For several centuries Ancient Rome was the most powerful nation on earth, excelling all others at military organization and warfare, engineering, and architecture. Its unique cultural achievements include the invention of the dome and the groin vault, the development of concrete and a European-wide network of roads and bridges. Despite this, Roman sculptors and painters produced only a limited amount of outstanding original fine art, preferring instead to recycle designs from Greek art, which they revered as far superior to their own. Indeed, many types of art practised by the Romans - including, sculpture (bronze and marble statuary, sarcophagi), fine art painting (murals, portraiture, vase-painting), and decorative art (including metalwork, mosaics, jewellery, ivory carving) had already been fully mastered by Ancient Greek artists. Not surprisingly, therefore, while numerous Greek sculptors (like Phidias, Kresilas, Myron, Polykleitos, Callimachus, Skopas, Lysippos, Praxiteles, and Leochares, Phyromachos) and painters (like Apollodorus, Zeuxis of Heraclea, Agatharchos, Parrhasius, Apelles of Kos, Antiphilus, Euphranor of Corinth) were accorded great respect throughout the Hellenistic world, most Roman artists were regarded as no more than skilled tradesmen and have remained anonymous.
Of course it is wrong to say that Roman art was devoid of innovation: its urban architecture was ground-breaking, as was its landscape painting and portrait busts. Nor is it true that Roman artists produced no great masterpieces - witness the extraordinary relief sculpture on monuments like Ara Pacis Augustae and Trajan's Column. But on the whole, we can say that Roman art was predominantly derivative and, above all, utilitarian. It served a purpose, a higher good: the dissemination of Roman values along with a respect for Roman power. As it transpired, classical Roman art has been immensely influential on many subsequent cultures, through revivalist movements like Neoclassical architecture, which have shaped much European and American architecture, as exemplified by the US Capitol Building The lesser-known Classical Revival in modern art (1900-30) led to a return to figure painting as well as new abstract movements like Cubism.
Sculpture on Roman buildings and altars could be merely decorative or have a more political purpose. For example, on triumphal arches the architectural sculpture captured in detail key campaign events, which reinforced the message that the emperor was a victorious and civilizing agent across the known world. A typical example is the Arch of Constantine in Rome (c. 315 CE) which also shows defeated and enslaved 'barbarians' to ram home the message of Rome’s superiority. Such a portrayal of real people and specific historical figures in architectural sculpture is in marked contrast to Greek sculpture where great military victories were usually presented in metaphor, using figures from Greek mythology like amazons and centaurs such as on the Parthenon. Altars could also be used to present important individuals in a favourable light. The most famous altar of all is the Ara Pacis of Augustus (completed 9 BCE) in Rome, a huge block of masonry which depicts spectators and participants at a religious procession. It seems as though the figures have been captured in a single moment as in a photograph, a child pulls on a toga, Augustus’ sister tells two chatterers to be silent, and so on.
Roman Wall Paintings
Fresco, Livia's Villa, Rome
The interiors of Roman buildings of all description were very frequently sumptuously decorated using bold colours and designs. Wall paintings, fresco, and the use of stucco to create relief effects were all commonly used by the 1st century BCE in public buildings, private homes, temples, tombs, and even military structures across the Roman world. Designs could range from intricate realistic detail to highly impressionistic renderings which frequently covered all of the available wall space including the ceiling.
Roman wall painters (or perhaps their clients) preferred natural earth colours such as darker shades of reds, yellows, and browns. Blue and black pigments were also popular for plainer designs, but evidence from a Pompeii paint shop illustrates that a wide range of colour shades was available. Subjects could include portraits, scenes from mythology, architecture using trompe-l’oeil, flora, fauna, and even entire gardens, landscapes and townscapes to create spectacular 360° panoramas which transported the viewer from the confines of a small room to the limitless world of the painter’s imagination. An outstanding example is the 1st century BCE House of Livia on the Palatine hill in Rome which includes a 360° panorama of an impressionistically rendered garden. The scene runs around one room and completely ignores the corners. Another splendid example is the 1st century CE private villa known as the House of the Vettii in Pompeii.
As the art form developed, larger-scale single scenes which presented larger-than-life figures became more common. By the 3rd century CE one of the best sources of wall painting comes from Christian catacombs where scenes were painted from both the Old and New Testament.
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