to speak of "democratization." Certainly, even in the most remote provinces, even among foreign financial and intellectual elites, art is not considered reserved for a privileged category of the population. Besides the existence of "galleries" open to the public (as the Atrium Libertatis ), modest homes and even caves , were often decorated with frescoes. On the other hand, the multiplicity of clients and the fact that she was unconcerned by issues properly arts have certainly increased the margin of freedom of the artist / craftsman. The inventiveness, variety and spontaneity of Roman art were dependent on the situation. Presumably a fringe customer cared little for the more or less academic scene carved on the front of a sarcophagus. If the type (hunting scenes work of Hercules , College of Muses ...) pleased him, she did not try to see or criticize the innovations, small details, the stylistic touches that make the charm of many reliefs, many frescoes and mosaics, many silver vases.

Features and success of Roman art

Group of Mars and Venus, ^the second century. Louvre Ma 1009

The extension of Greek art to original productions, the transition is gradual. One of the meanings of "eclecticism" as condemned in Roman art, is that very early, which is the vocabulary is Greek (Greek statuary types ...), and what is Roman c ' is the syntax (how to arrange the elements into something new). Thus, in ^the second century , the sculptural group of Mars and Venus, like that of the Louvre , is the juxtaposition of an Aphrodite of Capua type (a creation of Greek ^fourth century BC. , which the Venus de Milo is a copy ... Hellenistic), which is reflected in a shield, and a Mars -type Borghese (a work of Alcmene the ^fifth century BC. ). The meaning is hijacked: Venus dresses and does her lover admires most in a mirror.

General Tivoli , ^second century BC. BC Museo Nazionale Romano , Rome

Similarly, from the ^second century BC. AD , portraits of the late Roman Republic are carved on the body copied from the Greek tradition of heroic nude. However, the portraits 'Republicans' show faces dug wrinkles, bald heads, noses Pourtales, not for the sake of realism or likeness, but to give flesh to the aristocratic ideals of severity, gravitas, frugal (just as came the luxury of sweeping conquests Eastern Rome ). The success of Roman art, shown in the statue of General de Tivoli (Rome, Roman National Museum ), is to combine seemingly contradictory forms, no historical connection between them, in a harmonious whole and meaningful. Such a mixture is unknown in the Greek world.

A Roman art and Roman art?

The Maison Carree in Nimes

When we talk about Roman art, should be regarded as monuments of Rome? The Maison Carree in Nimes : Roman art or Gallo-Roman ?

For many years it was thought that Rome invented models and they were broadcasting in the provinces (bastardized Roman art), and it was going in one direction only. Somebody had the idea of a degeneration of the center to the periphery.

Now Rome is a city banned. The Romans do not like innovation. The word nova res means innovation is a pejorative word, synonymous with revolution, that is to say what is worse for the Romans. For the Romans it is necessary, even in the realm of art, stay in tradition. In fact everything changes. These changes occur in the provinces, far from Rome. And they return to Rome with a certain length, and are therefore accepted.

Production

Roman bust of a woman, ca 80 AD. AD , the Munich Glyptotek (Inv. 333)

Sculpture

Main article: Roman Sculpture.

Roman sculpture was largely inspired by models of Greek , especially bronzes. It is through Roman copies that we know of many Greek originals no longer exist.

Contrary to the thinking of the first archaeologists , Roman statues, as the Greeks were multicolored. The Romans used either the painting or the mixture of materials ( marble and porphyry , for example) that was used almost exclusively by the Romans because of its cost.

Even if it is inspired by Greek sculpture, Roman sculpture has its own peculiarities as the invention of the bust and the democratization of the portrait. In addition, she has produced a blending of styles in the areas under imperium which already had their own way, like Egypt or the eastern provinces.

Porte de Mars, the longer arc of the Roman world in Reims

Architecture

Main article: Roman architecture.

Rome has developed a considerable architectural expertise. amphitheatres , theaters , triumphal arches , basilicas , aqueducts , Roman baths , markets ( macellum ) and temples are built of stone, cement and bricks, which are characterized by their systems vaults : composite or Tuscan.

Mosaic of Pompeii , preserved at Naples

Mosaic

Main article: Mosaic.

