AP Art History Rome Unit 6

Head of a Roman Patrician (Form)

• Marble

• Sculpture in the round portrait in bust form (shoulders up)

• He is representational, natural, and realistic

• But he is also Veristic (hyperrealistic; naturally occurring features are made very clear, perhaps even exaggerated)

• These sculptures are striking and unflatteringly realistic
  Painstakingly shown each wrinkle and fold of the skin

• Because his realism has been exaggerated by becoming veristic, he is now stylized

• During this particular time and place and culture, this stylized look BECAME the Ideal!

• Deep curves in flesh

• Eyes were painted on

Head of a Roman Patrician (Context)

• Patricians, patrons of Roman art were almost all men from old and distinguished families

• Fiercely proud of their lineage and wanted to preserve likenesses of themselves and ancestors

• Story of a Roman general who is made fun of for having no portraits of his ancestors

• Realism of the portrayal is revealing of the influence of Greek Hellenistic art

• Why is this the cultural/artistic ideal?

• This is the Roman REPUBLIC where civic duty, public service, and work ethic was prized

• Not the Roman EMPIRE where semi-divine emperors rule Rome as the “only person” who can solve Rome’s problems

• Roman Republic art was not interested in idealization and perfection; rather, interested in work ethic and civic service

Head of a Roman Patrician (Content)

• Portrait of a Roman patrician (Roman aristocrats/nobleman who often had public careers (senators))

• We don’t know the specific individual, but this type of sculpture always was OF a specific individual

• These are almost exclusively of men of advanced age

• We see his wrinkled skin, bags under his eyes, haggard expression

Head of a Roman Patrician (Function)

• Portrait: preserve likeness

• Status: way in which patricians celebrated their status (these were expensive)

• Commemorate patrician  honor a long and great public service career

• Family remembrance: Used for ancestor veneration; statement of noble lineage

• Political propaganda: used to enhance and glorify careers

• Veristic portraits became a form of idealization  subject wore the evidence of his career

• Wrinkles became a sign of valued virtues

• We see he is full of experience, determination, and wisdom – traits highly desired in Roman patricians

• In fact the more wrinkles, lines, bags on your face that you had, THE BETTER!! It is more evidence of your hard work!!

• (Similar to how today people say they earned their grey hair – the more wrinkles you had, the better, the more you were understood to have had a long and glorious public career)

• (Similar to how today someone who is fit/muscular REVEALS their work ethic and determination UPON their body!)

• This hyper-realistic stylization BECAME the IDEAL ONLY in this time/place/culture!!!

Head of a Roman Patrician (Culture/Period)

Roman Republic

Alexander Mosaic (Form)

• Floor mosaic, created from tesserae (small cubes of colored stone or marble)

• 1.5 million tesserae based off of natural marble colors found in nature

• Why use so many tesserae?

• Tesserae show modeling (use of light and dark to create shadow, which conveys a roundness of form)

• Acts as a decorative, waterproof surface for a floor

• This has been badly damaged

• Exhibits radical foreshortening (extension perpendicular to the picture plane, into the painted space)

• Space is deep; figures are not stacked; turned into picture plane

Alexander Mosaic (Content)

• Huge moment of conflict between Greeks and Persians: pivotal in ending the power of the Persians (leads to Greek power in the Mediterranean)

• Alexander dies when he is 32 but became the model for a successful ruler

• Reaffirmed Macedonia’s supremacy over the Greeks, then turned to Persia

• Roman copy of lost Greek painting

• Originally, Greek painting was probably for Alexander’s successor, King Cassander of Macedonia

  • May be a painting by Philonos of Eretria

  • May be a painting by Helen of Egypt, one of just a few women artists known at this time

Alexander Mosaic (Function)

• Greek function: celebrate the Greek past and Alexander the Great’s victory

• But, this version was likely commissioned by wealthy Romans

• Floor mosaics were a common form of decoration

• Displays love for Greek works; Romans were well-known Grecophiles

• Interest in Alexander

• Desire to associate patron with Alexander and the power he represented

• Located on the floor in House of Faun in the foyer (entryway)

