Roman Art
Visual Arts of Ancient Rome: History of Sculpture, Murals, Panel Paintings, Architectural Arts of Ancient Rome: Famous Artists: Trajan's Column.
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Roman Art (750 BCE - 200 CE)

Although Rome was founded in 750 BCE, it led a precarious existence for several centuries. Initially, Rome was ruled by Etruscan kings who commissioned a variety of Etruscan-style paintings and sculptures for their tombs and palaces, and to celebrate their military victories. After the founding of the Roman Republic in 500 BCE, Etruscan influence waned and, from 300 BCE, as the Romans started coming into contact with the flourishing Greek cities of southern Italy and the eastern Mediterranean, they fell under the influence of Greek art and culture - a process known as Hellenization. Soon many Greek works of art were being taken to Rome as booty, and many Greek artists followed to pursue their careers under Roman patronage.

Status of Art in Rome

However, the arts were still not a priority for Roman leaders who were more concerned about survival and military affairs. It wasn't until about 200 BCE when it won the first Punic War against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, that Rome felt secure enough to develop its culture. Even then, the absence of an independent cultural tradition of its own meant that most Roman painting and sculpture was highly derivative of Greek artworks. In fact, Rome was unique among the imperial powers of the ancient world in developing only a limited artistic language of its own. Roman architecture and engineering was never less than bold, but its paintings and sculptures were largely imitative of Greek art and influenced also by art forms in its vassal states like Egypt and Persia.

Roman Art Seen as Inferior to Greek Art

To put it another way, despite their huge military successes, the Romans had an inferiority complex in the face of Greek artistic achievement. Their ultra-pragmatic response was to recycle Greek sculpture at every opportunity. Greek poses, reworked with Roman clothes and accessories, were pressed into service to reinforce Roman power. Heroic Greek statues would even be supplied headless, to enable the buyer to fit his own portrait head. An example is the equestrian bronze statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (c.175 BCE), whose stance is reworked from the Greek sculpture "Doryphorus" (c.440 BCE).

Style of Roman Art

Like the Romans themselves, early Roman art (c.510 BCE to 27 BCE) tended to be representational, realistic and direct. Portraits in both paintings and sculpture were typically detailed and unidealized, although later during the Imperial age of Augustus onwards Hellenistic-Roman art (c.27 BCE - 200 CE), the Romans were keenly aware of their propaganda value, and sought to convey political messages through the poses and subject matter, particularly in portraits of their Emperors, as well as in reliefs, friezes and wall paintings. For example, when commemorating a battle, the artwork used would be executed in a realistic - almost 'documentary' style. This realistic down-to-earth Roman style of art contrasts with that of Greek artists who typically celebrated their military achievements indirectly, using mythological allegories.

Roman Sculpture

Heavily influenced by Greek statues and reliefs of the Hellenistic period, Roman sculpture includes free-standing statues, reliefs or friezes and busts, in bronze or stone. Being designed as public art, their impact on the viewer was paramount. Thus many Roman sculptures (like many examples of Roman architecture) were designed to impress the public - be they Roman citizens or 'barbarians' - and communicate the power and majesty of Rome. Reliefs and friezes of military scenes were highly detailed, while the mood and expressions of Roman statues was typically solemn and unsmiling. Imperial or military groups of figures were carefully arranged to reflect rank. As Rome grew more confident from the reign of Augustus (31 BCE - 14 CE), Emperors and other sculpture-subjects might appear in more magnanimous poses, but gravitas and an underlying sense of Roman greatness was never far from the surface of most Roman sculpture.

Portrait Busts and Statues

These artworks are seen as the most important Roman contribution to the sculpture of Antiquity. Effigies of Roman leaders had been displayed in public places for centuries, but with the onset of Empire in the late first-century BCE, stone or bronze representations of the Emperor - which were copied en masse and sent to all parts of the Roman world - served an important function in reminding people of Rome's reach. In addition, one of the greatest contributions of Roman sculpture to the history of art, lies in its replication of original Greek statues, most of which have disappeared. Without these copies, Greek art would never have received the appreciation it deserves, and the Renaissance (and Western Art along with it) might have taken a very different course.

Roman Painting

Most surviving Roman paintings are from Pompeii and Herculanum, as the erruption of Vesuvius in 79 helped to preserve them. Most of the Pompeii paintings are decorative murals, featuring seascapes and landscapes, and were painted by skilled 'interior decorators' rather than genuine artists - a clue to the function of art in Roman society.

Panel Paintings

In Rome, as in Greece, the highest form of painting was panel painting. These pictures were executed using the encaustic or tempera methods. Unfortunately, only a handful of panel paintings have survived, one of the best examples being the "Severan Tondo" (c.200 BCE), a picture of the imperial family.

Triumphal Paintings

Roman artists were also frequently commissioned to produce pictures highlighting military successes - a form known as Triumphal Painting. Typically, these paintings would depict the battle or campaign in meticulous detail, and might incorporate mixed-media adornments and map designs to inform and impress the public.

Mural Paintings

Roman murals - executed either "al fresco" with paint being applied to wet plaster, or "al secco" using paint on dry walls - are usually classified into four periods, as set out by the German archaeologist August Mau following his excavations at Pompeii.

The first style (c.200-80 BCE), also known as incrustation or masonry style, was derived from Hellenistic palaces in the Middle East. It uses vivid colours and simulates the appearance of marble.

The second style of Roman murals aimed to create the illusion of extra space by painting pictures with significant depth, such as views overlooking a garden or other landscape. In time, the style developed to cover the entire wall, creating the impression that one was looking out of a room onto a real scene.

The third style was more ornamental with less illusion of depth. The wall was divided into precise zones, using pictures of columns or foliage. Scenes painted in the zones were typically either exotic representations of real or imaginery animals, or merely monochromatic linear drawings.

The fourth style was a mixture of the previous two styles. During the period of Late Roman Art (c.200-400 CE) depth returned to the mural but it was executed more decoratively, with greater use of ornamentation. For example, the artist might paint several windows which, instead of looking out onto a landscape or cityscape, showed scenes from Greek myths or other fantasy scenes, including still lifes.

Fusion of Roman Art and Other Forms

The Roman Empire incorporated a host of different nationalities, religious groups and associated styles of art. Roman and Celtic art (Hallstatt/La Tene) mingled, along with numerous other styles in Spain and Egypt to name but two cultures within the Pax Romana. Christian Roman art was another form which appeared both in Ancient Rome and further afield, from about 315 CE onwards.

• For more information about classical painting and sculpture, see: Irish Visual Art.

• How to Update This Mini Review of Roman Art.

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