The art of Rome begins with a portrait, as the Etruscan Romans made wax or plaster casts of the deceased's face. All the details of the face turned into a means of characterizing the image, where there is no place for the ideal, each is as it is.
Taking Greek art as a model (after 146 BC in the era of Augustus), the Romans began to depict emperors in countless idealized statues of patricians, Atlanteans and gods, although the model, of course, is heroized, and the head is a portrait of the emperor.
Statue of Augustus from Primaporte.
August as Zeus.
But more often a portrait sculpture of the Romans is a bust.
The beginning of the 1st century. BC. - characterized by deliberate simplicity and restraint.
Portrait of Nero
By the middle of the 1st century. AD - the desire for decorativeness, strong lighting effects is increasing. (This is the era of the Flavians)
Portraits resemble Hellenistic images, interest in the human personality appears, a subtle characterization of feelings is conveyed without changes in idealization, but very vividly. The artist uses sophisticated marble processing techniques, especially in feminine, elaborate hairstyles.
Female portrait.
Portrait of Vittelius.
In the II century. AD (the era of Adrian, Antoninov) - the portraits are distinguished by the softness of modeling, sophistication, an immersed gaze, a haze of sadness and detachment.
Portrait of Sirpanka.
The directionality, animality of the gaze is now emphasized by the cut out pupil (previously it was drawn, painted).
Around 170, an equestrian statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius was cast (now stands on the Capitol Square in Rome). The supposed heroism of the image does not coincide with the image of the emperor - the philosopher.
IIIc. marked by the features of the approaching end of ancient civilization. The fusion of local and ancient traditions that has developed in Roman art is destroyed by internecine wars, the decomposition of the slave-owning economic system.
The sculptural portrait is full of cruel and rude images, inspired by life itself. The images are truthful and merciless - revealing, carry fear and uncertainty, painful contradiction. IIIc. AD called the era of soldiers' emperors or the era of verism.
Portrait of Karakkana.
Portrait of Philip the Arabian.
The Romans were the creators of the so-called historical relief.
Wall of the Altar of Peace (13-9 BC) - in a solemn procession of offerings to the Goddess of Peace, the Emperor Augustus with his family and associates march.
Trajan's Column (113 AD) - a thirty-meter column rises at the Trajan Forum (Rome) in honor of the victory over the Dacians. The relief, like a ribbon about one meter wide and 200 meters long, wraps around the entire column of the column in a spiral. The historical sequence depicts the main events of Trajan's campaign: the construction of a bridge over the Danube, the crossing, the battle itself, the siege of the Dacian fortress, the procession of prisoners, the triumphant return. Trajan at the head of the army, everything is depicted deeply realistically and permeated with the pathos of glorifying the victor.
Ancient Rome painting
By the middle of the 1st century. BC. Ancient Rome becomes a wealthy state. Palaces and villas are being built and decorated with frescoes. The floors and courtyards were decorated with mosaics - typesetting made of natural stones, as well as colored glass paste (smalt). Especially many frescoes and mosaics have survived in the villas of Pompeii (which were destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 74 AD)
In the house of the Faun in Pompeii (the name originated from a bronze figure of a faun found in the house), a 15 sq.m. mosaic has been uncovered, depicting the battle of A. Macedon with the Persian king Darius. The excitement of the battle is perfectly conveyed, the portrait characteristics of the commanders are emphasized by the beauty of color.
In the ІІв. BC. the fresco imitated colored marble, the so-called inlay style.
In the 4th century BC. the architectural (perspective) style is developing. As an example - the painting of the Villa of the Mysteries: against the red background of the wall, almost to its entire height, there are large multi-figured compositions, including the figures of Dionysus and his companions - dancers, amaze with picturesque statuary, plastic movements.
During the period of the empire Ів. AD a third style is created, which is called ornamental or candelabrum, characterized by Egyptian motifs reminiscent of candelabra (house of Lucretius Frontin).
In the second half of IV. AD the murals are filled with the image of the architecture of gardens and parks, illusoryly expanding the space of the rooms, in the center of the wall, as a separate picture in a frame, mythological subjects are written (the house of the Vettii).
From the murals of Roman villas, we can get an idea of \u200b\u200bancient painting, the influence of which will be felt for many centuries to come.
INTRODUCTION
The problems of the history of Roman culture have attracted and are attracting close attention of both wide circles of readers and specialists in various fields of science. This interest is largely determined by the enormous value cultural heritagethat Rome left to subsequent generations.
The accumulation of new material allows us to take a fresh look at a number of well-established, traditional ideas about Roman culture. General cultural changes were reflected in art, respectively, affecting sculpture.
The sculpture of ancient Rome, like that of ancient Greece, developed within the framework of a slave society. And they adhere to the sequence - first Greece, then Rome. Roman sculpture continued the traditions of the Hellenic masters.
Roman sculpture went through four stages of its development:
1. The origins of Roman sculpture
2. Formation of Roman sculpture (VIII - I centuries BC)
3. The heyday of Roman sculpture (1st - 2nd centuries)
4. The crisis of Roman sculpture (III - IV centuries)
And at each of these stages, Roman sculpture underwent changes associated with cultural development country. Each stage reflects the time of its era with its features in style, genre and direction in sculptural art, which are manifested in the works of sculptors.