• House of Faun was the largest and most elaborately decorated house in Pompeii

• Believed to have been built after the Roman conquest of Pompeii

• 1st thing a visitor would see

• Found on the floor between two peristyles (open courtyard surrounded by columns)

• Discern personality and status of the owner

Alexander Mosaic (Context)

• Huge moment of conflict between Greeks and Persians: pivotal in ending the power of the Persians (leads to Greek power in the Mediterranean)

• Alexander dies when he is 32 but became the model for a successful ruler

• Reaffirmed Macedonia’s supremacy over the Greeks, then turned to Persia

• Roman copy of lost Greek painting

• Originally, Greek painting was probably for Alexander’s successor, King Cassander of Macedonia

  • May be a painting by Philonos of Eretria

  • May be a painting by Helen of Egypt, one of just a few women artists known at this time

  • Shows us that the Greeks used foreshortening and modeling

Head of a Roman Patrician (Location)

• No location

• Museum: Palazzo Torlonia, Rome

Alexander Mosaic (Location)

House of Faun, Pompeii, Italy.

Alexander Mosaic (Culture/Period)

Roman Republic

House of the Vettii (Form)

• Cut stone and fresco

• Most of Pompeii had private homes with few exterior windows and one entrance from the street

• Entrance through a foyer into an atrium (open air courtyard) with an impluvium (sunken space to catch rainwater)

• Cubicula (private bedrooms) surrounded the atrium

• Typically, homes had a second atrium which was surrounded by a peristyle (rectangle of columns)

• Atriums/peristyle courtyards are sources of illumination (remember there are no windows) and they allow cool air to come into the house

House of the Vettii (Function)

• Roman private home

• Form of display about your class, refinement, wealth

• House of the Vettii is one of the most luxurious residences

• Home was named for its owners, two successful freedmen (Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus)

• They were newly rich and sought a way to display that wealth

• They made money as merchants

House of the Vettii (Content)

• SUB-IMAGE: Pentheus Room

• Pompeiian wall frescoes are preserved, which has allowed historians to study them

• Historians found there were four styles – this room exhibits 4th Style Pompeiian wall painting, which means it is a combination of the previous three styles

  • Faux marble blocks

  • Naturalistic scenes (as if you are looking through a window)

  • Slender architectural details (often done in gold or yellow)

  • Combination of all three, often with scenes of mythological images

• Techniques to illustrate depth:

  • Highlights and modeling

  • Overlapping figures

  • One-point perspective

  • Atmospheric perspective

• Scene on the left: Young Hercules Strangling the Snakes

• Scene on the right: Pentheus being torn to pieces by the Cult of Bacchus

• Pentheus opposed the cult of Bacchus

House of the Vettii (Context)

• 1st c. BCE: Roman architect Vitruvius wrote De Architectura (On Architecture)

• He mentioned the Etruscan Temple of Minerva

• He also outlined the key elements and proportions of a Roman home

• This home follows those elements and proportions perfectly

• Discovered in the 18th century during archaeological excavations that unearthed Pompeii

• Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE

House of the Vettii (Culture/Period)

Roman Early Empire

House of the Vettii (Location)

Pompeii, Italy

Augustus of Prima Porta (Form)

• Bronze original: was 20 BCE

• COPY: Marble

• Notice in the marble copy Cupid/dolphin act as a kickstand, while the cloth acts as a strut

• This is the marble copy that was originally painted

• Back was not carved because it was meant to be displayed against a wall

• Inspired by classical Greek statuary

• Based closely on Doryphoros by Polykleitos

• Stands in contrapposto, youthful, physically stunning, in the same balance of proportions/opposites

• Return to idealism! Reaction against the verism of the Roman Republic

Augustus of Prima Porta (Function)

• Located at Livia’s home, Villa of Livia in Prima Porta, Rome

• Consider the types of people who would be invited here: senators, generals

• These are people who could choose to be loyal to Augustus or not and make his life difficult

• Illustrate to important Romans (and more broadly, the general populace) the image of a god-like leader and superior being who never ages

• The confusion between god and man is intentional

• Political propaganda

• Augustus wants to honor himself and present a very particular image of himself to the empire

