The Art of Ancient Rome

Temple of Fortuna Virilis

75 BC
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-“Manly Fortune”
-Sit on high platform (Etruscan)
-Deep Pronaos
-Engaged columns
-Pseudo Peripteral temple
-Local roman stone, not marble
-Cheaper faster easier

Funerary relief with portraits of the Gessi

30 BC
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-Not idealized
-Focused on images of men and delighted in showing age and the aspects of the face
-Verism = is truth in portraiture

Head of a Roman Patrician

75-50 BC
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-Portrait of power
-Reflects experience
-Gravitas = dignified manner, seriousness, with which all things are taken

Denarius of Julius Caesar

44 BC
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-Roman coinage put portraits on their coins
-First ruler to put portrait on the coinage, while being alive
-Born in 100 BC, assassinated on March 15, 44 BC
-One of the greatest military strategists of all time, great politician
-Dictator for Life
-Officially claims him a god, after death
-Brutus has his own coin, back of his coin explains his side of the story, liberty cap
-Tyranticide

Augustus of Primaporta

20 BC (Copy @ 1 AD)
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-Young and handsome, son of a god
-Conscious shift away from verism back to idealistic portraits
-Marble copy of roman bronze original
-Found in his wife’s villa in Primaporta
-Based on Doryphorus
-Cuirass is wildly ornate
-Cupid at the right foot, demonstrates his lineage from goddess Venus, sits on a dolphin which represents his naval victories
-Return of the Partheon standard on cuirass
-Augustus negotiates the return of the Standard
-Underscore power and peace
-PAX ROMANA

Ara Pacis Augustae

13 BC
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-“Alter of Augustan Peace”
-Rectangular enclosure, single entrance, with an alter
-Built to celebrate the peace Augustus brought
-Imperial processions on long sides

Female personification

13 BC
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-Tellus? = mother earth
-Female personification of wind on either side
-One over the sea and one over the land
-Demonstrates peace

Procession

13 BC
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-Intended to depict a specific event
-Includes children, first time children appear on a state sanctioned public monument
-Promoted fidelity, more children = less tax
-Reproduce more patricians

Pont Du Gard

16 BC
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-Aqueduct and a foot bridge
-Leads water to Nimes
-“Bridge over the River Gard”
-3 stories high
-Constructed of 2 ton blocks
-Beauty and function
-Massive human powered machinery to build

Domus Aurea

64 AD
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-Severus and Celer to design and construct the palace
-350 acres / 350 rooms
-“Party Palace”
-Impossible without Roman concrete
-Oculus
-Marble encrustation to decorate the room
-Almost bankrupts Rome to build it

Portrait of Vespasian

75 AD
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-Establishes the Flavian dynasty
-Titus and Domitian are his sons

Colosseum

70 AD
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-70 AD = Start, 80 AD = End
-Shrewd and politically motivated
-Gesture to return land back to the public
-50,000 spectators
-Takes its name from a 120 ft tall bronze statue of Nero
-Built to entertain the roman public
-Use of the arch and concrete
-Emperor had a special numbered box
-Huge oval wooden floor
-Sand used on the ground helped clean up the blood
-4 registers on the outside, lowest registers have arches
-Lowest register has engaged Doric columns, 2nd engaged ionic columns, 3rd engaged Corinthian columns, engaged pilasters w/ Corinthian capitals
-Cloth awning that could be rolled out to cover spectators – volarium
-Hypogium = hidden network of tunnels and cages where gladiators and animals were held
-Inaugural games lasted 100 days
-Gladiators battled in the evening
-Has become the symbol of Rome

Arch of Titus

81 AD
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-Dedicated for Titus by his brother after death
-Celebrate victory over Judaea by Titus
-Erected over the Sacred Way
-Had equestrian monuments on the top of it at one point
-The “god” titus
-State sanctioned monument
-Vespasian and Titus were deified after their deaths
-SPQR = Senate and people of Rome
-Two large internal relief panels inside
-panels celebrate imperial virtues
-Whole monument is mean to deify Titus and celebrate him accomplishments

Forum of Trajan

112 AD
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-Large open forecourt, basilica, two libraries, large column, and temple
-Showcases Trajan’s victories

Column of Trajan

112 AD
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-Covered with narrative relief sculpture, Roman’s invented it
-Made of 18 drums, stacked on top of each other
-Would have had a large nude victory sculpture of Trajan at the top, removed and replaced
-Uses the technique of “Continuous Narrative”
-150 episodes
-Doubles as Trajan tomb, are at the bottom of the column
-Commemorative, Honorific, Documentary, Artistic, Tomb, Grave Marker, and Geographical marker

Markets of Trajan

110 AD
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-Housed numerous shops and offices
-Terracing of shops
-Tabernaes
-Ancient equivalent of the modern shopping center

Pantheon

118 AD
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-Temple dedicated to all of the Gods
-“To all the gods”
-Best preserved building of all antiquity
-Most influential designs
-THICK WALLS
-One of the largest uninterrupted structures in antiquity
-Occulus is the only light source
-Square coffers, recessed decorative panel
-Drains in the floor
-Raphael's tomb