Mosaic (the ancient Greek mouseion the Latin opus Musivum, "Apparatus of stones belonging to the Muses ") is a decorative art used extensively in ancient Rome, for the interior decoration of houses and temples. It uses fragments of stone and marble assembled with plaster to form patterns or figures.

It is particularly associated with Pompeii or Herculaneum.

Several processes coexist. The most famous opus tessellatum, employs as tesserae of abacules, that is to say, small cubes of stone, either directly glued on the surface to be paved, or on an intermediate coating. There is also the'' sectile opus , which uses fragments of unequal sizes of stone or marble.

Three schools are distinguished :

• The Roman school, characterized by linear designs on neutral backgrounds.
• The Syrian school (whose main production is Antioch). The forms used are simplified, and the proportions are not respected.
• African schools (with Carthage for the main center) who develops a sense of perspective, model, and a rich palette of colors.

The themes of Roman mosaics are essentially mythological animal.

Painter with a statue and a painted picture. Pompeii

Painting

Main article: Roman Painting.

Our knowledge of Roman painting is largely due to the preservation of sites of Pompeii , Herculaneum , Oplontis and Stabiae after the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 of the Christian era. Nothing remains of Greek paintings away to Rome to ^IV and III ^centuryBC. AD and paintings on wood produced in Italy. Pliny the Elder told explicitly to 69-79 AD. AD as the only true painting resided in the paintings on wood and it had almost disappeared in his time, in favor of murals that showed more wealth than owners of artistic research.

It takes longer distinguish the Hellenistic tradition of painting directly and Roman painting. Hellenistic painting - chased by Greek painters - progressively fading, replaced by Roman painting. Following the tradition medio-Italic, she says "more and more difficulty" Greek directories until ^the second century. From the ^third century , the advent of a new civilization renews pictorial themes. We have indirect evidence of this revival in the mosaics of the period and the first Byzantine miniatures.

The mural

Main article: Pompeian style.

Are traditionally distinguished four periods in the mural, which follow the classification of Pompeian styles of August Mau , a German archaeologist.

Love punished. fresco of the first style, a copy of an original Greek.

Prime style

The first style - said inlays, in use from the mid ^second century BC. AD until -80 - is characterized by an evocation of the marble and the use of bright colors. This style is a replica of the palace of oriental Ptolemies , whose walls were truly beautiful inlaid stones and marbles. There are also reproductions of wall paintings in Greece.

Still life style of the second. Fresco of the house of Julia Felix, Pompeii

Second Style

In the second style - or period architecture, which dominates the ^first century BC. AD - the walls are decorated with large compositions in architectural trompe l'oeil. This technique consists in bringing relief elements to make them look real, for example, drawing a column that will pass for an element of the architecture of the building where the work is exposed, was widely used by Romans. At the time of Augustus , the second style is evolving. The false walls open architectures with large funds dedicated to the compositions. A structure inspired stage sets is repeated, and with beautiful frescoes

Third style

The third style is the result to -20 - -10 of a reaction to the austerity of the previous period. It leaves room for more figurative decorations and stained with an aim primarily ornamental and often presents a great workmanship. It is found in Rome until 40 at Pompeii and its surroundings until 60.

Fourth style fresco. Pompeii

Fourth style

Finally, the fourth style - style or fantastic - appeared around 60 - 63 , achieved a synthesis between the second style illusionist and the tendency of the third decorative and figurative style. Returning to the technical style perspective, it becomes overloaded with ornaments. A typical element of this phase is the use of figures detached from the context of an array, and integrated into an architecture close to the stage sets.

The fourth style was of great importance in art history. After the fire of Rome in 64 , Nero built a large palace called the Domus Aurea. Following his suicide in 68 , the land had been requisitioned are handed down by the senate for public use and construct new buildings that remain in certain rooms of the palace. These large rooms have become groundwater, are rediscovered in the Renaissance by artists who make copies of wall paintings. Because of their origin, these works are referred to as " grotesque "and strangeness gave then another meaning to the term.

Pliny the Elder presents Fabullus as one of the major painters of the Domus Aurea: "More recently also the painter lived Fabullus, severe and dignified style while being bright and fluid. In his hand was a Minerva, who, from whatever side it's contemplative, his eyes were directed towards the viewer. He painted only a few hours a day, and this with dignity, because even on his scaffolding, he was always dressed in a robe. The Golden House was the prison of his art "

One can see in this succession of styles tension between the tendency illusionist, who is from Greece, and the trend is a reflection ornamental tradition italics and influence of the East.