• Very important for the emperor to have his image throughout the empire

• Needs to be a consistent image so that it is easily recognizable

• His image establishes conventions that all Roman rulers will follow:

• Strength; bravery; intellect; military might; youthfulness; orator and warrior

• Connection to Doryphoros by Polykleitos shows a link to a previous age of beauty and wisdom

Augustus of Prima Porta (Content)

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• Filled with Roman political ideology

• Image of an idealized Roman emperor

• Characteristic of Augustus: part hair over left eye, two locks over right eye

• Shown as three types of men at once – a Roman emperor must embody all three of these

• Orator/civic ruler

• Orator pose

• Wise and educated, calm and collected

• Bare feet: humility

• General/warrior

• Wears armor

• Breastplate: gods returning the captured Roman standard (flag) from the Parthians

• Dons sword

• God

• Physically perfect; exudes youthfulness

• Cupid sits on back of dolphin diving into ground (reference to Augustus’s divine descent from Venus; Julian family says they are descended from the gods) → implication is that Augustus is a demi-god (part divine)

• Breastplate

• Gods help to defend the Romans because they like Augustus Caesar

• God of sky and goddess of earth on breastplate

Augustus of Prima Porta (Context)

• Augustus was less than 19 when he inherited Julius Caesar’s empire

• By 31, he defeated Cleopatra and Antony at the Battle of Actium (31 BCE)

• 27 BCE: becomes emperor

• Leads Rome to Pax Romana, most successful period of the Roman Empire

• Political stability, economic growth, cultural beauty

• Belief that emperors are semi-divine; justifies their power

• Even at age 76, portraits show him as a handsome youth (this was one of 300 portraits he commissioned of himself)

• In an era where emperors claim to have transcended the realm of men, idealism is the only artistic style that will work to depict the true breadth of what the emperor stands for

Augustus of Prima Porta (Culture/Period)

Empire Early Period

Augustus of Prima Porta (Location)

Prima Porta, Rome

Petra Jordan (Form)

• Cut Rock

• Most of Petra carved in situ and into living rock

• Tombs were cut directly into stone walls

• Inscriptions cover the site: written in Nabataean, Greek, Latin

• Treasury

• Elements we recognize

• Corinthian order

• Pediments

• Stylobate

• Entablature with frieze

• Elements that are unusual

• Two levels (stories) = 130’ tall

• Broken pediment

• Tholos set within

• Unevenly spaced columns

• Pediment pushes towards viewer

• Pediment is not as wide as columns (only covers first four columns)

• Above, two bases to obelisks that appear to stretch underneath the rock

Petra Jordan (Function)

• Petra was the capital city for the Nabataean kingdom

• Well-developed wealthy city built along major caravan routes

• Large metropolis with temples, courts, tombs

Petra Jordan (Content)

• Rock-cut tombs

• Given the limitations of the landscape, one of the only options for elaborate burials was to carve tombs directly into the rock walls

• 3,500 tombs with 500 being for royalty

• Decorated with elaborate facades while some are simpler (sign of wealth/status)

• No human remains have been found in any tombs!

• Great Temple

• Surrounded by a monumental colonnaded street and large theater

• Had a huge series of stone seats for large crowds

• Also functioned as an audience hall with a theater arrangement inside

• One of the largest enclosed buildings in this area

• Inspired by Greco-Roman architecture (sign of trade and connection between Nabateans and Roman world)

• Treasury (nicknamed Treasury, even though it is a tomb)

• Tomb for a Nabataean king (probably Aretas IV); he was the most successful ruler and erected many buildings in Petra during his reign

• Sign of cross-cultural connections in Petra

• Egyptian

• Obelisks

• Goddess Isis

• Greek

• Castor and Pollux (Greek gods who protect travelers and the dead = city of traders/tomb)

• Tyche (Greek goddess of good fortune)

• Acroteria (sculpture on the roof)

• Roman

• Corinthian order

• Eagles (symbol of the Ptolemies – the Roman Egyptian rulers)

Petra Jordan (Context)

• Nabataeans: people who occupied Sinai to northern Arabia and southern Syria during Roman era