ORIGINS OF ROMAN SCULPTURE
1.1 Sculpture of Italians
“In ancient Rome, sculpture was limited mainly to historical relief and portraiture. The plastic forms of Greek athletes are always presented openly. Images like the praying Roman, throwing the hem of his robe over his head, are mostly contained within themselves, concentrated. If the Greek masters deliberately broke with the specific uniqueness of features for the sake of conveying the broadly understood essence of the person being portrayed - a poet, orator or commander, then Roman masters in sculptural portraits focused on the personal, individual characteristics of a person. "
The Romans paid less attention to the art of plastics than the Greeks of that time. Like other Italic tribes of the Apennine peninsula, their own monumental sculpture (they brought themselves a lot of Hellenic statues) was rare for them; dominated by small bronze figurines of gods, geniuses, priests and priestesses, kept in home sanctuaries and brought to temples; but the portrait became the main type of plastic.
1.2 Etruscan sculpture
Plastics played a significant role in the everyday and religious life of the Etruscans: temples were decorated with statues, sculptural and relief sculptures were installed in tombs, interest arose in the portrait, and decor was also characteristic. The profession of a sculptor in Etruria, however, was hardly held in high esteem. The names of the sculptors have hardly survived to this day; only known by Pliny, who worked at the end of the 6th - 5th century. master Vulka.
THE FORMATION OF ROMAN SCULPTURE (VIII - I CENTURY BC)
“During the years of the mature and Late republics, various types of portraits were formed: statues of Romans wrapped in a toga and making a sacrifice (the best example is in the Vatican Museum), military leaders in heroic form with the image of a number of military armor (a statue from Tivoli of the Roman National Museum), noble nobles demonstrating antiquity by a kind of busts of ancestors that they hold in their hands (repetition of the 1st century AD in the Palazzo of the Conservatives), orators making speeches to the people (bronze statue of Aulus Metellus, executed by an Etruscan master). In statuary portrait sculpture there were still strong non-Roman influences, in the tombstone portrait sculptures, where, obviously, everything alien was less allowed, there were few of them. And although one must think that the tombstones were first executed under the guidance of Hellenic and Etruscan masters, apparently, the customers dictated their desires and tastes in them more strongly. The tombstones of the Republic, which were horizontal slabs with niches in which portrait statues were placed, are extremely simple. Two, three, and sometimes five people were depicted in a clear sequence. Only at first glance they seem - because of the monotony of poses, the location of the folds, the movement of the hands - similar to each other. There is not a single person like another, and they are related by their characteristic captivating restraint of feelings, a sublime stoic state in the face of death. "
The masters, however, not only conveyed individual characteristics in sculptural images, but made it possible to feel the tension of a harsh era of wars of conquest, civil strife, continuous anxieties and unrest. In the portraits, the sculptor's attention is drawn, first of all, to the beauty of volumes, the strength of the skeleton, the backbone of the plastic image.
THE FLOWER OF ROMAN SCULPTURE (I - II CENTURIES)
3.1 Time of the August principate
During the years of Augustus, portrait painters paid less attention to the unique features of the face, smoothed out individual originality, emphasized in it something common, common to everyone, likening one subject to another, in a type pleasing to the emperor. Typical standards were created.
“This influence is especially evident in the heroized statues of Augustus. The most famous is his marble statue from Prima Porta. The emperor is depicted as calm, majestic, his hand is raised in an inviting gesture; in the clothes of a Roman general, he seemed to appear before his legions. Its shell is decorated with allegorical reliefs, the cloak is thrown over the hand holding a spear or wand. August is depicted bareheaded and with bare legs, which is known to be a tradition of Greek art, conventionally representing gods and heroes naked or half-naked. The staging of the figure uses the motives of the Hellenistic male figures of the school of the famous Greek master Lysippos.
The face of Augustus bears portrait features, but, nevertheless, it is somewhat idealized, which again comes from Greek portrait sculpture. Such portraits of emperors, intended to decorate forums, basilicas, theaters and thermae, were supposed to embody the idea of \u200b\u200bthe greatness and power of the Roman Empire and the inviolability of the imperial power. The era of Augustus opens a new page in the history of the Roman portrait. "
In portrait sculpture, sculptors now liked to operate with large, little-modeled planes of the cheeks, forehead, and chin. This preference for flatness and the rejection of volumetricity, which manifested itself especially clearly in decorative painting, was reflected at that time in sculptural portraits.
During the time of Augustus, more than before, portraits of women and children, which were very rare before, were created. Most often these were images of the wife and daughter of the princeps, the heirs to the throne appeared in marble and bronze busts and statues of boys. The official nature of such works was recognized by everyone: many wealthy Romans installed such statues in their homes to emphasize their disposition to the ruling family.
3.2 Time Julius - Claudius and Flavius
The essence of art in general and sculpture, in particular, of the Roman Empire began to express itself in full measure in the works of this time.
Monumental sculpture took on forms other than Hellenic. The desire for concreteness led to the fact that the masters even gave deities the individual characteristics of the emperor. Rome was decorated with many statues of the gods: Jupiter, Roma, Minerva, Victoria, Mars. The Romans, who appreciated the masterpieces of Hellenic plastic art, sometimes treated them with fetishism.
“During the heyday of the Empire, trophy monuments were created in honor of victories. Two huge marble trophies of Domitian's decorate the balustrade of the Capitol Square in Rome. Also majestic are the huge statues of the Dioscuri in Rome, at the Quirinal. The rearing horses, the mighty youths holding the reins, are shown in a decisive stormy movement. "
The sculptors of those years sought, first of all, to amaze a person. During the first period of flourishing of the Empire's art, it was widely spread,
however, chamber sculptures are marble figurines that adorn the interiors, quite often found during the excavations of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia.
