Art 1100

Joan Jonas“They Come to Us without a Word”U.S. Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 2015

RomeThe republic.

Rome

Next to the Greeks, Roman culture has had the most lasting influence on Western culture. The Roman's drew heavily on Greek culture and mythology for their culture. In fact most Greek deities have Roman equivalents, for instance Greece's Aphrodite was Rome's Venus. Rome came of age during the Hellenistic Period. The Romans were great admirers of Greek achievements in the arts.

Stages of the Roman Empire

The “Republic” (509–27 B.C.E)

The Roman Empire (27 B.C.E. –283 C.E.)27 B.C.E. The “Julio-Claudians” form the empire.

Key figure: Augustus.69 B.C.E Roman Civil war ends in the “Flavian dynasty”

Key figure: Titus.96- 190 C.E. “The Antoines”

Key figure: Trajan.

The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)313 C.E. Constantine declares religious tolerance.

Key figure: Constantine.

The “Republic” (509–27 B.C.E)

In less than 53 years between 200-146 BCE as a result of wars with the remainders of the Greek empire and Carthage the Roman Empire grew to encompass the entire Mediterranean.

The quick rise of the empire helped buid the myth that it was “divinely caused”. Much like the talk around early American westward expansion, “Manifest Destiny”.

Rome experienced a long series of civil wars, political crises, and civil disturbances that culminated with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar and his assassination on March 15, 44 B.C.

And by Augustus’ death in 14 C.E. Rome controlled even more of the Meditteranean, Egypt and the Middle East

Augustus of Prima Porta, early 1st century C.E. Marble

, 6' 8" high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.

After Julius Caesar's death, the task of reforming the Roman state and restoring peace and stability fell to his grandnephew, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, who despite being only eighteen years old, removed all Republican opposition to his complete control of the empire and was granted the title of Augustus in 27 B.C.E.

The Roman Empire (27 B.C.E. –283 C.E.)

Ara Pacis AugustaeCreation Date: 13

BCE

To inaugurate the newly peaceful empire, Augustus built the Ara Pacis or “Altar to Peace”

The figure on the left is probably Augustus, he wears a laurel wreath and a veil since he is portrayed as a priest.

Built to celebrate Augustus' triumphant return from the wars in Spain and Gaul this altar to Peace was located in the Campus Martius (the Field of War), a place where the military did exercises.

1). Realistic portrayals of individuals as opposed to idealized portrayals of generic people.

2). The Romans were great admirers of Greek achievements in the arts and they often duplicated Greek art.

3). Profound respect for family and ancestry, and a principal funeral practice involved the public display of portraits of distinguished ancestors at the funeral of family members.

Roman Sculpture

Portrait bust of a man, 1st century b.c.; RepublicanRomanMarble

Rome came of age during the Hellenistic Period. The Romans were great admirers of Greek achievements in the arts. They often duplicated Greek art, as we saw in the copy in the previous slide.

One aspect of Hellenistic art was its tendency toward realistic portrayals of individuals as opposed to idealized portrayals of generic people. Roman sculptors excelled in realism with ordinary citizens. The husband in the next slide shows signs of aging through facial wrinkles, but he is portrayed as patient and experienced. His wife is depicted as supportive and kind. The Roman virtues of fides (faith or fidelity) and concordia (harmony) seem to be personified in this double bust.

Roman Sculpture

Double Portrait of Gratidia M.L. Chrite

and M, Gratidius Libanus, Late 1st century B.C.E.

The Roman (and Stoic) virtues of fides (faith or fidelity) and concordia (harmony) seem to be personified in this double bust.

Relief portrait of the emperor Lucius Verus, ca. 166–170; Antonine

Rome

Because the Romans considered facial features to be the best conveyors of personality, age and wisdom gained through life experience were accentuated in portraiture in order to project the qualities they valued most highly.

Funerary altar of Cominia Tyche, Flavian or Trajanic, ca. 90–100 CERomanMarble

Funerary altar of Cominia Tyche, Flavian or Trajanic, ca. 90–100 CERomanMarble

The woman whose portrait dominates the front of this funerary altar is identified by the Latin inscription below her. It reads: "To the spirits of the dead. Lucius Annius Festus [set this up] for the most saintly Cominia Tyche, his most chaste and loving wife, who lived 27 years, 11 months, and 28 days, and also for himself and for his descendants." Cominia wears an elaborate hairstyle that reflects the high fashion adopted by ladies of the imperial court in the Flavian period (69–96 C.E.). The inscription, on the other hand, emphasizes her piety and chastity, virtues that Roman matrons were traditionally expected to possess.