• Ptolemies: Romans (actually originating with Macedonian Greeks) who ruled in Egypt and intermarried with Egyptian nobility (Cleopatra is one of the Ptolemies)

• Nabataeans were great traders; controlled luxury trade of incense

• Wealth helped them create spectacular architecture

• Intersection of great trade routes

• Site of converging cultures

• Nabataeans combined Roman Hellenism and Mesopotamian art styles → Syncretism

• Dating is difficult as there are almost no coins and pottery, and little writing

Petra Jordan (Culture/Period)

• Culture: Nabataean + Ptolemaic Rome

• Early Empire Period

Petra Jordan (Location)

Petra, Jordan

Forum of Trajan (Form)

• Form: Brick & Concrete 

• Majority of the site is the result of concrete: allowed the Romans to think of space in new revolutionary ways; they were not limited by post-and-lintel construction

• Concrete also led to cheap, non-specialized labor

• Romans thought that concrete was ugly, so they covered most of the site up with brick or marble

Forum of Trajan (Function)

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• Forum: civic space, administrative/commercial/political center

• Designed to accommodate a lot of people

• Commemorate Romans’ victory over the Dacians (much like how the Acropolis commemorated the Greek victory over the Persians)

• Beautiful, elaborate, grand – incorporated a lot of artwork to aggrandize Trajan

• Column of Trajan + equestrian statue of Trajan

• Displays power, prestige, merit, virtue

• Trajan’s forum is size of all other imperial fora put together

• Impress viewer with Trajan’s accomplishments and the construction here

Forum of Trajan (Context)

• Athenian Agora is the precursor to Roman fora (plural for forum)

• Trajan expanded the Roman Empire to its largest borders; great military general

• History of Forums

• Julius Caesar first built his forum, then many other emperors followed (Augustus, Domitian)

• Trajan wanted a forum and had a lot of money from his defeat of the Dacians

• Trajan’s problem was the best land in Rome was already filled with the fora of previous emperors

• He turned to his best architect Apollodorus of Damascus and asked him to remove a hill in Rome to build his forum on it

Forum of Trajan (Content)

• Trajan Markets

• Two-story market with 150 shops and offices

• Shops (taberna) varied in size and were rented

• Each shop had a small storefront and storerooms in the back

• Semi-circular building with clerestory windows (windows along the roofline)

• Built using groin vault construction

• Column of Trajan

• Form

  • Roman Doric column (125’); 12’ around; 114 individual scenes

  • Continuous spiral narrative frieze of 625’

  • Composition is crowded with 2,500 low relief figures

  • Stone from Luna, Italy, where 8 solid marble pieces were quarried for the base with 20 pieces 10 feet in diameter for the column

  • Shipped down the Tiber and dragged to the capital

  • Each had to be individually and carefully carved

  • Pieces secured with metal and lead dowels

  • Carving occurred once column was put together

• Function

  • Originally commissioned to be a lookout tower; converted to a war memorial

  • Commemorated Trajan’s campaigns against the Dacians of modern-day Romania

  • Also used as the burial chamber of Trajan (ashes are in base)

  • Column could be entered; viewer wound up a spiral staircase to the viewing platform

  • Viewer emerges into the light after being in the dark, twisting staircase

  • Must have been very difficult to view or read in its entirety, though it would have been painted

  • So why was it this way? Possibly to overwhelm the viewer; make them consider the fact that all of those tiny figures and the great immensity of the column tell a portion of the story of Trajan’s might

• Content

  • Originally, it was capped by the golden eagle (symbol of Jupiter), and then a statue of Trajan when it became Trajan’s tomb; now St. Peter has replaced Trajan

  • Dacians are not disparaged → this is to show that the Romans won because of their superior military skills, not because they are inherently better; make the Dacians seem like formidable opponents

Forum of Trajan (Culture/Period)

• Apollodorus of Damascus Architect

• Roman High Empire 

Forum of Trajan (Location)

Rome, Italy

Colosseum (Flauian Amphitheter) (Location)

Rome, Italy

Colosseum (Flauian Amphitheter) (Culture/Period)

