Ancient Roman Art
One of the clearest pieces of evidence for the success of ancient Roman society is the fact that, even today, most people have a basic understanding of their aesthetic tastes.
It is easy to imagine what sorts of clothes a Roman citizen might wear or the types of things they liked to do for entertainment.
Another instantly recognizable Roman style was their artistic expression, with its colorful mosaics, stunning painted scenes, and marble busts. Many ancient Roman artistic styles and developments would be utilized for centuries after the fall of Rome, and some are even common in the modern day.
Greek Influence
Like so many other aspects of Roman culture, its artistic traditions were inherited from the ancient Greek world during a period of Hellenization that occurred in Rome during the Early Republic era. This influence is easy to see in artistic depictions of their shared pantheon of gods, for example, but the Romans would make this style distinctly their own.
The Roman art forms of free-standing sculpture, bronze casting, vase art, mosaics, cameos, jewelry, metalwork, portrait and landscape painting, and architectural sculpture were all pioneered by the ancient Greeks. The Roman traditions of poetry and drama are also inherited directly from Greek influences.
One of the only exceptions is the Roman bust sculpture, devoid of shoulders, which is believed to be of Etruscan origin.
In some cases, these art forms were more advanced in the times of Greek cultural dominance than they were in the age of Roman supremacy. This was something that the ancient Romans themselves recognized, and they held Greek artisans such as Apollodorus, Polygnotos, Zeuxis, and Skopas in the highest regard.
They reproduced and mimicked Greek art so prolifically that much of what modern historians know about Greek painting and other art forms has been learned from the Romans’ copying of that style.
Despite the clear similarities and respect the ancient Romans had for Greek art, they had very different views of its place in society.
The Greeks were known for their deep philosophical views regarding aesthetics, which held that art was important because its existence brings pleasure to people, and also because it is a vital means of expressing certain social ideas or critiques of government.
By contrast, the Romans saw art much more for its ornamental value and its ability to demonstrate wealth and social standing. For example, the Romans did not have a scholastic study of art or art history, and Roman artists frequently did not even sign their own work.
Both of these habits are the opposite of what the Greeks practiced.
Painting
Studying Roman painting techniques is difficult because so little of it has survived. There are only a few scant examples of wall paintings in Rome itself and a few other places that were preserved for one reason or another, such as Pompeii. The subjects were the same that have been repeated throughout art’s history, like portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and religious scenes.
Of the portraits that have survived, almost all of them come from Egypt during its period of Roman domination. These are called Fayum mummy portraits, and are fairly common compared to other Roman paintings because middle class citizens would often commission them. Due to Egypt’s own deep history of art, these portraits are believed to have their own distinct regional style, but still representative of Roman portrait trends in general.
Another frequent subject of Roman painting were scenes depicting myths and legends involving their pantheon of pagan gods, which was shared with the Greeks. In the late Imperial Era, Christian imagery began to mingle with these traditional pagan elements.
The Romans also painted natural landscapes, where they developed several new techniques for improving the accuracy of the perspective in these paintings.
One uniquely Roman type of painting was the triumphal painting. These were part of the Roman triumph that celebrated major military victories and depicted the geographical region that was conquered alongside scenes of pivotal moments or battles. Unfortunately, none of these triumphal paintings have survived, so historians only have access to descriptions of them.
Sculpture
Traditionally speaking, ancient Roman sculpture is divided into five separate categories:
- Portraiture
- Sarcophagi
- Historical Relief
- Funerary Relief
- Copies of Greek Works
While Roman sculptors had deep Greek influences similar to other Roman artisans, the first two styles of portraiture and sarcophagi predate the Hellenization of ancient Rome.
The ancient Etruscans built complex sculptures of prominent people lying down in repose that were then used as a sort of gravestone when those people died.
The Etrsuscan people were an early Roman conquest, which led to the Roman adoption of this type of sculpture.