The sculptural portrait of that period developed in several artistic channels. In the years of Tiberius, sculptors adhered to the classicist manner that prevailed under Augustus and remained along with new techniques. Under Caligula, Claudius and especially Flavius, the idealizing interpretation of the appearance began to be replaced by a more accurate rendering of facial features and character of a person. It was supported by the republican manner with its sharp expressiveness, which did not disappear at all, but was muted during the years of Augustus.
“In the monuments belonging to these different trends, one can notice the development of spatial understanding of volumes and the strengthening of the eccentric interpretation of the composition. Comparison of three statues of seated emperors: Augustus from Qom (St. Petersburg, Hermitage), Tiberius from Privynnus (Rome Vatican) and Nerva (Rome Vatican), convinces that already in the statue of Tiberius, which retains the classicist interpretation of the face, the plastic understanding of forms has changed ... The restraint and formality of the pose of the Kumsky Augustus was replaced by a free, unconstrained position of the body, a soft interpretation of volumes, not opposed to space, but already merged with it. The further development of the plastic-spatial composition of the seated figure is seen in the statue of Nerva with his torso leaning back, his right hand raised high, and a decisive turn of his head.
Changes also took place in the plastic of erect statues. The statues of Claudius have a lot in common with Augustus of Prima Port, but eccentric tendencies make themselves felt here too. It is noteworthy that some sculptors tried to contrast these spectacular plastic compositions with portrait statues, designed in the spirit of a restrained republican manner: the staging of the figure in a huge portrait of Titus from the Vatican is emphatically simple, the legs rest on full feet, the hands are pressed to the body, only the right one is slightly exposed. "
“If in the classicizing portrait art of the time of Augustus was dominated by the graphic principle, now sculptors recreated the individual appearance and character of nature by voluminous modeling of forms. The skin became denser, more prominent, hiding the structure of the head, distinct in the republican portraits. The plasticity of the sculptural images turned out to be richer and more expressive. This manifested itself even in the provincial portraits of Roman rulers that emerged on the distant periphery ”.
The style of the imperial portraits was also imitated by private ones. Generals, rich freedmen, usurers tried to do everything - by postures, movements, demeanor to be like the rulers; sculptors gave pride to the seating of the heads, and decisiveness to the turns, without softening, however, the sharp, far from always attractive features of the individual appearance; after the harsh norms of August classicism, art began to value the uniqueness and complexity of physiognomic expressiveness. A noticeable departure from the Greek norms that prevailed in the years of Augustus is explained not only by the general evolution, but also by the desire of the masters to free themselves from foreign principles and methods, to reveal their Roman characteristics.
In marble portraits, as before, the pupils, lips, possibly hair were tinted with paint.
In those years, more often than before, female sculptural portraits were created. In the images of wives and daughters of emperors, as well as noble Roman women, the masters
at first they followed the classicist principles that prevailed under Augustus. Then, complex hairstyles began to play an increasing role in women's portraits, and the importance of plastic decor manifested itself more strongly than in men's portraits. The portrait painters of Domitia Longina, using high hairstyles in the treatment of faces, however, often adhered to the classicist manner, idealizing features, smoothing the surface of the marble, softening as much as possible the harshness of the individual appearance. “A magnificent monument to the late Flavian times is a bust of a young Roman woman from the Capitoline Museum. In the depiction of her curly locks, the sculptor moved away from the flatness seen in the portraits of Domitia Longina. In portraits of elderly Roman women, the opposition to the classicist manner was stronger. The woman in the Vatican portrait is depicted by the Flavian sculptor with all impartiality. Modeling a puffy face with bags under the eyes, deep wrinkles on sunken cheeks, squinting, seemingly watery eyes, thinning hair - all reveal frightening signs of old age.
3.3 Time of Troyan and Adrian
During the second period of the heyday of Roman art - during the early Antonines - Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (117-138) - the empire remained strong militarily and prospered economically.
“Round sculpture in the years of Adrian's classicism in many ways imitated the Hellenic. It is possible that the huge statues of the Dioscuri, dating back to the Greek originals, flanking the entrance to the Roman Capitol, arose in the first half of the 2nd century. They lack the dynamism of the Dioscuri from the Quirinal; they are calm, restrained and confidently lead meek and obedient horses by the reins. Some monotony, lethargy forms make you think
that they are the creation of Hadrian's classicism. The size of the statues (5.50m - 5.80m) is also characteristic of the art of this time, which was striving for monumentalization. "
In the portraits of this period, two stages can be distinguished: Trajan's, characterized by a gravitation towards republican principles, and Adrian's, in the plastic of which there is more adherence to Greek models. Emperors appeared in the guise of generals chained in armor, in the pose of sacrificing priests, in the form of naked gods, heroes or warriors.
