Art of the Roman Empire

Charlene Melecio

Art Appreciation 120

Sharon R. Zelevas

June 25, 2011

Art of The Roman Empire

Roman Art is a representational of their civilization, sophistication in sculpting, and of their

very famous empire and their emperors. Although the Roman 's improved sculpting many of their ideas

came from the earlier Greek civilization that perfected the human anatomy. Romans used the

foundation the Greeks had accomplished years before to improve sculpting and use it as a way to pay

tribute to their emperors. Roman art is categorized according to their span of governments over time. In

the early period of Roman art the republic to the empire period their art improves in portraying

realistic people and celebrating individualism.

During the Republic period of the Roman Empire the Roman 's incorporated very realistic

sculptures of people such as the carving of the Roman Patrician where you can see very detailed

sculpting of the three men and each have individual features unlike the Greeks who would compress

the best features into their sculptures. Romans would also carve in marble unlike the Greek who would

carve in stone and because of that Roman sculptures are better intact than Greek sculptures. During the

Empire period they would sculpt public buildings for people and they would carve them with much

detail but still with greek influence. In the Late empire during early christianity much of the art work

was very emperor driven much was to the emperors request and it wasn 't just sculptures any more they

had more of a humanistic feel, the viewer could try to find the deeper meaning.

The Art Institute of Chicago holds Roman art including paintings and sculptures. Romans

would sculpt with a purpose or message such as warriors or heroic scenes. The most common scenes

were those of modest and natural works that you would see happening in everyday Rome like that of

The Roman Patrician with Busts of His Ancestor (c. 100 BC). Rome

Republic

Statue of a Seated Woman

2nd Century A.D.

The Art Institute of Chicago

You can tell the statue is Roman because it has greek influence in the carving of the body but it has a

more realistic perspective because it is not perfect and greek statues always have movement.It also

displays the drapery very close to the body making it look like if it were moving. Overall it is a carving

of what anyone person could be doing unlike the greeks that would carve their gods mostly.

Roman

Republic

Portrait of Emperor Hadrian

2nd Century A.D.

The Art Institute of Chicago

The statue of the emperor can right away be

recognized as roman because of such detail

of the face. Romans were very interested in

carving real people and in individualism. Also Romans would carve their emperors. There is very much

detail in this carving from the life size face to the details such as the beard and the hair. You can even

see some what of a very serious face on the statue a very real expression not smiling or frowning.

Portrait sculptures were more commonly found and would be a tribute to any Roman but especially the

emperors.

Roman

Republic

Fragment of a Portrait Statue of an Emperor

Late 150- early 2nd Century A.D.

The Art Institute of Chicago

Statues of the torso were not as commonly found as much

as that of portrait sculptures. You can see the greek

influence in the great detail to the anatomy of the body.

You can tell the statue is Roman because of the drapery

technique that the Romans would use to make the illusion

of movement. Also greek sculptures would not be this

adorned with detail they were much more simple and in

this particular sculpture there is much detail in the clothing and you can tell he is an emperor because

of the style of the clothes, it has a very royal look to it. Roman

Republic

Statue of Aphrodite of Knidos

2nd Century A.D.

The Art Institute of Chicago

The statue is very greek in the sense that it depicts the human

anatomy very well. It is also not adorned with detail in which the

Romans most often did. This draws to the conclusion that this is a

Roman duplicate of a greek sculpture of Aphrodite. The Romans

duplicated much of the greek 's work and because of that today we

know of so much of the greek works and because it was carved out of marble instead of stone it was much durable over time unlike the greek originals.

Roman

Republic

Portrait Bust of a Women

A.D. 140/50

The Art Institute of Chicago

Again we see in another portrait sculpture in this

on we can see the detail of the woman 's face. It is

life size and very realistic looking. She looks like

an everyday Roman women not royalty at all. We

see again the technique of drapery close to the

body. The detail in her hair is very beautiful and simple, you can see somewhat of a hair band of

flowers. Her face has a very blank look not much emotion.

Over the course in history the Roman Empire is widely known for its improvements in politics,

art, and the diversity of Rome unlike any other civilization at their time. Much of Roman culture was

adapted from the Greek 's but the Roman 's just improved their technique and they also acquired new

forms of art. The Romans were far more realistic than the Greek. In the later years of the Roman

Empire they began to sculpt public buildings and different architecture. There architecture was very

much like their statue very life like and with great detail still keeping the individualism of the people.

Most architectures were made for their emperors or for important people. The Ara Pacis Augustae was

made for king Augustaus and in the very architecture you see carved in the interest of the king such as

children and family but also telling a narrative story. The Romans were a fascinating culture that took

the prior knowledge of others and made it their own with their own perspective. In their art you can see

how important society was to them and how they worshiped their emperors.

Works Cited

Pankti. "Art of Ancient Rome." Kyrene School District - Redirect. Web. 27 June 2011. .

"Roman Antiquities and Culture." Roman Antiquities | Ancient Roman Artifacts | Roman Culture. Web. 27 June 2011.

"Roman Art." Roman Antiquities | Ancient Roman Artifacts | Roman Culture. Web. 27 June 2011. .

Wikipedia contributors. "Roman art." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Jun. 2011. Web. 27 Jun. 2011.

Cited: Pankti. "Art of Ancient Rome." Kyrene School District - Redirect. Web. 27 June 2011. . "Roman Antiquities and Culture." Roman Antiquities | Ancient Roman Artifacts | Roman Culture. Web. 27 June 2011. "Roman Art." Roman Antiquities | Ancient Roman Artifacts | Roman Culture. Web. 27 June 2011. . Wikipedia contributors. "Roman art." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Jun. 2011. Web. 27 Jun. 2011.