Roman Sculpture

Statue of Pan, 1st century C.E.RomanMarble

Roman Sculpture

The TiberEarly second century CECampus Martius, Rome (Italy)

Roman Sculpture

This statue is a personification the Roman river Tiber. It decorated a temple and was a companion to a similar statue depicting the Nile. The Roman river Tiber appears here as a traditional river-god: a reclining male figure, mature and bearded.

The oar in his left hand represents navigation, and the horn of abundance in his right symbolizes the river's health-giving properties. Beside the sea-god stands a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, the city's mythical twin founders. The base of the statue is decorated with reliefs: one features animals grazing, a second depicts navigation, and the last is concerned with the myth of Aeneas. The work's entire iconographical program is thus devoted to Rome, and to the riches brought by its river.

Roman Sculpture

Mercury RomanSecond quarter of the first century BCEBronze

Casting: The use of a mold created around a life-sized model to make replicas of statues from molten metal, usually bronze in antiquity.

Rome

The Lillebonne ApolloRomanSecond century CEHollow-cast, gilded bronze

Rome

Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (before restoration), 164-166 C.E. Bronze, 11' 6" high. Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome.

Rome

Roman PaintingWhy are paintings today rectangular?

79 C.E. Mount Vesuvius erupts, throwing up a high-altitude column from which ash began to fall, blanketing Pompeii and surrounding areas, and preserving an invaluable archaeological record.

Built in 1968 by J. Paul Getty of Getty Images, the Villa is modeled on the Villa dei Papiri, a Roman country house buried by Vesuvius in 79 CE. First created to house his own private collection, the Malibu site opened to the public in 2006.

Wall painting, from Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii c. 50 B.C.E.

The city of Pompeii was completely buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which preserved Pompeii for 16 centuries. Romans were masterful painters, and we are fortunate that this fragile art survived. This painting depicts secret cult rituals associated with the wine god, Dionysus. The dividing black bands provide rhythm and give a strong design unity.

Roman interiors were decorated with paintings put directly into wet plaster, called “buon fresco”.

Artists had to work extremely quickly.

They marked incisions into the plaster to draw the image then layered on colors that soaked into the plaster. When the plaster dried it preserved the painting as a part of the wall.

Detail from Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii c. 50 B.C.E.

Roman Painting

Garden Scene Villa of Livia, Prima Porta, c. 20 B.C.E. Fresco. Museo di Palazzo, Massimo, Rome.

Roman Painting

House of the Vettii interior, Triclinium: center section, cherubs having a chariot race

Creation Date: 63-79 CE

Roman Painting

Part of Western painting’s history is tied up with architecture. It was an attempt to puncture it with an image of the outside. Painting was seen as a window to another world, a view outward, because it was.

Still life painting of peaches and water jug, Herculaneum, ca 50 C.E.

Roman Painting

Brawl in the Pompeii Amphitheater

Creation Date: c.60-79 CE

 Couple on Bed [II]Villa della Farnesina (first)Creation Date: c.19 BCE

Landscape with Perseus and AndromedaImperial Villa c.10 BCE

Roman Painting

Mosaic: An image created by piecing together bits of colored stone or tile.

Allowed for durable floor and wall decoration.

So-called Antioch Mosaic, second half of 2nd century; Late AntonineRomanMosaic

Rome

Roman Floor Mosaic4th century CE building,Lod, Israel.

Rome

Detail of previous mosaic.

Rome

Detail of previous mosaic.

Rome

Floor Mosaic with Lion attacking an Onager.Roman, 150 CE, Stone and glass.

Alexander and Darius at the Battle of Issus Mosaic From the House of the Faun in Pompeii

Pompeii

Portrait of a young woman, ca. A.D. 70Encaustic on wood; 37 x 20 cm (14 5/8 x 7 7/8 in.)

Portrait of a young woman, A.D. 110–20Encaustic on wood; 43.7 x 34 cm (17 1/4 x 13 in.)

“Fayum" Portraits

Fayum Portraits

Young Woman with a Gold Pectoral, from Fayum, 100-150 C.E.

Encaustic on wood, height 12 5/8". Musée du Louvre, Paris

Rome and Egypt

The Fayum Portraits Mix characteristics from 3 cultures.

Greek naturalism Roman portraiture Egyptian afterlife /burial

Young Woman with a Gold Pectoral, from Fayum, 100-150 C.E.

Encaustic on wood, height 12 5/8". Musée du Louvre, Paris

After Alexander the Great conquers the Nile valley, Greek influence flows into Egypt. Later when Rome had assumed Greece’s place Roman particularities had subsumed burial rituals. These were portraits. Death masks. Their eternal faces, left behind.

Mummy with an inserted panel portrait of a youth, 80–100 a.d.; Roman PeriodEgypt, Fayum, Hawara (Hawwara, Hawwaret el-Maqta; Adlan), PetrieEncaustic on limewood, linen, human remains

These “encaustic” paintings, where colored pigment is suspended in molten wax, were usually done on wood.