“In the busts of Trajan, who can be recognized by the parallel strands of hair descending on his forehead and the volitional fold of his lips, calm planes of the cheeks and some sharpness of features are always prevailing, especially noticeable both in Moscow and in the Vatican monuments. The energy concentrated in a person is clearly expressed in the Petersburg busts: the hump-nosed Roman - Sallust, young man with a determined look, and a lictor. " The surface of the faces in the marble portraits of Trajan's time conveys the serenity and inflexibility of people; they seem to be cast in metal rather than carved in stone. Subtly perceiving physiognomic shades, Roman portrait painters created far from unambiguous images. The faces were also affected by the bureaucratization of the entire system of the Roman Empire. Tired, indifferent eyes and dry, tightly compressed lips of a man in a portrait from the National Museum
Naples is characterized by a man of a difficult era who subordinated his emotions to the cruel will of the emperor. Female images filled with the same sense of restraint, volitional tension, only occasionally softened by light irony, thoughtfulness or concentration.
The appeal to the Greek aesthetic system under Hadrian is an important phenomenon, but in essence this second wave of classicism after the August wave was even more external than the first. Even under Hadrian, classicism was only a mask, under which it did not die, but the actual Roman attitude to form developed. The uniqueness of the development of Roman art with its pulsating manifestations of either classicism or the actual Roman essence with its spatiality of forms and authenticity, called verism, is evidence of the very contradictory nature of artistic thinking in late antiquity.
3.4 Time of the last Antonines
The late heyday of Roman art, which began in last years The reign of Hadrian and under Antonin Pius and lasted until the end of the 2nd century, was characterized by the fading of pathos and pomp in artistic forms. This period is marked by the cultural effort of individualistic tendencies.
“The sculptural portrait underwent great changes at that time. The monumental round plastic of the late Antonines, while preserving the Adrian traditions, still testified to the fusion of ideal heroic images with specific characters, most often the emperor or his entourage, to the glorification or deification of an individual. The faces of the deities in huge statues were given the features of emperors, monumental equestrian statues were cast, a model of which is the statue of Marcus Aurelius, the splendor of the equestrian monument was enhanced by gilding. However, even in the monumental portraits of even the emperor himself, fatigue, philosophical reflection began to be felt. " The art of portraiture, which experienced a kind of crisis in the years of the early Hadrian in connection with the strong classicist trends of the time, entered under the late Antonines in a heyday, which it did not know even in the years of the Republic and the Flavians.
In statuary portraiture, the heroic idealized images that determined the art of the time of Trajan and Adrian continued to be created.
“Since the thirties of the III century. n. e. in portraiture, new artistic forms are being developed. The depth of psychological characteristics is achieved not by detailing the plastic form, but, on the contrary, by the laconicism, the parsimony of the selection of the most important defining personality traits. Such, for example, is the portrait of Philip the Arabian (Petersburg, Hermitage). The rough surface of the stone conveys well the weathered skin of "soldier" emperors: generalized lenka, sharp, asymmetrically located folds on the forehead and cheeks, hair treatment and short beard only with small sharp notches focuses the viewer's attention on the eyes, on the expressive line of the mouth.
“Portrait painters began to interpret eyes in a new way: the pupils, which they portrayed plastically, cutting into the marble, now gave the look liveliness and naturalness. Slightly covered with wide upper eyelids, they looked melancholy and sad. The look seemed absent-minded and dreamy, obedient submission to the higher, not fully realized mysterious forces prevailed. Hints of the deep spirituality of the marble mass echoed on the surface in the thoughtfulness of views, the mobility of strands of hair, the tremor of the light bends of the beard and mustache. Portrait painters, performing curly hair, cut hard with a drill into the marble and sometimes drilled deep internal cavities. Lighted by the sun's rays, such hairstyles seemed like a mass of living hair.
Artistic image became like the real, they were getting closer
sculptors and to what they especially wanted to depict - to the elusive movements of human feelings and moods.
The masters of that era used various, often expensive materials for their portraits: gold and silver, rock crystal, and also widely spread glass. The sculptors have appreciated this material - delicate, transparent, creating beautiful highlights. Even marble under the hands of the masters sometimes lost the strength of the stone, and its surface seemed like human skin. A nuanced sense of reality in such portraits made the hair lush and mobile, the skin silky, the fabric of the clothes soft. They polished the marble of a woman's face more carefully than that of a man's; youthfulness was distinguished by texture from senile.
CRISIS OF ROMAN SCULPTURE (III - IV CENTURIES)
4.1 End of the Principate Era
In the development of the art of Late Rome, two stages can be distinguished more or less clearly. The first is the art of the end of the principate (3rd century) and the second is the art of the dominant era (from the beginning of the reign of Diocletian to the fall of the Roman Empire). "In artistic monuments, especially of the second period, one can see the extinction of ancient pagan ideas and the increasing expression of new, Christian ones."
Sculptural portrait in the 3rd century. He underwent particularly noticeable changes. The statues and busts still retain the techniques of the late Antonines, but
the meaning of the images has changed. Alertness and suspicion replaced the philosophical pensiveness of the characters of the second half of the 2nd century. The tension made itself felt even in female faces that time. In portraits in the second
quarter of the 3rd century The volumes were denser, the masters abandoned the gimbal, performed the hair with notches, achieved especially expressive expressiveness of wide-open eyes.
The desire of innovative sculptors by such means to increase the artistic impact of their works provoked a reaction in the years of Gallien (mid-3rd century) and a return to old methods. For two decades, portrait painters again depicted the Romans with curly hair and curly beards, trying at least in artistic forms to revive the old manners and thus remind of the former greatness of plastic. However, after this short-term and artificial return to Antonin's forms already at the end of the third quarter of the 3rd century. Once again, the desire of sculptors to convey emotional tension in extremely laconic means was revealed. inner peace person. In the years of bloody feuds and the frequent change of emperors who fought for the throne, portrait painters embodied the shades of complex spiritual experiences in new, then-born forms. Gradually, they were more and more interested not in individual traits, but in those sometimes elusive moods that were already difficult to express in stone, marble, bronze.