Early Roman Empire

Colosseum (Flauian Amphitheter) (Form)

• Stone & Concrete 

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• Built in 10 years; accommodated 50,000 people

• A number of innovations were introduced

• Circular shape

  • “Theater” is a half circle; “amphi” means both; amphitheater: full circle

• Crowd control

  • Above each ground floor arch is a carved number in Roman numerals: this indicated the seating section for spectators; there were 76 entrances (vomitoria) that encircled the bottom

• Concrete

  • Built with concrete technology; this can lead to new shapes (curved walls)

  • Some of the top level was wood because it was lighter than concrete

  • Concentric corridors covered by barrel vaults

  • Working with stone (marble, limestone, tufa) would mean you would need specialized workers

  • Concrete means you can use non-specialized laborers (slaves)

  • Concrete: lime mortar + volcanic sand + water, placed in wooden frame to dry

  • To make sure concrete pieces stay firmly attached to one another, instead of using mortar, Romans used lead and bronze pins, like a skeleton that held multiple blocks together

  • Concrete formed the core but the outside was covered with travertine

  • Romans believed that concrete was effective and practical but ugly

  • Concrete was cheaper than importing tufa or Greek marble

• Arch

  • Arches built with a wooden frame underneath that could be removed

  • Each stone along the arch has to be wedge-shaped (smaller at bottom than top); if this is done, mortar is not needed

  • Voussoir: individual stones of an arch

  • Keystone: topmost/central most stone of an arch

  • Arches can be extended/stretched horizontally: barrel vault

  • Building is three circular barrel vaults that are layered upon one another

  • Seats were perfectly refined individual travertine blocks

  • After Crusades, blocks are taken to build churches with

• Facade

  • Arcade (row of arches)

  • Engaged columns (columns that are rounded but attached to a building on the back side)

  • First story: Tuscan (Doric with a base)

  • Second story: Ionic

  • Third story: Corinthian

  • Each order is “lighter” (more decorative, complex) than the order below

  • Floor built with trap doors, and completely covered with sand so that it was pitch black underneath

  • Velarium: shade that was pulled to cover the wide opening, retractable canvas roof

Colosseum (Flauian Amphitheter) (Function)

• Create pleasure for people and manipulate their opinion of Flavian rulers

• An important component of Augustus Caesar’s bread and circuses (ways to please the masses)

• Wild and dangerous spectacles took place here

• - Gladiator combat (average age of gladiator: 26)

• - Animal hunts (though these happened significantly less than people think because of the expense of both of these)

• Trap doors installed on the floor to allow animals to enter/exit (trap doors drop to be ramps)

• Lions were kept in the dark starving for days to encourage aggression, crocodiles from Nile, bears from Germany, giraffes from Africa, wolves from Italy

• No evidence Christians were persecuted inside

• Political propaganda: size of the building and complexity was a sign of the power of the Flavians

Colosseum (Flauian Amphitheter) (Content)

• Real name is Flavian Amphitheater after the new ruling family who built the Colosseum

• Colosseum is nickname (largest arena in Italy, and next to a large statue of an emperor)

• Stadium/Amphitheater had seating determined by status

• 1st level: senators, magistrates, vestal virgins, wealthy women, emperor had private box

• 2nd level: knights/generals

• 3rd level + 4th level: middle class

• 5th level: women and the poor

Colosseum (Flauian Amphitheter) (Context)

• Nero, last Julio-Claudian: killed his mother and wife, committed suicide, burned Christians, reign was marked by extravagance and corruption

• Nero had taken a lot of public land in Rome and made it a private park for himself

• First Flavian ruler was Vespasian (famous for subjugating Judea)

• Vespasian chose the site of an artificial lake in Nero’s private palace park

• By building the new amphitheater here, Vespasian reclaimed for the public the land that Nero had confiscated for his private park

• Amphitheaters like this were actually commonly constructed across the Roman Empire (this is just the largest)

• This was part of Augustus Caesar’s propaganda campaign called Bread and Circuses

• Important component of Augustus Caesar’s bread and circuses (ways to please the masses)

• Roman slaves used to construct the building

• When it opened, there were games for 100 days; a naval battle was recreated with 3,000 participants and the flooding of the Colosseum

• Middle Ages: Crusaders cause damage to the Colosseum by removing lead and bronze pins for their weaponry; to find these pins, they had to dig holes in the Colosseum until they found the pins

Pantheon (Form)

• Concrete with Stone facing.

