Roman Art and Architecture Republic BCE

Early Rome: governed by kings & advisory body of leading citizens called the Senate. Population: 2 classes, a wealthy and powerful upper class, the patricians, and a lower class, the plebeians. last kings: Etruscan family, the Tarquins. last ruler, Tarquinius Superbus, behavior led to his overthrow in 509 BCE, marking the beginning of what is known as the Republican period

5 th century BCE, Alliance and Conquest, incorporated neighboring territories in Italy. By 275 BCE Rome controlled the entire Italian peninsula. Punic Wars ( BCE), subdued tCarthaginians, destroyed Carthage, & gained control of western Mediterranean. Mid-second century BCE, subdued Macedonia and Greece, 44 BCE conquered most of Gaul (modern France) and the eastern Mediterranean

Changed from agricultural society to a commercial and political power Warfare & expansion strained Rome’s political system, weakened authority of Senate Civil wars among powerful generals 46 BCE Julius Caesar –the victor-declared himself dictator-ruled Rome until his assassination in 44 BCE. Octavian, Caesar’s grandnephew & heir, maintained Republican government, yet retained real authority for himself, & marks the end of the Republic

Partial model of the city of Rome during 4 th c. CE

FlashcardTemple Of “Fortuna Virilis” Stokstad, Engaged columns Pseudoperipteral

Temple of “Fortuna Virilis” (Rome), c. 75 BCE accessible by only the front use of stucco engaged columns Portunus, the god of harbors and ports, built by Tiber River Built in urban areas

Temple of “Fortuna Virilis” Greek prostyle plan: raised platform, or podium Ionic columns, freestanding on the porch and engaged around the cella. entablature above the columns on the porch continues around the cella as a decorative frieze. resembles peripteral temple, but columns around the cella are engaged - appear to be freestanding, called pseudoperipteral. Variations of this design, become standard for Roman temples

Temple of “Fortuna Virilis” Greek influence: Imitation of white marble temples: stone (local tufa and travertine), overlaid originally with stucco Basic form of the Ionic columns & use of stone Tall narrow proportions, & Etruscan features

Temple of “the Sibyl” or of “Vesta”, TivoliFlashcard sfusd.edu Tholos Temple

Temple of Vesta Roman temple in Tivoli, Italy dating to the early 1st century -around 80 B.C. Its ruins sit on the acropolis of the city, overlooking the falls of the Aniene that are now included in the Villa Gregoriana. demonstrates the impact that Greek prototypes had on Roman temple architecture in the late Republic. follows the Greek round plan and uses Corinthian order. Romans selected it as their order of choice because it was ornamental & looked equally good from all angles. curved cella wall made of concrete and faced with opus incertum, a single staircase, and a façade orientation designate it as a Roman temple.

VAULTS Fenestrated sequence of groin vaults Groin Bay Flashcard encarta.msn.com/medias_ /Roman_Art_an...

Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia Flashcard Stokstad, Gardner’s

Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia Most impressive & innovative use of concrete The great size of the sanctuary, spread out over several terraces leading up to a Tholos:a Greco-Roman building type that takes a round or polygonal ground plan rather than a square or rectangular one. Reflected Republican taste for colossal Hellenistic designs Distinctly Roman design: barrel vaults

Flashcard Head of a Roman patrician from Otricoli Verism Similar

Head of a Roman Patrician (Otricoli) c BCE, marble In Roman Republican period, prestige came with age, morality, courage, and experience Family ancestry was important to Romans, and veristic (verism) portraits of grim-face older men, became popular way of honoring distinguished family members Wealth Romans displayed busts in their homes & carred wax versions as part of funeral processions Tradition of realism borrowed from Greek Hellenistic sculptures & portrait head traditions from Etruscan traditions.

astro.temple.edu/~tlclark/lorica/musculata3.htm Portrait of a Roman general Curiass, an emblem of rank ‘Old Head on a young body’

Gardner’s 12 th ed.,.p Similar Sculpture created for freed slaves, the Gessii Superrealism - verism

Portraits of the Gessii Slavery was common to Romans Estimated that at the end of the Republic, there were 2 million slaves - 1 slave for every 3 citizens Even slaves had slaves when they were freed Most notable example of freed slaves artwork is stone relief of a tomb of 3 men all named Gessius: Center is Publius Gessius, the feeborn citizen & his freed slaves, Gessius Faust (L) & Gessius Primus (R)

Relief with funerary procession – for a freed slave

Relief with Funerary Procession Amiternum, Italy 2 nd half of first century BC Freed slaves commissioned tomb reliefs that were narrative Shows the procession including professional women mourners, musicians and the wife and children Deceased in pose similar to Etruscan. Pre-classical style similar to Greek Geometric style.