4.2 The era of dominance
In the sculptures of the 4th century. pagan and Christian plots coexisted; artists turned to the depiction and glorification of not only mythological, but also Christian heroes; continuing what began in the III century. praising the emperors and their families, they prepared the atmosphere of unbridled panegyrics and worship, characteristic of the Byzantine court ceremony.
Face modeling gradually ceased to occupy portrait painters. The spiritual forces of man, which were especially acutely felt in the age when Christianity conquered the hearts of the pagans, seemed cramped in the rigid forms of marble and bronze. Awareness of this deep conflict of the era, the impossibility of expressing feelings in plastic materials gave artistic monuments of the 4th century. something tragic.
Widely revealed in portraits of the 4th century. the eyes, looking now sadly and imperiously, now questioningly and anxiously, warmed with human feelings the cold, numb masses of stone and bronze. Warm and translucent marble became less and less the material for portrait painters; more and more often they chose to depict faces less similar to qualities human body basalt or porphyry.
CONCLUSION
From all that has been considered, it is clear that sculpture developed within the framework of its time, i.e. she relied very heavily on her predecessors, as well as on the Greek. During the heyday of the Roman Empire, each emperor brought something new to art, something of his own, and along with the art, sculpture changed accordingly.
The antique sculpture is replaced by the Christian one; to replace the more or less unified Greco - Roman sculpture, widespread within the Roman Empire, provincial sculptures, with revived local traditions, already close to the "barbarian" ones coming to replace them. Begins new era history of world culture, in which Roman and Greco-Roman sculpture is only one of the components.
In European art, ancient Roman works often served as a kind of standards, which were imitated by architects, sculptors, glass blowers and ceramists. The priceless artistic heritage of ancient Rome continues to live on as a school of classical craftsmanship for contemporary art.
LITERATURE
1. Vlasov V. Portrait of Antonin Pius.- Art, 1968, No. 6
2. Voshchina A.I. Antique art, M., 1962
3. Voshchinina A. I. Roman portrait. L., 1974
4. Dobroklonsky M.V., Chubova A.P., History of art of foreign countries, M., 1981
5. Sokolov GI Antique Black Sea region. L., 1973
6. Sokolov GI The Art of Ancient Rome, M., 1985.
7. Sokolov GI Art of the East and Antiquity. M., 1977
8. Shtaerman E.M. Crisis of the 3rd century in the Roman Empire - Ref. Stories, 1977, no. 5
Ruins of Ancient Rome.
In the 1st millennium BC. e. a state arose around the city of Rome, which began to expand its possessions at the expense of neighboring peoples. This world power existed for about a thousand years and lived off the exploitation of slave labor and conquered countries. All the lands adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea belonged to Rome, both in Europe and in Asia and Africa. Therefore, art, especially architecture, was intended to show the whole world the power of state power. Endless wars, a thirst for conquest, in which Rome matured and grew, demanded the exertion of all forces, therefore firm discipline in the army, firm laws in the state and firm power in the family became the basis of Roman society. Above all, the Romans put the ability to rule over the world. Virgil stated:
You do rule over nations with authority, Roman, remember!
Behold - yours will be arts: conditions to impose the world,
Spare the inferior and overthrow the proud!
("Aeneid")
The Romans subjugated the entire Mediterranean region, including Hellas, but Greece itself overtook Rome, since it had a powerful influence on the entire culture of Rome - in religion and philosophy, in literature and art.
Etruscan she-wolf, who, according to legend, fed Romulus and Remus (Etruscan casting)
Legend has it that the usurper Amulius seized the throne of his brother, the king of Alba Longa, Numitor - the grandfather of the twins Romulus and Remus, and ordered the babies to be thrown into the Tiber. The twins' father Mars saved his sons, and they were fed by a she-wolf sent by God. Then the boys were raised by the shepherd Faustul and his wife Akka Larentia. When the brothers grew up, they killed Amulius, returned power to their grandfather, and in the place where the she-wolf found them, they founded a city. During the construction of the walls of the new city, a quarrel broke out between the brothers, and Romulus killed Remus. The city was built and named in honor of Romulus by Rome, and Romulus himself became its first king. Part of the culture was borrowed by the Romans from other peoples. The Etruscans do a lot, but the Greeks do the most. The Romans borrowed from the Etruscans gladiator fights, stage games, the nature of sacrifices, belief in good and evil demons. The Romans, like the Etruscans, preferred sculpture from the arts, and not sculpting, but modeling - from clay, wax, bronze.
The building is decorated with half columns
However, the main predecessor of Roman art was still Greece. Even the Romans took many of their beliefs and myths from the Greeks. The Romans learned to build arches, simple vaults and domes from stone.
They learned to build more diverse structures, for example, the round building of the Pantheon - the temple of all the gods, it had a diameter of more than 40 meters. The Pantheon was covered with a giant dome. which has been a model for builders and architects for centuries.
The Romans adopted the skill of building columns from the Greeks. In honor of the generals, the Romans built triumphal arches.
The buildings intended for the entertainment of the Roman nobility were of particular splendor. The largest Roman circus - Colisei, accommodated 50 thousand spectators. It was a mf and teatr - in a similar way, circuses and stadiums are being built now.