• We see the Roman interest in Greek architecture: pediment; portico; colonnade; stylobate

• Just like the Colosseum, there are a number of architectural innovations in the construction

• Visual trick

• Originally set in a rectangular courtyard where you could only enter from directly in front of the building (could not see the building from the corner as we do today)

• Also, the ground level in Ancient Rome was lower than it is today

• Façade has two pediments: one rectangular pediment deeply recessed behind the other triangular pediment to block the dome

• Corinthian capitals of Egyptian granite on the portico (monolithic stones)

• Entering the courtyard from this angle would have obscured the view of the dome in the back, so all one would see would be the traditional temple

• It would surprise the viewer upon entering that the building is circular

• Concrete construction

• Concrete is cheap, you don’t need specialized stone cutting crews – anyone can do it, concrete is MALLEABLE and can create any shape depending on the mold you pour it into

• Walls: concrete mixed with basalt (hard stone) for strong walls

• Walls are enormously thick (20 feet at base) but thin out at the top to help take weight off of enormous dome

• Dome: concrete mixed with pumice for lighter ceilings

• What don’t the Romans like about concrete? They think it is ugly.

• Was originally covered with bronze in most places, but has since been ripped off

• Dome / cupola (another word for dome)

• Radial building: radiates outward from a central point

• Height of the building equals its width

• Interior of building could accommodate a perfect sphere

• How do you have light inside?

• Can’t have a clerestory and weaken the bottom of the enormous dome

• Oculus: 27 feet across, central opening acts as a spotlight and allows light into the space

• Light functions as a sun dial, making visible the movement of the sun

• Problem with oculus? You have just taken out the keystone of the arch/dome!!

• Solution to lightening the dome since the keystone is gone?

• Coffered ceiling helps to make the dome lighter

• Interest in perfect geometric shapes (repeat all over the inside)

• Square panels in the floor and in coffers; contrast with the roundness of walls

Pantheon (Location)

Italy, Rome

Pantheon (Culture/Period)

High Empire Period

Pantheon (Function)

• Original temple built by Marcus Agrippa to show Rome’s power over Antony and Cleopatra

• Damaged by fire and Hadrian rebuilt it into the Pantheon

• Interpretation #1 (most common): Hadrian’s temple was dedicated to all the gods (PANtheon) (but particularly, twelve main gods)

• Zeus (sky), Hera (marriage, mothers, families), Poseidon (sea), Demeter (agriculture), Athena (wisdom and war), Hephaestus (blacksmiths, fire), Ares (war), Aphrodite (love and beauty), Apollo (music, poetry, medicine, sun), Artemis (moon, hunt, maidens), Hermes (roadways, travelers), Dionysus (wine)

• Statement of Hadrian’s piety and devotion to the gods

• Statues in niches in interior held statues of gods

• Interpretation #2 (newer theory): Hadrian might have not used it as a temple at all, but rather a kind of monument to Roman emperors and political power

• Hadrian held court in this room

• Statement of his humility to previous emperors

• We do know that when Hadrian was here, the statues were of Roman emperors; perhaps later emperors changed it to be about the worship of the pantheon

• Later in early 7th c. CE made into a church (that is why it is so well preserved)

Pantheon (Content)

• Exterior inscription: Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, having been consul 3 times, built it → refers to the original temple that was destroyed

• This has been interpreted as Hadrian being modest, and saying Marcus Agrippa built something here first

• Marcus Agrippa built the first temple on this site

• Walls in interior have seven niches for statues of main seven gods

Pantheon (Context)

• Old/traditional theory: Hadrian was an emperor and connoisseur of the arts who constructed Pantheon when he became emperor

• Earlier temple was on the site to commemorate the victory of the Romans over Marc Antony and Cleopatra

• Rebuilt by Hadrian after it was damaged by fire

• He dedicated it to all the gods

• New theory: Original building by Marcus Agrippa was actually quite similar to the current Pantheon, and current Pantheon was likely built at the end of Trajan’s reign, and Hadrian probably completed the project

• Consecrated as a church in 609 CE (this helped preserve it during the Middle Ages/Crusades)

• Why this location?

