Roman Art : A Picture Book By Christine Alexander Essay

Late Roman Empire Art only lasted for a short extent of time. During which many changes occurred in art, predominantly changes to sculpture. This change was a moving away from sculpture being meant for a particular person to sculpture being for the people of the Roman Empire.

From the beginnings of human existence art has been used to depict, glorify, and eternize the cultures of a society. Though the ages of time none have become more world renown than the workings of the Roman civilization; an art form which incorporated the customs of the Etruscans and Greeks to create an individualistic style that appealed to the cultural aesthetics of the time period. Of the various forms of art used by the Romans, the one which most clearly illustrates this is the Roman's architecture, arguably the most influential and impressive use of artistic ideals. By using innovative new materials, establishing new building methods, and absorbing surrounding and past cultural ideologies the Romans were

The foundation of the Roman culture had a strong Etruscan influence due to their taking control of Rome circa 650 BC. The Etruscans transformed Rome into an actual, functioning city through urban planning and civil engineering projects. Although the Etruscans were hostile in their take over, the Romans would not have accomplished what they did alone. It was not until circa 500 BC that Rome successfully shook off Etruscan rule. Once they were free, the Romans established a republic, a form of government also to be used by many countries later. Rome set up a constitution consisting of a senate, consuls and tribunes. The Roman senate became the most powerful governing body. Rather than advising the head of state, it elected the chief executives, called consuls. Consuls were ordinary magistrates that had the authority to command a military force. ‘Tribune’ was a title given to various officers within the Roman army.

The Roman rulers from ancient times are well-known for their ability to coax their people into thinking a certain way through the use of convincing pieces of art. The Roman Empire was very troubled and its emperors are infamous for such things as lavish spending, unnecessary war, and even the killing of family members, and this begs the question: how were there so few large scale revolts of the Roman populous? The answer is the use of propaganda in popular Roman culture. The Roman Empire used propaganda for political purposes by incorporating Roman family values, victorious war scenes, and general Roman successes into their artworks.

Early Christian and Byzantine art started after Jesusí death in the first century ranging and ending to the fourth century AD. The art produced during this period was secretive because Christianity was not a formal religion but as a cult; the Romans and rest of Europe persecuted Christians so the artist disguised their work with symbols and hints of Christian aspects. Christianity was the first cult to not involve rituals of sacrifice of animals and refused to worship an Emperor causing the Roman Empire to make Christianity illegal. Byzantine art excelled in the Justinian period in the east during 520-540 AD. The art was produced in Ravenna, Byzantine, Venice, Sicily, Greece, and Russia. The

Many centuries before the birth of Christ, the city of Rome grew, prospered, and developed into a thriving Republic. As in most cultures, Rome's buildings became more elaborate and impressive. They developed fantastic building technologies and ideas. The feats of Roman engineers were groundbreaking, and many structures built by this culture still stand today. With knowledge borrowed from the Greeks, Rome made impressive architectural achievements, these were namely major attributes of buildings, colossal structures, and a legacy that would influence later buildings (Cornell and Matthews 11).

The Roman Republic, as any society, embodied the greatness of what it means to be a republic, but like many empires suffered from imperfection. The city experienced some of the greatest architecture, art, entertainment, trade, law, language, culture, and governments, however it suffered from many wars, poverty, and cruelty. It was a city of extremes. Even through hardships the Ancient city of Rome achieved sophistication and opportunities, but was built on the enslavement of the neighboring tribes.

The Roman tradition of art, particularly architecture and sculpture is rooted in adopting styles of the past to convey a particular message. The combination of Greek and Etruscan styles, such as in the Temple of Portunus in Rome, ultimately culminate to reference a new meaning and style that is independently roman. Similarly to architecture, the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, chose to liken both is architecture, by using stone and the orders, and his portraiture back to the Greeks. Romans emperors ultimately tend to use style association to portray propaganda for their particular platform, as a form of associative mass media. Two emperors that exemplify this

The portrayal of Christ has been developed throughout the centuries, and is very much influenced by the socio-political and cultural environments. The Byzantine Empire has become a great influence on the use of Christian religious art and architecture, which will be continually built upon and developed through history. Though still influenced by the Classical tradition, Christian art will evolve into a new and widespread style under the rule of Justinian and Theodora. Christ as the Good Shepherd in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, shows the development of the portrayal of Christ from a humble shepherd to a royal deity, that reflects the influence of the Byzantine Empire, and his role as a ruler over his people.

Augustus United Rome though art with both traditional and nontraditional art. To get the modern side to accept Augustus he had to change his sculptures image to a softer look. Augustus was fearful of getting assonated, so he used art as a political tool to sway the republicans to like him bringing peace to Rome. The statue created was unlike any statue ever created before. It was a powerful image of Augustus looking poised pointing up and the same side of his body leg was bent for something different then what is usually seen. He was wearing a military breast plate with a scene of the gods approving Augustus, for peace and acceptance of Rome’s enemies. Cloth was draped on this hips with no shoes and no weapons to represent how he was strong

In 27 BC Augustus began his political career with a “new policy which embodied a national and Roman spirit” (Galinksy, 1996, 225) and “represented new heights in creativity and sophistication” (Galinksy, 1996, 225). Augustus created a new political propaganda campaign that used art and architecture to promote and enhance his regime. The most fundamental message can be regarded as to establish the legitimacy of his rule and to portray him as the natural successor of Rome, as this is consistently presented throughout the visual programme. Yet factors such as the restoration of the Republic, reviving the old religion, nationalism and militaristic triumph can also be seen to be communicated prominently through art and architecture.

When one thinks of Roman architecture, many things come to mind, such as arches, columns, statues, and richly covered surfaces in marbles. One must stop to think that this empire, which gained power and influence in the first century BC, must have been influenced from the thousands of years of cultures preceding them in order to create their masterpieces of ingenuity. This phenomenon can be seen in our borrowing of ideas of ancient Greece and Rome for the construction of our capitol buildings in the United States. The Romans surely considered design principles of other cultures when developing their buildings, since daily conquests of new lands opened Roman soldiers’ eyes to innovations from the great vastness of their empire. This

Throughout history art has consistently reflected the cultural values and social structures of individual civilizations. Ancient art serves as a useful tool to help historians decipher some important aspects of ancient culture. From art we can determine the basic moral and philosophical beliefs of many ancient societies. The differences in arts purpose in Greece and Rome, for example, show us the fundamental differences in each culture's political and moral system. The primary objective of Greek art was to explore the order of nature and to convey philosophical thought, while Roman art was used primarily as a medium to project the authority and importance of the current ruler and the greatness of

     "The arts of the western world have been largely dominated by the artistic standards established by the Greeks of the classical period" (Spreloosel 86). It is from the Greek word theatron, meaning a place for sitting, that we get our word theater. According to James Butler, "The Greeks were the first people to erect special structures to bring audiences and theatrical performers together" (27). "The theaters were normally located near a populated area at the bottom of or cut out of a carefully selected, sloping hillside overlooking a seascape, a plain, or a city" (Butler 30). "They eventually with few exceptions consisted of three distinct parts: theatron

The form of art has been around for thousands of years. There has been many different types of art form found from the ancient greece times. These time are the earliest times that are recorded and are placed in museums. These early art forms teaches us a little bit about the human race and how they were back in the roman times. There are some painting and sculptures that represents different people from their time lines. These art form can explain how they were back in their times and with the statues you can see how far they were allowed to do.