Roman baths, which were called terms, were also peculiar places of rest and entertainment. There were washing rooms, changing rooms, swimming pools, promenade halls, sports fields, and even libraries. The spacious halls were covered with vaults and domes, the walls were faced with marble.
On the edge of the squares, large court and commercial buildings were often erected - the basement. In Rome, palaces of rulers and high-rise buildings for the poor were created. The Romans with average incomes lived in separate houses, which surrounded an open courtyard - and at the m. In the middle of the atrium there was a pool for rainwater. Behind the house was a courtyard with columns, a garden, and a fountain.
Triumphal arch of Emperor Titus
In 81, in honor of the Emperor Titus and his victory over Judea, a single-span, 5.33 m wide, Triumphal Arch was erected on the sacred road leading to the Capitol Hill. The marble arch was 20 meters high. An inscription dedicated to Titus was carved above the span; the arch was also decorated with reliefs depicting the victorious procession of the Romans, performed in complex turns and movements.
Pantheon - inside view
The Pantheon was erected during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138). The temple is built of stone, brick and concrete. The round building is 42.7 m high and covered with a dome of 43.2 m in diameter. Outside, the building is quite modest, it is decorated only with a portico with Corinthian columns made of red granite. But the interior was a model of technical excellence and luxury. The floor of the temple is paved with marble slabs. The wall is divided in height into two tiers. In the lower tier there were deep niches, in which there were statues of the gods. The upper part is dissected by pilasters (rectangular projections) of colored marble. The illumination of the temple is decided by a hole in the dome, a "window" with a diameter of 9 m, the so-called eye of the Pantheon. The floor under this "eye" has a barely noticeable slope for water drainage.
Pantheon outside
The name of the building speaks for itself - "pantheon", a temple to the pantheon of ancient Roman gods. It should be noted that the building that still stands today is not the first temple on this site. Under Emperor Augustus, the first temple was built, but then it burned down in a fire in Ancient Rome. In memory of the first builder, associate of the Imperator Augustus, Mark Agrippa, the inscription “M. Agrippa l f cos tertium fecit ".
Colosseum outside
Under the emperors Vespasian and Titus, in 75-82. was built a huge amphitheater for gladiatorial battles - Colosseum (from the Latin "colossus" - colossal). In its plan it was an ellipse, 188 m long, 156 m wide, 50 m high. The wall is divided into three tiers. In the upper one they pulled up an awning to keep the rain and the sun out. In the lower ones there were statues. The arena could accommodate up to 3000 pairs of gladiators. The arena could be flooded with water and then naval battles were played out.
Colosseum inside
Aqueduct
The Roman Aqueduct is an aqueduct, but at the same time functional and elaborate, perfect art. Above there was a canal, separated by a cornice, below - arches, even lower - visually isolated from the arches supports. Long, continuous horizontal lines hid the height and emphasized the infinity of the water pipe going into the distance.
Equestrian statue Marcus Aureleus in Rome
The sculpture was initially imported from Greece. Then they began to copy it from Greek. However, there was also an independent, Roman sculpture. These were sculptural portraits and relief images, monuments to emperors and generals.
Portrait of a Roman
Portrait of a young man
Relief sculpture
Statue of Emperor Augustus from Prima Port.
Ancient historians call the period of Octavian Augustus's reign the "golden age" of the Roman state. The established "Roman world" stimulated a high rise in art and culture. The emperor is depicted in a calm, stately pose, his hand is raised in an inviting gesture; he seemed to appear in the clothes of a general before his legions. August is depicted bareheaded and barefoot, a tradition in Greek art that depicts gods and heroes naked or semi-naked. The face of Augustus wears portrait features, but nevertheless is somewhat idealized. The whole figure embodies the idea of \u200b\u200bthe greatness and power of the empire.
Trajan's Column in Rome
A column built by the architect Apollodorus in honor of Emperor Trajan has survived to this day. The column is over 30 meters high and is made up of 17 Carrara marble drums. A spiral staircase runs inside the column. The column ended with a bronze figure of Trajan, which was replaced in the 16th century with a statue of the Apostle Peter. The column is lined with slabs of Parian marble, along which a bas-relief stretches in a spiral of 200 meters, in historical sequence depicting the main events of Trajan's campaign against the Dacians (101 -107): the construction of a bridge over the Danube, the crossing, the battle with the Dacians, their camp, the siege fortresses, the suicide of the Dacian leader, the procession of prisoners, the triumphal return of Trajan to Rome.
Fragment of Trajan's Column
At the end of the 4th and 5th centuries, there was a "great migration of peoples" - a large tribe of Goths settled on the territory of the Roman Empire, they were warmly supported by the rebellious slaves and the peoples enslaved by Rome. Hordes of nomadic Huns sweep through the empire in a destructive whirlwind. Visigoths, then vandals seize and destroy Rome itself. The Roman Empire falls apart. And in 476 Rome was dealt the final blow and power passed to the barbarian squads. The Roman Empire fell, but its culture left an indelible mark on human history.
were created in such an impressive number that the legend is relished, as if earlier the number of statues exceeded the number of inhabitants. It is curious to see how close these conversations are to reality. Since ancient times, the talents of the masters of Rome in the field of architecture and engineering have been known. Proofs of the creators' genius have survived to this day in the form of monumental structures, stunning villas, domus and other buildings in terms of design. However, Ancient Rome remained in a much smaller size than everyone who is not indifferent to art would like.