Over the centuries, the Romans would adapt the Etruscan sarcophagi style of sculpture into a more broad genre of human portraiture that was focused on the head of the person being depicted. This would become the uniquely Roman sculpture form of small marble busts that is so instantly recognizable as Roman today.
These busts were quite common in Roman society, being frequently commissioned by wealthy families or made in honor of rulers and generals who had won great victories.
When Rome conquered much of historically Greek territory, it caused many Greek sculptors to be brought to Rome and the surrounding area. This greatly influenced the quality of the sculpting that Romans were capable of producing.
While Roman sculptors never developed the skills to attempt some of the amazing free-standing statues of heroes and gods that were achieved in earlier times of Greek cultural supremacy, they became quite skilled at producing sculptures in relief. These were usually made to honor Roman victories in battle or to honor great Romans who had died.
The greatest of these works were the famous triumphal columns, which had narratives of successful military campaigns played out in sequence along their surfaces. The Romans were also known for copying some of the more simple Greek sculpture forms. Many more of these Roman copies exist today than Greek originals.
By the late Imperial Era in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, the quality of Roman sculpture had declined significantly. Works produced in that time had noticeably inferior proportions and details. The exact reasons for this are the subject of ongoing academic debate, although many historians point to the advent of Christianity in ancient Rome bringing about a reduced emphasis on sculpture in general.
Decorative Art
The most common forms of art in ancient Rome were the so-called minor or decorative arts. These included disciplines like pottery, glass making, mosaic, and metalwork that one would encounter in everyday life.
Pottery flourished in ancient Rome, creating both opulent centerpieces for the wealthiest families as well as utilitarian pots such as amphorae and terracotta figurines that were used by common citizens.
Glass and metalworking were also highly developed forms of art in Roman society. This was particularly true in the case of jewelry, which was often crafted by finely sculpted iron, silver, or gold and adorned with vibrantly colored glass beads that were said to be easily mistaken for genuine gemstones.
Roman mosaics were considered merely decorative because they were used on the floors, walls, and ceilings of people's homes, even though they were often created on massive scales depicting complicated historical and religious events.
There were two distinct types of mosaic in Rome: opus tessellatum was produced on-site by small tiles of roughly 4mm across, while opus vermiculatum was produced of larger tiles in a workshop and then moved to their final location once completed.
Mosaics entered the realm of high art in Roman society during the late Imperial Era when early Christians began using them to depict religious scenes on the walls of their churches.
Drama and Theatre
Dramas in the ancient world were a type of stage play that was developed in the Greek world, typically performed in small theatres or larger amphitheatres.
The purpose of these productions was primarily to entertain, but it would become a nuanced artform complete with satire, social commentary, and moral messages.
While there is evidence that Greek dramas were translated into Latinate languages and performed in Roman territory as early as the 4th century BC, the first certain instance of a Greek drama being translated into Latin for Roman audiences was by Livius Adronicus in 240 BC.
He had translated a play about the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter as part of a celebration for that god. What followed was a tradition of Roman drama that would carry on well into the Imperial Era.
While the range of topics that might be portrayed in Roman dramas was quite wide, like Greek dramas, they fall broadly under one of two categories: comedy or tragedy.
As the name suggests, a comedy was a farcical or exaggerated depiction of an everyday situation that was intended to be humorous to the audience while highlighting some absurdity or social ill.
Most of what historians know about Roman comedy comes from the works of two playwrights, Plautus and Terence, whose works have survived (Related Forum discussion: Roman Theatre). All of these surviving works depict Greek subjects in Greek settings.
Conversely, a tragedy depicts miserable events where the main character experiences significant hardship. This is intended to create a feeling of catharsis in the audience and bring attention to or honor certain events.
Almost all of the Roman tragedies that have survived come from the playwright Seneca, who was believed to have a very distinct personal style. Like the surviving Roman comedies, all of these tragedies portray Greeks in Greek settings.