Gardner’s 12 th ed., p Denarius with portrait of Julius Caesar Similar

Denarius with portrait of Julius Caesar Around 44 BC First Roman to place his image on a coin Issued this coin just prior to his assasination on the Ides of March Featured his portrait and new title, dictator perpetuus (dictator for life) Denarius-standard Roman silver coin, from which the word penny is derived

Aerial view of the forum Pompeii – Buried alive Forum Temple Basilica

Amphitheater, Pompeii

Brawl in the Pompeii amphitheater Velarium (awning) External double staircase

Typical Pompeian house faculty.cva.edu Gardner’s Atriums House of the VettiHouse of the Silver Wedding Flashcard Impluvium Atrium Fauces (foyer) Cubicula Tablinum (home office) Triclinium (kitchen) Peristyle

Typical Pompeian house faculty.cva.edu Gardner’s Atriums House of the Silver Wedding Impluvium Atrium Fauces (foyer) Cubicula Tablinum (home office) Triclinium Peristyle

Masonry style that imitates the appearance of expensive marble panels placed on wall surface using painted stucco relief. Each panel is outlined with stucco. The cornices are also modeled in stucco. Flashcard Gardner’s FIRST STYLE (or Masonry Style) ROMAN WALL PAINTING

Roman Wall Paintings “ The interior walls of Roman houses were plain, smooth plaster surfaces without any architectural features. On these invitingly flat, empty surfaces, artists painted decorations that varied greatly in appearance and subject matter. Their technique involved mixing pigment in a solution of lime and soap and a little wax added, applying the images, polishing with a special metal, glass, or stone burnisher, then buffing with a cloth. At Pompeii these decorations can be grouped into four types, or styles, that succeeded each other with some overlap. The first two began during the Republican period, and the last two are associated with the Roman Empire” (Stokstad, Art History 249).).

Roman Wall Paintings “In the First Style (c BCE), artists created the illusion that the walls were actually covered with thin slabs of colored marble set off by real architectural details such as molded plaster columns” (249). “Because of the taste for architectural illusionism, this style is sometimes called the Masonry style” (Adams, Art Across Time 243, 245). “In the Second Style (c BCE) they extended the space of the room visually with painted scenes of figures on a shallow ‘stage’ or with a landscape or cityscape seen close up. Architectural details such as columns were painted rather than molded plaster. In the Third Style (c. 15 BCE- 45 CE) they emphasized the wall surface again by painting it a solid color, decorated with slender, whimsical architectural details, within which small, delicate vignettes appear. The Fourth Style (beginning c. 45 CE) was a complex combination of the features found in the other three styles, bringing together the more realistic architectural details of the First and Second styles with even greater fantasy than in the Third Style” (Stokstad, Art History 249). 3. “One of the most famous painted rooms in Roman art is the so-called Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii. The room must have been a shrine or meeting place for a religious cult, probably that of Bacchus, the god of vegetation, fertility, wine, and the arts, who was one of the most important deities in Pompeii, along with Hercules and Venus. The Second Style murals depict what has been interpreted as the initiation rites of a new member of the cult, which was for a long time limited exclusively to women. The artists first painted an architectural setting consisting of a marble dado, a decoration on the lower part of a wall, and an elegant frieze supported by pilasters around the top of the wall. The action takes place along the top of the dado in a raised, shallow stage space with a backdrop painted a brilliant, deep red (now known as Pompeiian red) very popular with Roman painters. The stage runs around the entire room and the scenes on it depict a succession of events that culminate in the acceptance of the initiate into the cult” (250). 4. “The visual space of the paintings includes the viewer, who feels like a participant in the action… A priestess prepares to reveal draped cult objects, a winged figure whips a female initiate lying across the lap of another woman, and a devotee dances with cymbals, perhaps the drown out the cries from the whipping. According to another interpretation, the dancing figure is the initiate herself, who has risen to dance with joy at the conclusion of her trials. The whole may be showing a purification ritual meant to bring enlightenment and blissful union with the god” ( ). 5. “In the southwest corner, painted pilasters separate each section, or oecus,… Above the pilasters is a meander pattern surmounted by a painted frieze populated with Cupids” (Adams, Art Across Time 246). “A woman holds a thyrsos, the phallic staff used in Bacchic rites, usually with a pine cone or grape cluster at one end. In front of her is a twirling Maenad (a frenzied female follower of Bacchus), who plays the cymbals and dances” (246). “We may have an example here of a Roman version of Greek megalography, or painting of large-scale figures” (Ramage and Ramage 80).

Roman Wall Paintings “In the First Style (c BCE), artists created the illusion that the walls were actually covered with thin slabs of colored marble set off by real architectural details such as molded plaster columns” (249). “Because of the taste for architectural illusionism, this style is sometimes called the Masonry style” (Adams, Art Across Time 243, 245). Ramage 80).

Roman Wall Paintings “In the Second Style (c BCE) they extended the space of the room visually with painted scenes of figures on a shallow ‘stage’ or with a landscape or cityscape seen close up. Architectural details such as columns were painted rather than molded plaster

Dionysiac mystery frieze Flashcard Gardner’s SECOND STYLE Visual Platform

Roman Wall Paintings “One of the most famous painted rooms in Roman art is the so-called Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii. The room must have been a shrine or meeting place for a religious cult, probably that of Bacchus, the god of vegetation, fertility, wine, and the arts, who was one of the most important deities in Pompeii, along with Hercules and Venus. The Second Style murals depict what has been interpreted as the initiation rites of a new member of the cult, which was for a long time limited exclusively to women.