Hence very few survived except those placed underground in Egypt’s arid climate.

Fayum Portraits

Portrait of a youth, A.D. 130–50Encaustic on wood with gold leaf background

Portrait, perhaps of a priest, ca. A.D. 140–60Encaustic on limewood;

Zeuxis and Parrhasius

“The contemporaries and rivals of Zeuxis were Timanthes, Androcydes, Eupompus, and Parrhasius. (10.) This last, it is said, entered into a pictorial contest with Zeuxis, who represented some grapes, painted so naturally that the birds flew towards the spot where the picture was exhibited.

GREEK ART...

Zeuxis and Parrhasius

Zeuxis, elated with the judgment which had been passed upon his work by the birds, haughtily demanded that the curtain should be drawn aside to let the picture be seen.

Upon finding his mistake, with a great degree of ingenuous candour he admitted that he had been surpassed, for that whereas he himself had only deceived the birds, Parrhasius had deceived him, an artist. [p. 6252]” -Pliny the Elder

Parrhasius, on the other hand, exhibited a curtain, drawn with such singular truthfulness, that

Roman Architecture

The Round ArchPont-du-Gard

Grandeur and PropagandaThe Pantheon: dome, rotunda, oculus, portico.The Arch of TrajanThe Forum of Trajan: basilica, niche. Column of Trajan

EntertainmentThe Colosseum: amphitheaterThe Circus Maximus

Deflects weight more evenly than a post and lintel system. Requires less length in stone.Allows for a larger spanning distance

Barrel Vault Groin vault Dome

Everything with an Arch

Pont du Gard, near Nîmes, France, late 1st century B.C.E

Roman Aqueducts

Used to carry water from far away to Rome and Roman lands.

Allowed larger populations to inhabit the cities than local resources would allow.

Everything with an Arch

Segovia Aqueduct, Spain: Built between C.E. 98- 117

Aqueduct Near Nerja, Spain

Pantheon

Dome:An arch rotated 360 degrees.Rotunda: A round building

The Pantheon120 C.E.Roman

The Pantheon120 C.E.Roman

The stresses in a dome spread in a circle around the dome’s perimeter, unless it is buttressed from all sides. The Pantheon, a second century temple dedicated to “all the gods” of Ancient Rome is overwhelming.The dome and vault have no visible interior supports.

Pantheon

Pantheon Interior (painting)

Giovanni Paolo Panini, The Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, c. 1734.

The Pantheon, a second century temple dedicated to “all the gods” of Ancient Rome specifically the seven planetary gods.

The dome rests on a cylinder, or drum. The ceiling is coffered (a pattern of recessed rectangles that lessens the weight) and has an oculus at its apex. Symbolic of the “eye of Heaven,” this opening provides the sole but plentiful illumination for the building.

A new material, concrete, was poured into hollow walls of concrete brick and faced with a stone veneer. This technological breakthrough in material cut costs, sped construction, and enabled the grand scale.

The portico, or porch (post-and-lintel construction, Corinthian columns) at the entrance is intentionally drab and uninteresting, as it is meant to obscure the rest of the temple. Visitors are stunned when they step inside this unexpected expanse.

Grandeur and Propaganda

Portico

Stepped Buttress

Oculus

“Coffered” ceiling

“Niches” containing statues of gods.

US Capitol Building.

Rotunda of the US Capitol Building during a recent state funeral.

The Arch of Trajan in Beneventum

Victory Arches:A public monument used to commemorate victories or public events and symbolically consolidate territory.

The relief sculptures contained visual stories from the campaign.

Triumphal parades were organized through the arch.

Grandeur and Propaganda

Grandeur and Propaganda

Arch of Trajan, Ancona, Turkey

114 CE

Arch of Trajan,Timgad, Algeria

c. 100 CE

Stages of the Roman Empire

The “Republic” (509–27 B.C.E)

The Roman Empire (27 B.C.E. –283 C.E.)27 B.C.E. The “Julio-Claudians” form the empire.

Key figure: Augustus.69 C.E. Roman Civil war ends in the “Flavian dynasty”

Key figure: Titus.96- 190 C.E. “The Antoines”

Key figure: Trajan.

The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)313 C.E. Constantine declares religious tolerance.

Key figure: Constantine.

The Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117)Circa 100 CE

Trajan was a Spanish general in the Roman army. Adopted by an emperor without an heir.

To prove his loyalty to Rome he set out to build communal gathering sites like the forum, basilicas and ceremonial structures like arches and narrative columns.

The Roman Empire (27 B.C.E. –283 C.E.)96- 190 C.E. “The Antoines”

Key figure: Trajan.