Villa Boscotrecase , Pompeii. Second style

A variety of topics

Roman painting provides a wide variety of subjects: animals, still lifes, scenes of everyday life. It evokes the pleasures of the countryside for the urban wealthy and represents the shepherds, herds, rustic temples, rural homes and rural landscapes and mountainous.

The main innovation of Roman painting compared to Greek art is the depiction of landscapes, with input from a technical perspective. The art of the ancient East would have known the landscape as a backdrop to scenes of civilian or military . The argument put forward by Franz Wickhoff is debatable. It is possible to see in the Critias of Plato (107b-108b) a testimony of Greek know-how for the representation of landscapes: " . "

Detail of the Antonine column. Drawing by Violet le Duc

The paintings triumphant

From the ^third century BC. AD a particular kind of painting is the triumphal paintings, narrated by literary evidence / Sup>. These are paintings that were worn in the procession of triumph after the military victories. They represented episodes of the war, the conquered cities and regions. Summary maps were indicated to show the highlights of the campaign. Thus Josephus Flavius described the painting executed in the triumph of Vespasian and Titus after the capture of Jerusalem: "The war there was figured in many episodes, forming as many sections which offered the most accurate representation, we could see prosperous a country devastated, whole battalions of enemies cut to pieces, some fled, others taken captive: the walls of a height surprisingly toppled by machines; strong fortresses conquered; enclosure cities full of people spilled from top to bottom: an army spreading inside the walls, while a land flowing with carnage, the supplications of those who are unable to sustain the fight, the fire put to sacred buildings and the destruction of houses s' knocking on their owners: finally, after all this devastation, all this sadness, rivers, far from flowing between the shores of cultivated land, away from drink men and beasts, pass through an area completely devastated by the fire. Because that is what the Jews had to suffer through engaging in the war. The art and the large size of these images put the events in the eyes of those who had not seen and made it as witnesses. On each of the scaffolding had been figured as the head of the city taken by storm in the attitude which he had been taken prisoner described the oldest painting in Rome found in a tomb on the Esquiline: "It represents a historic scene, described on a light background, in four overlapping areas. Some characters are shown, such Fannius Marcus and Marcus Fabius. These are larger than other figures . "

The identification of the episode is uncertain. Among the hypotheses, Ranuccio holds a victory for the consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus during the second war against the Samnites in 326. The representation of characters with sizes proportional to their importance is typically Roman, and is found in the reliefs of the plebeian art. This painting is a incunabulum paint triumphant, and was completed around the beginning of the ^third century BC. BC to decorate the grave of a descendant of Quintus Fabius.

Notes

References

1. Taranto is under siege from the Roman consuls Sp Carvilius and L. Papirius Cursor in -272 , but she had preserved her property.
2. Plutarch , Life of Paulus , XXXI, 86: "The triumphal procession was over three days, the first of which is barely enough to parade statues, tables and columns taken from the enemy which occupied two hundred and fifty tanks. " (Translation Latzarus Bernard, 1950)
3. Plutarch , Life of Marcellus, XXI, 4-7: "As he Marcellus was more appreciated by the people, to be ornament embellished Rome pleasant and varied, full of charms and attractions of Greece. But the old men preferred Fabius Maximus, because it was not looted and carried away anything of the sort, after the capture of Tarentum Bibliography
   • Herv Loilier , Art History, Presses de l'Ecole Polytechnique, 1994
   • Ernst Gombrich , Art History, Flammarion
   • Marie-Anne Caradec, Art History, editions of organization, 1997
   • Ranuccio, Bianchi Bandinelli, Rome, the center of power, The world of forms, Gallimard
   • Pliny the Elder , Natural History Related articles
     • Roman Empire
     • Music of Ancient Rome
     • Art of Ancient Greece
     • Etruscan Art
     • Becoming dissolution and in Roman Wall-Painting (Dissolution and become the Roman wall painting. Introduction to French)

     External Links

     • Category OpenDirectory on Roman art at dmoz.org
     • Folder on interior decoration in Pompeii on www.fcomte.iufm.fr

     
     

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     • Ancient Rome portal
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