Roman Art quiz 5

Rome: Tomb of Eurysaces (late 1 c BC)

-“This is the monument of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces the baker, a contractor…”

-may have a state contract to bake bread for army, which is why he has money for land and tomb

-the funeral space is a great way to see identity statements from non-state actors 

-unusually well preserved

-idiosyncratic (peculiar) form

-some believe tubes are vessels for the baker

-some believe the images point to Eurysaces as an elite among the workers, similar to the real elites

L’Arringatore (ca 80 BC)

-position indicates he is speaking in the forum square

Tomb of the Haterii (late 1st C AD)

Rome- Via Labicana

-left: a scene of mourning 

-right: ancestors 

-private industry

-state-adjacent themes to portray identity

Sarcophagus with scene of the Niobids (Ca AD 160-170) via Appia

-Niobids: children that apollo kills

- greek mythology: more sophisticated

The Labors of Hercules ca 170 AD

- greek mythology: more sophisticated

Portonaccio Battle Sarcophagus (ca 180-190 AD) - Portonaccio

-direct geographical impulse

-seems unfinished

-very complex work

-layered composition 

-main person’s face seems unfinished

-was this made with someone specific in mind or just if someone comes in

-Hawara - Mummy with an Inserted panel portrait of a youth (ca. AD 80-100)

-are they made during the lifetime and reused or are the made at the time of death

Panel Painting of a woman in a blue mantle Neronian, AD 54-68

The Jewelry Girl

-private, not of state interest

-for upper middle class and above’

what?

Portus - Isola Sacra necropolis

-working class

-mostly cremation tombs

Portus - Isola Sacra - tomb 29 (late 2nd C AD)

-Plaques ar mounted on tombs

-they are focused on trades

Funerary relief of decorators at work (2nd c AD sens museum)

-the material turn: being interested in not just the end project but the steps to get there

-roman wall art is challenging

-bottom person is preparing the layer you apply first (plaster)

-top right is applying to wall in multiple layers (top layer is smoothest)

-top left is applying paint to wet plaster (fresco technique [fresh])

-fresco pieces last very long

-most pigments are naturally sourced making them more expensive so more expensive colors are indicators of status

(200-60 BC) masonry, encrustation

FRIST: has no figural scenes

-Roman wall painting is about illusion and imitation

-comes into the italian peninsula by the greek island of Delos 

-envisioned as a sequence of zones

-second from the bottom (orthostates) is most important: larger panels 

-use plaster and paint to imitate masonry

-part of a decorative environment 

-roman artists have not understood single point perspective (everything converges at one point)

-they are still trying to create a sense of depth

Pompeii: Tablinum of the House of Sallust; 1st c BC

-colors are meant to evoke decorative stone

-first style

Herculaneum: atrium of the “samnite” House; Late 2nd-early 1st c BC

-aims to create depth and imitate a balcony

-uses stacking and layering for the viewer to understand the closer things are in the foreground

SECOND STYLE:

(early 1st c BC): pictorial imitation of architecture

-Starting to play with depth

-part of it has masonry imitation

-the other part is open to engage in the depth conversation 

-more experimentation

-who is driving the conversation (patron or artist)

Rome - Casa dei Grifi

SECOND STYLE:

(early 1st c BC): pictorial imitation of architecture

-how first style ties into second style 

-illusionistic architecture 

-almost too many patterns

The house of a newly wealthy person who wants to show that

-bring decorative standards at home up to current standards

SECOND STYLE:

(early 1st c BC): pictorial imitation of architecture

The villa of the mysteries

-to host

-name from painted program in the hospitality portion

-shows a figural cycle

-has interchange in composition between first style and second style

Boscoreale (in pompeii)

-40-30 BC
-second style

-wealthy areas 

-Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor: cubiculum (50-40 BC)

 during the first part of 1st c AD but he never painted over

-painting is all about illusion

Odyssey landscapes via Graziosa, Esquiline, Rome. before 46 BC

• Indication of another kind of trend

• Utilizes perspective

• Imitates the architectural setting

• Shows the journeys about Odyssey

• Key scenes/stories from times you expected to know

Primaporta 20 BC, Suburban home of Livia. Triclinium

• Winter dining room, ⅔ of it is below ground so it's warmer

• Room to engage your imagination, you're meant as the viewer to imagine you're inside of a grotto(cave)

• Carefully engineered painting, may be seen to fit in with other message making with augustan programs

• Abundance of the natural world, but untamed(no gardener), just the guard of natural fertility

• Some say its a Comment on augustan restoration of order, triumph of order over chaos, and a comment on nature

• The garden room is private, the public does not go there

The Third Pompeian Style

-The third style (20 BC - AD 20): rejects illusion, prefers surface ornament

• 2 phases

  • Rejects illusionism; turns toward simple and ornate effects

  • Phase 2 shows rejection of elegance, use of polychromatic compositions

• Interest in architectural image

• Disinterest in the open wall,, prefers a closed wall, very intricate detail on the closed wall, real interest in miniaturistic effect

• More ornate(complex), less cluttered

House of M. Lucretius Fronto from Pompeii(40-50 AD)

• Very intricate borders

• Idea of a focal point panel, that dominates a part of a wall, an obvious point to look

• Another approach is new– there is a long metal piece-imitating a portable stand you have in your room(candelabrum), it is holding a picture(a picture within a picture within a picture)- is it depth perception?

• Pinax- painting on wood panel, they are portable, can move it around- takes the viewer to somewhere fantastical

Boscotrecase

Mythological room

• Interest in primary color contrasts, and this being one of the main aims of the composition?

Fourth Pompein style

(following AD 20): eclectic, a little bit of everything

• An eclectic style of painting

• Baroque- characterized by extravagance, complexity, exaggeration, or flamboyance

• A little bit of everything

House of the Vettii

• Wealthy people, garment washing business

  • Pentheus scene

    • Pentheus is an idiot and manages to stumble into a group of women that go into an ecstatic state and tear things apart, including him

    • greek mythology is a useful pool to which to sample and you end up with these rooms that are eclectic and ornate..

fourth style

Pompeii- House of the Tragic Poet

• Highest quality decorative programs

• What about the arrangement of the painting help explain choices that are made, are there themes, there is interactivity that we should presume that comes with these art programs

• Atrium

  • South wall– wedding of zeus and hera, and aphrodite

  • East wall- achilles and Briseis, and helen and paris

  • West wall- abduction of amphitrite, and wrath of achilles

The Domus Aurea (64-68 AD)

• The trends in pompeii, aren't limited to Pompeii

• Follow the 4th style - intricate

• Long forgotten