The Forum was the heart of Roman life.Judicial courts.Marketplace and shops.Temples for religious services. Libraries.

forum of Augustus (3)

forum of Trajan (2)

Trajan’s Column

forum of Caesar (6)

Basilica Ulpia

Trajan’s ForumTrajan’s Market

Trajan’s Column

Markets of Trajan (map #1)

As a part of the forum, the basilica, a large open plan covered hall with twin semi-circular ends, served as a court with the niche as the courtroom.

Basilica Ulpia, Forum of Trajan 106 C.E [Ex. view from courtyard.]

Basilica Ulpia, Forum of Trajan 106 C.E.

Grandeur and Propaganda

Trajan’s Column: Built 106-113 CE, was another kind of monument to victory.

The reliefs of Trajan’s Column, illustrating two military campaigns and winding up the shaft in a spiral band marble three feet wide, are generally recognized to be the classic example of the continuous method of narration in Roman art.

The episodes merge into one another without any punctuation, apart from an occasional tree; the emperor Trajan appears again and again in different situations, activities, and costumes.

A statuesque figure of Victory separates the histories of the two wars. There are 23 spirals and about 2,500 figures.

Grandeur and Propaganda

Colosseum, Rome,72-80 C.E.

Rome

The Amphitheatrum Flavium (also called the Colosseum) was dedicated by the Roman emperor Titus.

Amphitheater: Amphi- meaning around, and theater coming from the Greek Theatron is a round theater or stadium today.

The colosseum held approximately 50,000 spectators and was built of concrete faced with marble. Its three stories employ the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders. The arena is floored in timber that covers dens for games.

Colosseum, Rome,72-80 C.E.

Helmet of a Thracian GladiatorFound in the gladiators' barracks at Pompei, Campagna, southern Italy

The most famous shows were the gladiators, where armed men fought each other in violent, often mortal, combat for fame, fortune, and even freedom.

The gladiators would first train at a ludus, a professional fighting school, to prepare for the arena. Originally these schools drew their recruits from among the lowest ranks of society—slaves, convicts, and prisoners of war—but by the first century C.E., contracted free men, retired soldiers , and even, on rare occasions, women participated in the fights.

Entertainment: The Colosseum

The amphitheater also provided a venue for venationes, spectacles involving the slaughter of animals by trained hunters called venatores or bestiarii. Venationes were expensive to hold and so served to advertise the wealth of the officials who sponsored them. The inclusion of exotic species (lions, panthers, rhinoceri, elephants, etc.) also demonstrated the vast reach of Roman dominion.

A third type of spectacle that took place in the amphitheater was the public execution. Condemned criminals were slain by crucifixion, cremation, or attack by wild beasts, and were sometimes forced to reenact gruesome myths.

Entertainment: The Colosseum

The oldest games in Rome were the chariot races.The chariots were drawn by a team of four horses (quadriga). The races required two long tracks and two 180-degree turns.

Races were extremely dangerous, since chariots often collided or went out of control. If a driver fell out of his chariot, he could easily be dragged along or trampled to death by the horses.

Entertainment: Circus Maximus

Sala Della Biga, Vatican Museum Roman 1st Century C.E.

Entertainment: Circus Maximus

Mosaic from Lugdunum (Lyon) France, 375 C.E.

Entertainment: Circus Maximus

This restored mosaic from Lyon vividly depicts a circus race. Eight chariots are competing, two from each faction, the quadrigae running around the track barrier, which consists of a channel or ‘euripus' filled with water. Here are placed the lap markers: seven dolphins, water gushing from their mouths, and seven eggs. When each lap had been run, a dolphin was tipped downward and an egg lowered from its bar (one can see that four laps already have been run). At the ends of the barrier are the turning posts (metae)on a detached plinth and, in the center, an obelisk.The presiding magistrates can be seen above the starting gates protected by an awing, one holding the mappa that signaled the start of the race. Intriguingly, the figure next to the officials operates a lever, which may have released a latch that mechanically swung open the gates.The white line (creta) on the left, where there has been an accident, is the break line, at which point, says Cassiodorus (Variae, III.51), the chariots could leave their lanes and move to an inside position, the intention being not so much to avert crashes as to prevent them from occurring before the race had fairly begun. A second white line, opposite the obelisk, marks the finish, the Lyon mosaic being the only one to depict both lines.

Entertainment: Circus Maximus

The site of the Roman Circus Maximus today.

Roman Architecture

The Round ArchPont-du-Gard

Grandeur and PropagandaThe Pantheon: dome, rotunda, oculus, portico.The Arch of TrajanThe Forum of Trajan: basilica, niche. Column of Trajan

EntertainmentThe Colosseum: amphitheaterThe Circus Maximus