• Believed to be the site of the apotheosis (rising to heaven) of Romulus, one of the founders of Rome

• Aligned on an axis with Augustus Caesar’s mausoleum

• Another great emperor, Marcus Agrippa, built here; this was a way for Hadrian to create an association between himself and Marcus Agrippa

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Form)

• Marble

• High relief tomb

• Carved with a hand drill

• Style is NOT classical and is instead HIGHLY chaotic; really seeing a rejection of classicism

• Lack of clarity or central focus = no area of emphasis/no pride of place

• Central figure is buried: at the top, opening up right arm

• Figures are piled up on one another (compare to Plaque of the Ergastines); lack individuality

• Figures’ shields sometimes help to highlight figures

• Rejection of classical perspective and space; no ground line

• Harmonious classical proportions of the body are gone

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Culture/Period)

Late Empire Period

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Location)

• No Location:

• Museum: Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Altemps, Rome

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Context)

• Chaos in Rome during the era of collapse and the growth of Christianity is reflected in the art

  • Similar to the chaos of Alexander the Great’s death leading to Hellenism

  • The empire grew increasingly unstable as it expanded past its limits, and Christianity grew as many turned to it for solace

• Christians found cremation repugnant and preferred burials because:

  • 1) Christians need their bodies during the end times when Christ will raise the good and the dead to fight the devil

  • 2) Jesus’s own death included the rising of his body

• Many wealthy Romans began to adopt the practice of saving the body rather than using cremation; this became trendy and a way to differentiate themselves from poor non-Christian Romans who still used cremation

• This sarcophagus was discovered in 1621 in a tomb near the Porta Tiburtina (in Rome) and purchased by Cardinal Ludovisi, hence the name

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Content)

• Battle between Romans and Barbarians (figures who are bearded) represents good vs. evil

• Chaotic battle scene filled with writhing and highly emotive figures

• Romans are portrayed as noble, idealized, heroic, while barbarians are bearded caricatures with puffy noses and wild expressions

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Function)

• Sarcophagus for an unknown wealthy person and placed in a large loculi (holes in wall for the dead)

• Based on subject matter, perhaps person was general or in military? We don’t know though.

• Is the patron Christian?

• Yes? Shows adoption of new burial practices; this person was clearly devout

• No? (More likely) Shows how trendy new Christian burial practices were

Catacombs of Priscilla (Form)

• Tufa (porus stone), Fresco (painting on plaster) 

Catacombs of Priscilla (Culture/Period)

Late Roman Empire (Christian)

Catacombs of Priscilla (Location)

Rome, Italy

Catacombs of Priscilla (Content)

• A: Greek Chapel

  • Room (cubicula) for worship and burial

  • 3 niches (loculi) for sarcophagi

  • Named for 2 Greek inscriptions in the room

  • Decorated with Roman first style wall painting, imitating marble panels

  • Painted scenes refer to divine intervention and Christ’s miracles

• B: Orant fresco (aka Cubiculum of the Veiled Woman)

  • Lunette: a crescent-shaped space, sometimes over a doorway, containing sculpture or painting

  • One woman depicted three times (continuous narrative)

  • Left: marriage with bishop officiating

  • Right: motherhood, seated in the chair for childbirth

  • Center: larger figure in orant (prayer) pose, eyes looking upward to heaven, representing the end of life

  • She will enjoy a blessed afterlife because she has fulfilled her familial obligations

• C: Good Shepherd fresco

  • Prior to Constantine, artists almost always depicted Christ as the Good Shepherd or a young teacher; after the Edict of Milan, Christ is shown as a judge or king due to political and cultural changes regarding Christianity’s validity

  • For this fresco, it is likely completed before the Edict of Milan (before 313 CE)

