Ancient Etruria & Rome

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The Etruscans (800 - 300 BCE)

  • Existed prior to Rome and would thus influence Rome 

  • Occupied middle of Italy before leading to the foundation and creation of Rome → was eventually conquered by Romans

  • some of the finest BCE art that would influence Roman art

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<p><span>Tomb of the Triclinium&nbsp;</span></p>

Tomb of the Triclinium 

  • ETRURIA

  • Tarquinia, Italy, circa 480-470 BCE, tufa and fresco 

    • tufa = type of limestone

    • fresco = style of painting

  • tells us about the decreased and Etruscan society 

  • tumuli = mounds of earth/stones serving as a tomb

    • emulated the homes of the living for the dead

    • roughly 6000 tumuli in Tarquinia 

    • form cities for the dead and feature paintings that tell us a lot about Etruscan society

  • Trinclinim - dining room

    • dancing figures in the front

      • painted through fresco technique

      • buon (true) fresco – plaster is applied to wall, painted while palaster is still wet, paint binds with plaster and becomes part of the painting and is more permanent

      • secco fresco – doesn’t paint while plaster is wet → have to wait for the plaster to dry before painting, meaning that the paint wouldn’t bind with the fresco and thus wouldn’t last as long 

  • reclining figures in the back

  • men and women in the same dining room → way different than Greek society, not seen at parties and expected to be in home

  • women have paler skin and men have darker skin, since they would work outside and women thus wouldn’t get tan since they were expected to stay in the home

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<p><span>Sarcophagus of the Spouses</span></p>

Sarcophagus of the Spouses

  • Eturia, circa 520 BCE, terracotta

  • comes from large necropolis in Cerveteri

  • takes the form of a reclining husband and wife on a banqueting couch → life-size 

    • for their sacrophagus, but didn’t hold their bodies → likely held cremated bodies (ashes) of those pictured 

    • can see how funerary rituals differed from Greeks & Romans 

    • woman is most likely holding a jar of perfume & men is holding egg (symbol of regeneration/rebirth) → shows beliefs of Etruscans regarding afterlife

  • created in 4 separate pieces and was brightly painted at one point

  • from back angle – figures are actually portrayed awkwardly from the waist down, legs are awkward to create a flat pile of legs, transition from torso to legs is also unnatural and looks uncomfortable

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<p><span>Temple of Minerva at Veii with Apollo Sculpture</span></p>

Temple of Minerva at Veii with Apollo Sculpture

  • Eturia, circa 510-500 BCE, temple, wood, tufa, and mudlock & apollo sculpture – terracotta

  • Etruscan Gods and their Greco-Roman counterparts (same pantheon of gods under different names)

    • Tinia – Zeus – Jupiter

    • Uni – Hera – Juno

    • Menrva – Athena – Minerva

    • Apulu – Apollo – Apollo

    • Artumes – Artemis – Diana

    • Hercle – Herakles – Hercules 

  • temple is named for Athena, but also holds statues of Apollo and Hercules as well

  • due to the materials the Etruscans used when constructing their temples, there are actually no remains left → only thing left are the stone foundations 

    • need writing from the Roman architect Vitruvius to piece together model

  • heavy influence of Greeks on this architecture, but also different 

    • would take Greek ideas and make them something into entirely new

    • columns at the front were made out of wood, while walls were made of mudbrick 

      • columns are doric order, but not fluted and have base → tuscan columns 

    • Foundation is stone 

    • blueprint – only one way to enter building from the steps in the front that lead us to the porch, have 3 main rooms (sela) for Etruscan versions of Athena, Zeus, and Hera but temple is dedicated to Athena ~ all very different from Greeks

    • statuary placed on the spine of the roof, not in pediments 

      • Apulu as he confronts Hercles during one of his 12 tasks and at one point depicted one of the 12 models so he could steal Athena’s golden hind 

      • NOT A GREEK WORK even though there’s an archaic smile 

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The Romans (753 BCE-476 CE)

  • overthrows the Etruscans → Republican Rome – 509 - 27 BCE

  • rule of Augustus (Octavian) begins → Imperial Rome – 27 BCE - 284 CE

  • Constantine I comes into power,splits Rome in 2 → Late Imperial Rome → 284 - 476 CE

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Head of a Roman Patrician 

REPUBLICAN ROME

  • circa 75-50 BCE, marble

  • Wealthy aristocrats during the Republican Rome period were very proud of their lineage, so sculptures is how they celebrated their status

  • gravitas (serious) & veristic (realistic) 

  • NOT CLASSICAL GREEK

  • men have wrinkled and aged b/c they were ruling Rome ~ can see how they were from a family who was proud of their lineage 