Unfortunately, a considerable part of the bronze and marble sculptures at the dawn of our era were destroyed due to the disagreement of Christian preachers with the works of the masters. In battles with barbarian tribes, the inhabitants of Rome did not shy away from throwing sculptures from a great height in order to cool the attacking impulse of the invaders. After destruction, marble products were used differently: with the help of annealing in Rome, they turned the fragments of the once stunning sculptures into limestone, which was used in construction.
Due to the bloody events at the junction of civilizations, the sculptures of Ancient Rome, which constitute an important part of the cultural heritage, have been preserved in rather small quantities. Now you can get acquainted with the best examples when visiting the Vatican and Capitol Museums, Thermal Diocletian's Baths, Palazzo and Villa Giulia. The collection of sculptures was collected thanks to the efforts of cardinals, aristocrats of Rome and the first persons of the clergy. It was not easy to get the best jobs that were passed down from older family members to younger ones. The sculptures of Ancient Rome are kept in museums that deserve a separate discussion.
How it all began
When creating sculptures of Ancient Rome, the masters took many decisions from the classical Greek school. Since the distance from the Eternal City to some parts of Greece was not so great, the Romans regularly brought home Hellenistic statues of great cultural value. After a detailed analysis of the technology used and characteristic features creations, in Rome began to create copies.
The great popularity of Hellenistic art and sculptures from a neighboring state is primarily due to the advance towards the Greek lands with predatory goals. Experienced craftsmen often came to Rome to decorate the private estates of the nobility with new works. Gradual cultural unification, manifested not only in copying the technique of creating sculptures, had a huge impact on the development of art in Rome.
The sculptures of Ancient Rome were also used for political purposes, acting as one of the tools for implanting ideas and principles of the state system to the people. High status visual arts was used by the top officials of the state in order to implement the "curse of memory". In Rome, it was previously considered the norm to destroy references in documents, sculptures and wall inscriptions that were dedicated to tyrants or politicians objectionable to the vast majority. One of the most striking examples of the "curse of memory" in Rome can be called the actions associated with attempts to erase the emperor from the history.
Sculptures of Ancient Rome: What to Look For in Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums are a storehouse of sculptures that were created in Ancient Rome and have been successfully preserved to this day. The complex of museums was founded by Pope Julius II at the very beginning XVI century... More than two centuries later, everyone was given the right to freely walk around the sights, looking at sculptures and other works created in Rome.
Be sure to pre-purchase your museum tickets and avoid waiting in lines. You can do it link on the official site.
At the moment, there are sculpture museums here, allowing you to learn in all details how art developed in The eternal city:
- Pio Cristiano keeps within his walls sculptures of Ancient Rome, created during the period of early Christianity.
- The Gregorian Museum contains sculptures preserved in Rome from the time ancient civilization Etruscans.
- The Profano Museum will acquaint guests with the classic works of masters from Ancient Greece.
- Chiaramonti includes a number of galleries representing about 1,000 sculptures and everything related to this art form: busts of the great people of Rome, friezes and burial sarcophagi.
- The Pio-Clementino Museum will appeal to those wishing to find out what the classical sculptures of Ancient Rome looked like.
- The museum dedicated to Egyptian culture is a huge repository of sculptures, jewelry and architectural elements brought to Rome from Egypt.
Sculptures of Ancient Rome on display at the National Museum of the city
When visiting, you can see an impressive collection of works directly related to the development of cultural trends in the Eternal City. In 1889, an archaeological museum appeared on the map of Rome, but in the early 90s of the last century, it was decided to reorganize and place several exhibition sites with ancient sculptures within the museum.
Palazzo Massimo
Stunning sculptures from Ancient Rome are stored on the 1st floor of Palazzo Massimo. Here you can trace the development of art from the time of the Flavian reign to the decline of ancient culture. In fact, all available works are copies of Greek sculptures, embodied in marble.
The pride of Palazzo Massimo is the bronze sculptures discovered in Rome at the end of the 19th century, which were created by masters from Greece.
Palatine Antiquarium
The museum, founded in the 19th century, is located on the central hill of Rome. The purpose of the creation was to place the found sculptures by archaeologists who worked during the time of Napoleon III near the Palatine. A fairly modest-looking two-story building contains materials that can be used to trace the history of the hill. Of the greatest interest are sculptures from the period of republicanism, as well as the reigns of Augustus and Julius-Claudius.
Sculptures of Ancient Rome: Palazzo Altemps
The palace, built to a special order for the Riario family, will also be of interest to all those who study the sculptures of Ancient Rome. More precisely, you need to pay attention to one of the halls with a section called "Collecting History". There are sculptures from the Boncompagny-Ludovisi collections. The Palazzo Altemps contains the work The Suicide of Galata.
It is a marble sculpture, the appearance of which was copied in Rome from the creation of Greek masters in bronze.
Sculptures of Ancient Rome at the Musei Capitolini
The first museum in the history of Rome was founded by the pontiff at the end of 1471. The general public gained the right to evaluate the collected collection in the 18th century. Thus, Musei Capitolini can be considered the first public museum in the world, the owners of which decided to admit one and all to the samples of art. The landmark that stores the sculptures of Ancient Rome has acquired many works over the years of its existence.