  • Medallion (circle): portrait of Christ as Good Shepherd (pastoral motif going back to the Greek Calf Bearer); Christ will go find stray sheep (nonbelievers)

  • Symbolism: rescues individual sinners in his flock who stray

  • Notice the cross design of the ceiling, which is domed (Dome of Heaven)

Catacombs of Priscilla (Context)

• Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire and literally went underground

  • Christians remained small in number and hidden

  • They attracted the poor due to their promise of an afterlife in which rich and poor were judged equally

• 313 CE: Constantine issues Edict of Milan, forbidding Christian persecution and tolerating Christianity within the Roman Empire

  • Even after this, many Christians still worshipped underground

  • A) They were reluctant to go out into the open

  • B) They had already established all their places of worship

  • Eventually, this changed, but slowly

• These catacombs are north of Rome, underneath a wealthy woman Priscilla’s villa, who could sponsor the poor by building catacombs

  • Wealthy individuals could afford sarcophagi and purchase the cubicula (small rooms used as mortuary chapels)

• This is one of the FIRST examples of Christian art—why does Christianity exist for 200 years without artistic production?

  • A) Did it just not survive?

    • Seems unlikely due to the well-preserved Roman art

  • B) Is it because of the prohibition against the making of images in the 2nd Commandment?

    • Images of gods and individuals were very common in the Roman Empire—maybe Christians wanted to stay away from that?

  • C) Was there no Christian vocabulary that had been developed?

    • Much more likely—if trying to create a new religion and new religious art centered on monotheism, one would not want to draw on Greco-Roman traditions that illustrated polytheism and nudity. This means Christian artists had to develop an entirely new form of artistic vocabulary.

    • In short: create new vocabulary, avoid Greco-Roman (paganism and nudity), create something else

Catacombs of Priscilla (Function)

• Catacomb: underground cemetery with subterranean pathways

• Underground places where the earliest Christians were buried

• Provided safety to Christians during the age of persecution in the Roman Empire

• Place for early Christian worship

• Beginning of the creation of Christian iconography and Christian symbolism

Santa Sabina (Form)

• Brick, stone, wooden roof.

• Constructed by Peter of Illyria

• Christian architecture adapted the Roman basilica - but why?

• Christians are willing to keep Greco-Roman elements like a basilica if the benefits outweigh the association

  • 1) Can accommodate large numbers of people

  • 2) Building shape/design came to signify governmental authority thanks to Roman precedents

  • 3) One single entrance/exit allows for control of the flow of people

  • 4) One single vantage point upon entering, where the altar will be placed and the priest will stand

  • 5) Basilica’s associations with law and justice pair well with Christian belief in Last Judgment

• Dominant central axis leads from the entrance to the apse (semi-circular end of a basilica)

• Central space: nave, flanked by side aisles, with columns lining the nave

• Corinthian columns produce a steady rhythm along the arcade that focuses all attention on the apse

• Spolia: columns used from a pagan building and repurposed

• Clerestory: row of windows along the top to emit light

• Light symbolizes Christ, emphasizing the spiritual, intangible nature (like light)

• Windows are not glass but selenite (colorless, transparent gypsum)

• The stained glass visible was added later

• Roof is simple with a coffer technique to lighten the wooden load

Santa Sabina (Culture/Period)

Late Roman Empire (Christian)

Santa Sabina (Location)

Rome, Italy

Santa Sabina (Function)

• Roman Christian church

• Dedicated to Saint Sabina

• In 430, her relics were brought to Santa Sabina

• Church was built on the site of Saint Sabina’s house, which was near an old temple to Juno/Hera

Santa Sabina (Content)

• Basilica-plan church

• Bare exterior (simple, unadorned, brick)

• Exterior is meant to display the grit and corruption of the human body

• Interior is bright, glittering with mosaics, and light – displays the human soul

• Spandrels (spaces between the tops of arches) depict chalices and bread plates: reference to the Eucharist (ceremony in the church when people take communion – body and blood are embodied in bread and wine)

Santa Sabina (Context)

• Christianity is now a tolerated religion (313 CE – Edict of Milan)

• Christians can now come out publicly and worship; large numbers of converts; following grows