  • memory must be kept alive

  • how does this show wealth/power

    • function: showed lineage and power (aristocratic rule) & ancestor worship was absolutely central to the Romans’ beliefs about death and the afterlife

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House of the Vetti

IMPERIAL ROME

  • Pompeii, Rome, circa 2nd century BCE and rebuilt 62-79 CE, cut stone and fresco 

  • 79 CE – Mount Vesivius erupted and killed many, covering the surrounding area in ash, thus ensuring its preservation

  • House gives explanation to the daily lives of the Romans 

  • first enter through the fauces, then to atrium → where busts of wealthy family members that came before would be

    • within atrium → there is an opening in the ceiling called the compluvium, which allows rainwater to fall into a basin called the impluvium 

      • compluvium allowed sunlight into the room and thus into the house

    • past copluvium, there’s the peristyle (columned porch) that circled the garden and provided light, served as a gathering place during the warm months 

    • Throughout the house, there ae cubliciums (bedrooms/places of rest) → SOLELY TO SLEEP 

    • tricliniums – dining room

  • eruption of Pompeii also preserved Roman painting styles

    • First Style: incrustation style (fake marble – marble is expensive, so the house looked more expensive) 

    • Second Style: architectural style (architectural realism – making house seem bigger) 

    • Third Style: ornate style (monochrome with linear design) 

    • Fourth Style: intricate style (everything that came before) 

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Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun

IMPERIAL ROME

  • Pompeii, Italy, circa 100 BCE, mosaic 

  • Roman mosaic copy of a Greek painting between King Darius of Persia and Alexander the Great (that painting no longer exists) 

    • Alexander is completely in control no matter the chaos of the situation, sword ends in one of Darius’s soldiers

    • Darius is in the middle of turning his chariot around

    • one of Darius’s soldiers is whipping his horse, depicting a previously-unseen POV of horse 

    • man who has fallen and looking into his shield and sees reflection of face 

    • another man who has fallen could be trampled 

    • the original painting was lost to time b/c most Greek paintings were made of wood, but it had to have been so incredibly detailed that the mosaicist who created this work was able to make shadows and variations in color from it

  • tesserae – small pieces of stone/glass that can be cut to a desired size/shape

    • by combing stones, you have an image from blocks of color that is more clear the farther you are away

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Augustus of Prima Porta

IMPERIAL ROME

  • early 1st century CE, marble 

  • from the villa of Livia in Prima Porta 

Rise of Augustus 

  • 44 BCE – Julius Caesar is assassinated & Rome enters a civil war

  • 31 BCE – Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son, defeats Marc Antony and Cleopatra, thus consolidating power

  • 27 BCE – Roman senate declares Octovian as Augustus (renamed, basically) 

  • Rome turns from a republic to an empire 

  • many Romans wouldn’t have seen the emperor, so status were how the masses would’ve seem Augustus ~ basically a form of propaganda 

  • this figure differs from Republican Portraiture → chooses to display himself as a healthy, spry youth (similar to classical Greek period) Augustus is wearing armor, which has famous diplomatic figures depicted with the gods watching over him

    • continued propaganda, with these diplomatic figures to provide a sense of control over the empire for the Roman people 

  • Julian family linage through Venus is reinforced → nude infant (Cupid) is grabbing at Augustus’s clothes

    • Cupid, Venus’s daughter with Augustus → reinforcing he came from a goddess and his family is aligned with a goddess 

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Flavian Amphitheater (The Colosseum

IMPERIAL ROME

  • Rome, Italy, circa 70-80 CE, stone and concrete 

  • an amphitheatre is two theaters (theater is half a circle/oval) combined to create a circle/oval

  • built by Vespasian [of the Flavian (Flavius) family] on Nero’s Domus Aurea (palace with artificial lake) 

    • Before the rule of the Favians, there was a ruler named Nero was horrible → ruled during a horrible fire, so afterwards he rebuilt the city but only built a palace for himself and other monuments (nothing for the people) 

    • after death → civil unrest until Vespasian was in power, so he built public spaces over Nero’s monuments 

    • Flavian Amphitheater was constructed over Nero’s Domus Aurea → gave back this land to the Roman people that was originally theirs and taken from the Roman people by Nero 

  • Amphitheater was completed by Titus, son of Vespasian & named after a colossal state of Nero that stood nearby (Coliseum)

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Exterior of Coliseum

  • IMPERIAL ROME

  • lowest/first level – Tuscan columns (NOT DORIC)

  • Second level  – ionic columns 

  • Third level – corinthian order 

    • Corinthian – acanthus-style leaves that adorn the capital, flashiest, Romans loved this b/c it was flashy but Greeks didn’t 

