Roman Art and Architecture: A Comprehensive Guide
Roman Art and Architecture
Introduction
Roman civilization originated in the Po basin, with various tribes inhabiting the Italian peninsula, including the Etruscans. Lazio eventually unified the region. Rome’s historical origin is rooted in legends like Romulus and Remus and Aeneas.
Political and Social Structure
Rome transitioned from a monarchy to a republic and finally an empire, marking its peak expansion and cultural development. Society was stratified into nobles, knights, and commoners (free and enslaved), with varying rights despite Roman citizenship.
State Organization and Religion
The Roman Empire was governed by a Senate, with governors and imperial officials. Roman law, including the Law of the Twelve Tables, was applied throughout the empire. A strong military facilitated Romanization. Romans practiced polytheism, worshipping household gods and adopting Greek mythology alongside other religions within the empire, except for Christianity, which challenged their societal principles.
Etruscan Influence on Roman Art
Roman art draws heavily from Etruscan art, characterized by archaic and oriental styles. Etruscans were skilled farmers with strong religious and funerary practices. Their temples, built with simple materials, showed Greek influence, while elaborate tombs featured sarcophagi with portraits of the deceased. Etruscan architecture utilized arches and vaults.
Etruscan Sculpture and Painting
Etruscan sculpture employed clay, pottery, and bronze, often with polychromatic decoration. Notable examples include the “Capitoline She-Wolf” and “Chimera of Arezzo.” Their painting was characterized by vibrant colors and a focus on the afterlife, often depicted on sarcophagi.
Characteristics of Roman Art and Architecture
Urban Planning
Roman cities, known as colonies (new) or municipalities (old), were typically square-shaped and walled, with two main streets (Decumanus and Cardus) intersecting at the forum. Examples include Herculaneum, Pompeii, Timgad, and Palmyra.
Architecture
Roman architecture emphasized practicality, strength, and grandeur. It employed concrete, mortar, and thick walls to support vaults. Key features include arches, superimposed columns, barrel and groin vaults, and composite capitals (blending Ionic and Corinthian styles). Romans also used the Tuscan capital, a simplified Doric style with Etruscan influences. They constructed large public buildings and used mosaics for decoration.
Temples
Notable temples include the “Square House” (Maison Carrée) in Nimes and the “Temple of Fortuna Civil” in Rome, both modeled on Greek temples but with podium steps only at the front and pitched roofs. Circular temples like the Temple of Vesta in Rome, the Temple of the Sibyl in Tivoli, and the Pantheon in Rome (with a triangular pediment and dome) also existed.
Tombs
Examples include Hadrian’s Mausoleum (Castel Sant’Angelo). Other burial types include imprest, aedicula, and columbaria.
Civic Buildings
- Houses: Featured a lobby, courtyard, tablinium (office), triclinium (dining room), impluvium (basin), cubiculum (bedroom), and hortus (garden).
- Villas: Luxurious residences for the wealthy, such as the “Domus Flavia” in Rome.
- Forums: Central public squares with temples and public buildings, serving as marketplaces and spaces for political discourse.
- Baths: Public bathhouses with rooms at different temperatures (frigidarium, tepidarium, caldarium).
- Basilicas: Buildings for administering justice, later serving as models for Christian churches.
- Memorials: Triumphal arches (e.g., Arch of Titus, Arch of Constantine) and columns (e.g., Trajan’s Column) commemorating victories.
- Theaters: Semicircular structures with tiered seating and stages, often built into hillsides (e.g., theaters in Herculaneum, Pompeii, Merida, Sagunto).
- Amphitheaters: Circular arenas for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles (e.g., Colosseum in Rome, amphitheater in Pompeii).
- Circuses: Elliptical structures for chariot races, featuring a central “spine” and grandstands (e.g., Circus Maximus).
Public Works Engineering
- Aqueducts: Structures for transporting water (e.g., Aqueduct of Segovia, Aqueduct of the Miracles).
- Roads, Walkways, and Bridges: Infrastructure for transportation and communication (e.g., Via Augusta in Spain, bridges in Alcantara, Salamanca, Zamora, León).
Roman Sculpture
Roman sculpture was influenced by Hellenistic idealism, particularly in religious works, but evolved towards a more hieratic and rigid style, potentially influenced by Byzantine mosaics. Romans mastered human anatomy and emphasized portraiture (realistic depictions of individuals) and sculptures representing various aspects of civil life. Early portraits showed idealization, while later ones became more rigid and detailed. Relief sculpture was used in memorials, sarcophagi, and other decorative elements.
Roman Painting
: In Rome it is the same that happened in Greece, as the paint is still complementary to the architecture and sculpture. But now there is a novelty, which is the use of painting on wood for the altar. Even now there are various forms of painting, always in relation to the mosaic. / / The mosaic floor is used for funds, fountains, pools … If the parts are made of marble is called “opus sectile” and in any event is called “opus tesellatum”, since each of the small parts that compose it are called tesellas. The topics covered are so diverse, although dominated by the theme of plant, animal, geometric, historical and mythological. The technique used for its manufacture is tesellas cubic combine different tones, there are various systems: 1. embedding, with colored panels in red and yellow and are inspired by the remains found in the ruins of Pompelle. 2. Architectural style. So called because the subjects are imaginary architectures which show behind landscapes. Some important examples of the “House of Livia” and the “Villa of Mysteries.” 3. Ornamental style, which are decorated architectural and real clear Egyptian influence. 4. Illusionistic style, a blend of architectural and decorative, all with large doses of fantasy. Outstanding in this section the “house of the Vetti” in Pompelle. / / O APPLIED INDUSTRIAL ARTS: are important red pottery with drawings of different brightness called “terra sigillata” as well as the work in glass and bronze, ranging from Etruscan mirrors, the scarabs or personal seals, through amulets, farm tools, household, weapons and jewelry for personal adornment.