Sculpture of Hercules Capitoline
Bronze sculpture, created in Ancient Rome, which was found during excavations at the Forum Bull. Historians believe that the work appeared in its final form 2 centuries before the beginning of our era. The sculpture was of great importance to the pagans of that time.
Sculptures of Ancient Rome: Capitoline Brutus (Bruto Capitolino)
Bronze creation. According to the historians of Rome, it is one of the oldest in the Eternal City. The fact is that the sculpture was created about three centuries before the beginning of our era. The bust is credited with the status of a masterpiece of Ancient Rome. Capitoline Brutus - the image of the founder of the republic and one of the consuls.
Similar features were found when comparing the bust with coins created half a century BC, when the power in Rome belonged to Brutus (the same one who killed Julius Caesar). During the excavations, only the head was found, the condition of which was assessed as good, despite centuries of oblivion. To decorate the eyeballs, craftsmen from Rome used ivory. It is believed that the sculpture was originally created, but other parts are irretrievably lost.
Sculptures of Ancient Rome: Boy removing a splinter (Spinario)
An example of ancient art, which the craftsmen of the Renaissance have repeatedly tried to copy. At the moment, many major museums in the world have their own version of that very bronze sculpture. The original is still in Rome. The basis for the creation was the legend of a shepherd boy who fled to Rome from Vitorchiano in order to inform about the soonest attack of the Etruscans. The boy heroically endured the pain caused by a splinter in his leg.
This sculpture was created during the 3rd-1st centuries BC from bronze. She is one of the first examples given to Rome by Sixtus IV.
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The marble sculpture, which is now kept in the Musei Capitolini, is another copy of the example of Hellenistic art. The work was found quite by accident on the Aventine Hill back in the 18th century, after which it was immediately sent to one of the most famous museums in Rome.
The sculptures of Ancient Rome can be seen not only when visiting museums: everyone interested in the topic is advised to go to Villa Giulia, where specimens from the Etruscan civilization have been preserved. Noteworthy sculptures of Ancient Rome are presented in the Borghese Gallery and on the territory of other cultural sites of the Italian capital.
The main advantage of ancient Roman sculpture is the realism and reliability of the images. First of all, this is due to the fact that the Romans had a strong cult of ancestors, and from the earliest period of Roman history there was a custom to remove posthumous wax masks, which later were taken as the basis of sculptural portraits by the masters of sculpture.
The very concept of "ancient Roman art" has a very conventional meaning. All Roman sculptors were Greek in origin. In an aesthetic sense, all ancient Roman sculpture is a replica of the Greek one. The innovation was the combination of the Greek desire for harmony and Roman rigidity and the cult of strength.
The history of ancient Roman sculpture is divided into three parts - the art of the Etruscans, the plastic arts of the era of the republic, and the imperial art.
Etruscan art
The Etruscan sculpture was designed to decorate burial urns. These urns themselves were created in the form of a human body. Realism of the image was considered essential to maintain order in the world of spirits and people. The works of the ancient Etruscan masters, despite the primitiveness and schematic nature of the images, amaze with the individuality of each image, their character and energy.
Sculpture of the Roman Republic
For sculpture of the times of the Republic, emotional stinginess, detachment and coldness are characteristic. The impression was created that the image was completely closed. This is due to the exact reproduction of the death mask when creating the sculpture. The situation was somewhat corrected by Greek aesthetics, the canons by which the proportions of the human body were calculated.
Numerous reliefs of triumphal columns and temples dating back to this period are striking in their graceful lines and realism. Especially worth mentioning is the bronze sculpture of the "Roman She-Wolf". The founding legend of Rome, the material embodiment of Roman ideology - this is the significance of this statue in culture. The primitivization of the plot, the wrong proportions, the fantastic, do not in the least prevent one from admiring the dynamics of this work, its special poignancy and temperament.
But the main conquest in sculpture of this era was the realistic sculptural portrait. Unlike Greece, where, creating a portrait, the master somehow subordinated all the individual features of the model to the laws of harmony and beauty, the Roman masters carefully copied all the subtleties of the models' appearance. On the other hand, this often led to a simplification of images, rough lines and a distance from realism.
Sculpture of the Roman Empire
The task of the art of any empire is to exalt the emperor and the state. - not an exception. The Romans of the era of the empire could not imagine their home without sculptures of ancestors, gods and the emperor himself. Therefore, many examples of imperial plastic art have survived to this day.
First of all, the triumphal columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius deserve attention. The columns are decorated with bas-reliefs telling about military campaigns, exploits and trophies. Such reliefs are not only works of art that amaze with the accuracy of the images, the multi-figured composition, the harmony of lines and the subtlety of work, they are also an invaluable historical source that allows you to restore the everyday and military details of the era of the empire.
The statues of the emperors in the forums of Rome are executed in a harsh, rough manner. There is no longer a trace of that Greek harmony and beauty that was characteristic of early Roman art. The masters, first of all, had to portray strong and tough rulers. There was also a departure from realism. Roman emperors were portrayed as athletic and tall, despite the fact that few of them were distinguished by a harmonious physique.
Almost always during the Roman Empire, sculptures of gods were depicted with the faces of the ruling emperors, so historians know for sure what the emperors of the largest ancient state looked like.
Despite the fact that Roman art, without any doubt, entered the world treasury of many masterpieces, in its essence it is only a continuation of the ancient Greek. The Romans developed ancient art, made it more magnificent, majestic, brighter. On the other hand, it was the Romans who lost the sense of proportion, depth and ideological content of early antique art.