Roman Wall Paintings The artists first painted an architectural setting consisting of a marble dado, a decoration on the lower part of a wall, and an elegant frieze supported by pilasters around the top of the wall. The action takes place along the top of the dado in a raised, shallow stage space with a backdrop painted a brilliant, deep red (now known as Pompeiian red) very popular with Roman painters. The stage runs around the entire room and the scenes on it depict a succession of events that culminate in the acceptance of the initiate into the cult” (250).

Roman Wall Paintings 4. “The visual space of the paintings includes the viewer, who feels like a participant in the action… A priestess prepares to reveal draped cult objects, a winged figure whips a female initiate lying across the lap of another woman, and a devotee dances with cymbals, perhaps the drown out the cries from the whipping. According to another interpretation, the dancing figure is the initiate herself, who has risen to dance with joy at the conclusion of her trials. The whole may be showing a purification ritual meant to bring enlightenment and blissful union with the god” ( ).

Roman Wall Paintings 5. “In the southwest corner, painted pilasters separate each section, or oecus,… Above the pilasters is a meander pattern surmounted by a painted frieze populated with Cupids” (Adams, Art Across Time 246). “A woman holds a thyrsos, the phallic staff used in Bacchic rites, usually with a pine cone or grape cluster at one end. In front of her is a twirling Maenad (a frenzied female follower of Bacchus), who plays the cymbals and dances” (246). “We may have an example here of a Roman version of Greek megalography, or painting of large-scale figures”

Second style of Roman wall painting – visually extends the space of the room beyond the walls. Utilizes single-point linear perspective. Presents a narrative. recreates and extends reality Gardner’s SECOND STYLE wall painting Single-point perspective

Simple definition: as colors go into the distance, two things happen. First, they become cooler (the atmosphere colors them), and they get lighter in value. A dark shadow in the distance is never as dark as the shadow at your feet. (Also known as aerial perspective.) ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE DEFINITION Same Picture Without Atmospheric PerspectiveWith Atmospheric Perspective elfwood.lysator.liu.se/.../perspctv.html

Atmospheric Perspective – 2 nd Example userwww.sfsu.edu/.../itec745/final/index.htm

Gardenscape – SECOND STYLE Flashcard Gardner’s Atmospheric perspective

THIRD STYLE Roman Wall Painting (Ornate Style) - pictorial illusion is confined to "framed" images, where even the "framing" is painted on. The overall appearance is flat rather than a 3-d illusion of space. Predominantly monochrome backgrounds. Flashcard Gardner’s

Roman Wall Paintings In the Third Style (c. 15 BCE- 45 CE) they emphasized the wall surface again by painting it a solid color, decorated with slender, whimsical architectural details, within which small, delicate vignettes appear

Ixion Room (AKA Intricate Style) confines full 3-dimensional illusion to the "framed images," which are placed like pictures in an exhibition. The images do not relate to one another nor do they present a narrative, as in the Second Style. Also characterized by the open vistas and the use of aerial perspective, as well as the elaborate architectural framing. Irrational fantasies, crowded and confused compositions, and sometimes garish color combinations. Flashcard Gardner’s FOURTH STYLE Roman Wall Painting Domus Aurea (Golden House) of Nero

Neptune and Amphitrite, wall mosaic Flashcard Gardner’s

Gardner’s 12 th ed., p. 264 Flashcard

Almost all of the painted portraits found on the walls of some Pomepian houses “were cut out of the walls on discovery and brought to Naples… One must go to Naples to see the portrait of a husband and a wife…, but originally it formed part of a Fourth Style wall of an exedra (recessed area) opening onto the atrium of a Pompeian house. The man holds a scroll and the woman a stylus and a wax writing tablet, standard attributes in Roman marriage portraits.

They suggest the fine education of those depicted- even if, as was sometimes true, the individuals were uneducated or even illiterate… The heads are not standard types but sensitive studies of the man and woman’s individual faces. This is another instance of a realistic portrait placed on a conventional figure type” (263).

The highlights of light, together with the shading, create an illusion of three- dimensionality on the flat surface of the wall. Such solid, volumetric effects are characteristic of the Fourth Style” (Adams, Art Across Time 249).

Roman Wall Paintings The Fourth Style (beginning c. 45 CE) was a complex combination of the features found in the other three styles, bringing together the more realistic architectural details of the First and Second styles with even greater fantasy than in the Third Style” (Stokstad, Art History 249).

Still life with peaches Fourth Style wall painting Flashcard Gardner’s

Fourth Style Still Life In a still life from Herculaneum, “objects are set on steps or shelves, whose spatial projection is indicated by abrupt shifts from light to dark. The spherical character of the peaches is indicated by their gradually shaded surfaces. Patches of white on the glass jar suggest light bouncing off a shine, transparent surface. There is a further implication that the source of light is at the left, since the jar and peaches cast shadows to the right. The highlights of light, together with the shading, create an illusion of three-dimensionality on the flat surface of the wall. Such solid, volumetric effects are characteristic of the Fourth Style” (Adams, Art Across Time 249).