Chapter 6: Roman Art

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50 Terms

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Romulus and Remus
According to legend, ____, abandoned twins, were suckled by a she-wolf, and later established the city of Rome on its fabled seven hills.
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Augustus Caesar
Civil war in the late Republic caused a power vacuum that was filled by Octavian, later called ____, who became emperor in 27 B.C.E.
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Ashlar Masonry
A technique used where building are built without mortar.
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barrel vault
barrel vault
Roman architects understood that arches could be extended in space and form a continuous tunnel-like construction called a \___.
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groin vault
groin vault
A larger more open space, formed when two barrel vaults intersect.
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corner piers
The latter is particularly important because the groin vault could be supported with only four \____, rather than requiring a continuous wall space that a barrel vault needed.
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Piers
Piers
a vertical support that holds up an arch or a vault
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Spandrels
Spandrels
The spaces between the arches on the piers.
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Coffer
Coffer
in architecture, a sunken panel in a ceiling
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concrete
The Romans used \____ in constructing many of their oversized buildings.
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Impluvium
a rectangular basin in a Roman house that is placed in the open-air atrium in order to collect rainwater
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Cubiculum
a Roman bedroom flanking an atrium; in Early Christian art, a mortuary chapel in a catacomb
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Atrium
a courtyard in a Roman house or before a Christian church
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peristyle
The Romans placed their intimate rooms deeper into the house. Eventually another atrium, perhaps held up by columns called a \_____, provided access to a garden flanked by more cubicula.
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Composite column
Composite column
one that contains a combination of volutes from the Ionic order and acanthus leaves from the Corinthian order
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Keystone
the center stone of an arch that holds the others in place
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Flagstaffs
These staffs are the anchors for a retractable canvas roof, called a velarium.
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Velarium
A retractable canvas roof used to protect the crowd on hot days.
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Hypogeum
The subterranean part of an ancient building.
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Basilica
in Roman architecture, a large axially planned building with a nave, side aisles, and apses
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Cupola
a small dome rising over the roof of a building; in architecture, a cupola is achieved by rotating an arch on its axis
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Oculus
a circular window in a church, or a round opening at the top of a dome
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Fresco
a painting technique that involves applying water-based paint onto a freshly plastered wall. The paint forms a bond with the plaster that is durable and long-lasting
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Encaustic
an ancient method of painting that uses colored waxes burned into a wooden surface
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Perspective
depth and recession in a painting or a relief sculpture.
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Orthogonals
\_______ recede to multiple vanishing points in the distance.
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Foreshortening
a visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space
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**First Pompeian Style**
Characterized by painted rectangular squares meant to resemble marble facing.
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**Second Pompeian Style**
had large mythological scenes and/or landscapes dominating the wall surface. Painted stucco decoration of the First Style appears beneath in horizontal bands.
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**Third Pompeian Style**
characterized by small scenes set in a field of color and framed by delicate columns of tracery.
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Triclinium
a dining room in a Roman house.
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Veristic
sculptures from the Roman Republic characterized by extreme realism of facial features
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Bust
a sculpture depicting the head, neck, and upper chest of a figure
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Contrapposto
a graceful arrangement of the body based on tilted shoulders and hips and bent knees
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Continuous narrative
a work of art that contains several scenes of the same story painted or sculpted in continuous succession
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Horror vacui
(Latin for a “fear of empty spaces”) a type of artwork in which the entire surface is filled with objects, people, designs, and ornaments in a crowded, sometimes congested way
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House of Vettii
House of Vettii
* Private citizen’s home in Pompeii
* Originally built during the Republic with early imperial additions.
* Two brothers owned the house; both were freedmen who made their money as merchants.
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The Colosseum
The Colosseum
* meant for wild and dangerous spectacles—gladiator combat, animal hunts, naval battles.
* Accommodated 50,000 spectators.
* 76 entrances and exits circle the façade.
* the name comes from a colossal statue of Nero that used to be adjacent.
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Petra
was a central city of the Nabataeans, a nomadic people, until Roman occupation in 106 C.E.
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Great Temple of Petra
Great Temple of Petra
* Nabataean concept and Roman features such as Corinthian ­columns.
* The city was built along a caravan route.
* Approached through a propylaeum and a grand staircase that leads to a colonnade terrace in the lower precincts.
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Treasury of Temple (Petra)
Treasury of Temple (Petra)
* In reality, it was a tomb, not a “treasury,” as the name implies.
* Greek, Egyptian, and Assyrian gods on the façade.
* Monuments carved in traditional Nabataean rock-cut cliff walls.
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Forum of Trajan
Forum of Trajan
* Large central plaza flanked by stoa-like buildings on each side.
* Originally held an equestrian monument dedicated to Trajan in the center.
* Built with booty collected from Trajan’s victory over the Dacians.
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Basilica of Ulpia
Basilica of Ulpia
* Law courts held here; apses were a setting for judges.
* Said to have been paid for by Trajan’s spoils taken from the defeat of the Dacians.
* Grand interior space (385 feet by 182 feet) with two apses.
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Trajan Markets
Trajan Markets
* Semicircular building held several levels of shops.
* Main space is groin vaulted; barrel vaulted area with the shops.
* Multilevel mall.
* Original market had 150 shops.
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Pantheon
Pantheon
* it was built as a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods.
* it may have been dedicated to a select group of gods and the divine Julius Caesar and/or used for court rituals.
* It is now a Catholic church called Santa Maria Rotonda.
* it was built as a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods.
* it may have been dedicated to a select group of gods and the divine Julius Caesar and/or used for court rituals.
* It is now a Catholic church called Santa Maria Rotonda.
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Pentheus Room
Pentheus Room
* a Triclinium
* Main scene is the death of the Greek hero.
* This painting opens the room with the illusion of windows and a sunny cityscape beyond.
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Head of a Roman patrician
Head of a Roman patrician
* Tradition of wax portrait masks in funeral processions of the upper class to commemorate their history.
* Bulldog-like tenacity of features
* Features may have been exaggerated
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Augustus of Prima Porta
Augustus of Prima Porta
* Contrapposto.
* References Polykleitos’s Doryphoros.
* Found in the villa of Livia, Augustus’s wife
* May have been commissioned by Emperor Tiberius
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Column of Trajan
Column of Trajan
* A 625-foot narrative cycle (128 feet high) wrapped around it
* 150 episodes, 2,662 figures, 23 registers—continuous narrative.
* Scenes depict the preparation for battle
* Visitors who entered were meant to wander up the interior spiral staircase to the viewing platform at the top
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Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
* Extremely crowded surface with figures piled atop one another; horror vacui.
* Interment of the dead; rich carving suggests a wealthy patron with a military background.
* Confusion of battle is suggested by congested composition.