    • base 

    • fluted shaft and continues to taper (get thinner) towards top

    • highly decorated capital with acanthus leaves

    • Embalutre – archave is similar to orders

    • Continuous frieze

    • No pediment → flat roof 

  • Concrete was a huge deal

  • Colloseum looks like this today (originally had marble seats and originally looked more extravagant) b/c after the fall of Rome, it would’ve been used as a shop and stripped of its original stuff, so we can see what was originally there (concrete skeleton)

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Evolution of the Arch

  • IMPERIAL ROME

  • post & lintel (flaw was that it could only be built so wide before it cracked in the middle) → corbeled (created by stacking stones until they met at the point, but if one of them were to fall, the whole arch would fall) → rounded (allowed Colloseum to be constructed, same principle as corbleled but rounded and allowed for barrel vaults) 

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Vaults (why the rounded arch matters)

  • IMPERIAL ROME

  • extending round arch leaves a hallway with a rounded arch roof → barrel vault 

  • in a barrel vault, the weight of the vault is pushed downwards and outwards, thick walls called buttresses to keep it from falling in

  • modern-day arenas are modelled after this 

  • when two barrel vaults intersect, a groin vault formed and is lighter w/less material, weight is channeled towards into a thick column called a pier 

  • Fenestrated groin vault appears when a groin vault covers an interior hall and creates the equivalent of a clerestory (windows)

    • allows light to filter in 

  • dome → where a rounded arch is rotated around the full circumference of a circle and rests on drum (walls-ish) 

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Forum of Trajan

  • IMPERIAL ROME

  • designed by Apollodorus of Damascus, Rome, brick and concrete; column dates to 113 CE, marble 

  • forum = “a public, urban square for civic and ritual business” 

  • Trajan followed a terrible ruler called Domission → Trajan was the first non-Italian to rule Rome and expanded many projects for the people of Rome

  • Forum of Trajan featured several buildings

    • when you first enter, you see an equestrian statue of Trajan

      • has an overriding martial theme, reminding viewers and visitors that the forum was constructed from the proceeds of Trajan’s successful military campaigns against the Dacians (101-102, 105-106 CE) 

      • the porticoes were decorated with military and statuary standards

      • all along the roof of the colonnades of the forum of trajan gilded statues of horses and representations of military standards were placed, and underneath 

      • basilica upla

        • Ulpius = Trajan’s family name

        • Cuts form into 2 

        • Seaprates library & temple from open space when you first entered

        • Had huge impact on Christianity → would look to the basilica as an ideal space to hold many people at once 

        • Left & right side – semicircular caps on the sides (apse)

        • Nave – central column in middle

        • Entrances aren’t with apses, but actually enter through longer sides

        • Elevation of building to allow light in → influence from Egyptian hypostyle halls 

      • Trajan’s column

        • 128 ft tall

        • Nude trajan replaced with St. Peter in the 16th century

        • Columns celebrate the victory over the Dacians → created band that wrapped and sprialed from bottom to top 

          • lower half – first war

          • upper half – second war

        • Frieze is 625 ft long 

        • Base is Trajan’s tomb 

          • inside doorway, 

        • Scenes would’ve been painted and easier to decipher 

      • Library

      • temple of Trajan 

        • Trajan would be considered a god after he died, so a temple was buillt for him

      • Markets of Trajan

        • Home to shops & administrative offices

        • Lit, open interior space accomplished through vaulting

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Pantheon

  • IMPERIAL ROME

  • Rome, Italy, 118-125 CE, stone (granite) facing with concrete

  • constructed by Hadrian, hand-picked successor to Trajan (died while it was being built)

  • Pantheon = temple dedicated to every god

  • Dedicated to marcus Agripa, who made a pantheon earlier in history

  • Rotunda (Roman innovation), portico (alludes to past), and colonnade that’s no longer there 

  • Perfect circle found inside 

  • 142 tall & wide 

  • Weight allows the dome to be constructed in a such a great manner

  • Coffers = recessed panels in a ceiling/dome → help to decrease weight of structure and removes some building material for the sake of the design

  • Oculus is like heaven

  • Opening in dome ceiling allows light to be let in 

  • Volcanic rock used near top? Pozzalana (light) 

  • Material used near bottom? Basalt (heavy) 

  • Apollodarus of damascus was the architect for the forum of trajan, but since hadrian didn’t like him, he banished and killed him b/c he told hadrian he didn’t understand anything 

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Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus

LATE IMPERIAL ROME

  • circa 250 CE, marble

  • eastern religion began to influence Romans → Christianity

  • Believed in needing body to ascend, so more burials → led to creating a sacrophagus for the body 

  • war scene between Romans and Barbarians

    • What’s important is how the artist chose to portray the scene

    • Created layers of human beings, in cartoonish way, similar to how people were depicted in middle ages on cathedrals

    • Roman art is reaching its transitional point to more Christian influence 

    • In Christian art, realism doesn’t matter, but the story being told