roman art final

Portrait of Hadrian
AD 135
Bronze
camp of the sixth roman legion near Tel Shalem, Israel

• Find spot

  • Not only found not in rome or italy, found in a roman legionary camp 6th roman legion

• style

  • looks like pericles

  • trying to establish himself with greeks

• Portrait depicting hadrian ( subject matter)

  • Gemma augustea

  • Part of a kind of reused cuirass from the gemma augusteta

  • The head of hadrian put on it to make it a hadrianic portrait. - reused motif

Veiled Bust of Sabina

AD 136-138

Marble

Maritime Baths, Ostia

• drilling to show pupils

  • beginning of this

• style

  • classicizing

• subject matter

  • shes a stylized head on top of a venus body

PANTHEON
125-128
Brick and concrete and tufa and travertine and marble and aggregate materia;s
Rome

• context

  • predates christianity

    • is changed into a church

• material

  • aggregate materials

  • allowed for the concrete at the top of the dome to be lighter

• function

  • interpreted as hadrian making his own cosmos

Hadrian’s villa
AD 135
Marble, Brick, Concrete
Tivoli

• Function

  • trying to bring city into the country

• Style

  • Poikile

  • Thought to echo the stoa poikile

  • Painted stoa in athens

  • Almost like a gallery piece of athens hadrian brings to his estate

• Piazza d’oro

  The square of gold, originally paved with colored yellow marble

  Traditional forum layout

  Nymphaeum

Hadrianic Hunting Roundels
130-138
Rome
Marble

• subject matter

  • having a young lover

  • aspect of greek culture

• subject matter

  • the hunt

  • greek culture

• style

  • showing depth by stacking

Calydonian Boar Hunt 
AD 117
Capua 
Ampitheatre
Marble

• subject matter

  • shows this reenactment happening in the ampitheatre

• subject matter

  • begins showing up on sarcophagi as they start using them

  • force of nature

• subject matter

  • it is the boar hunt

  • ties to hadrian and hunting scenes

Black and White Mosaic
Baths of the Cart Drives
Ostia
AD 120

• subject matter

  • was a common motif used in bath buildings

• function/findspot

  • water themed imagery- tridents and what not

• subject matter

  • cart drivers- port city of Rome, indicated that they were important figures in this city where product transportation was helpful

Portrait of Antoninus Pious
138-140 CE
Rome
marble

• findspot

  • found with a series of the family’s portrait bust

• subject matter

  • clearly related to Hadrian still

• oval face

Base of the Column of Antoninus Pius

• Apotheosis of Antoninus and Faustina

• Military Review

161 CE
Marble
Rome

• subject matter

  • the main figure with the wings is the personification of eternity

  • also found on images of faustina

• subject matter

  • personification of roma and the campus martius- roma has her standard attributes

• style

  • classicizing style

Military review: 

• style

  • italic style and classicising ont he same piece

• subject matter

  • represents a funeral tradition

  • antoninus’s funeral and his death

• style 

  • the subjects are carved in detail, but not linear perspective.

Temple of Hadrian
140 CE
Marble
Ephesos

• findspot function

  • outside of the empire, provincial art that gets used by leaders to engage in politics

• surprise architecture

  • very roman idea

  • the tympanum looks to fill the arch, but actually there is a portrait of Medusa filling it

• technique 

  • drill used to give the figures on the temple depth

  • opposite of the traditional Syrian architecture with post and lintel supports. 

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
175 CE
Gilded Bronze
Rome

• context

  • was thought to be the stateu of Constantinople

• subject amtter

  • equestrian statues are very important when memorializing figures in the future

• subject matter

  • gesture of clemency

Column of Marcus Aurelius
180-185 CE
Rome
Marble

• subject matter

  • its a …. column…. like trajan’s

    • however, the function was different, this shows the brutality of war and Trajan’s shows the work of the roman army, like building projects

• subject matter

  • MA talking about how he has a hard time being the emperor

    • its new subject matter

• the Roman soldiers aren’t seen as outfitted, tough soldiers, they instead have a rough quality about them

Relief Panels from Lost Arches of Marcus Aurelius

• Marcus Aurelius Granting Clemency

• Triumph of Marcus Aurelius

ca. 176-180 CE

Marble

• subject matter

  • gesture of clemency- echoes the eques statue

• sypnotic scene

  • combining two distinct scenes into one visual field

• unsure what monument this is on- but it is on the Arch of Constantine

Funerary Bust of Palmyrene Woman
c. 200 CE
Limestone
Palmyra

• findspot

  • oasis town, major hub of the spice route

  • the city became very wealthy

• sbject matter

  • women are way more decorated than men are

• findspot

  • found near a bunch of other groups of statue heads.

Fayum Portrait of Antonine Woman

c. 160–190 CE

Encaustic on wood panel

Philadelphia, Egypt

• style

  • naturalism is greek like

  • but there is roman influence in terms of funerary portraiture

• function

  • the egyptian tradition of burial gets wrapped in roman tradition of portraiture

• subject matter

  • cat scans have been done to show the resemblance between the illustration and the prson inside the mummy

Velletri Sarcophagus

Side View

135–140 CE

Marble

Velletri, Italy

• context

  • rise in romans burying whole bodies

  • emergence of believing in life after death

• findspot

  • there were two kinds of sarcophagi

    • aseatic and attic

    • this is aseatic

• subject matter

  • raking roof and top and bottom registers

    • typical of aseatic coffins

Meleager Sarcophagus

c. 180 CE
Marble
Rome

• findspot

  • Attic sarcophagus from marble that is quarried in this region around athens that is called Attica

• subject matter

  • carved on all four sides- typical attic

  • running frieze- again typical

• subject matter

  • calydonian boar

  • show off manliness

  • exemplum virtus

Portonaccio Sarcophagus

c. 180–190 CE
Marble
Portonaccio

• subject matter

  • all look the same- faces would be carved after ordering

• typical attic

• style

  • vertical style

Portrait of Commodus

c. 190-192 CE
Marble
Rome

• subject matter

  • nimean lion skin

• subject matter

  • apples

• subject matter

  • club

• all significant because he’s making himself hercules!!

Portrait of Septimius Severus

c. AD 195-200
Marble (from Greece)
Rome?

• subject matter

  • SS born in africa

• style

  • deep drilling

  • severan baroque style

• subject matter

  • forked beard and locks of beard hair

  • standard of the cult of serapus

Group Portrait of Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla, and Geta
c. AD 200
Tempora on wood

Egypt

• subject matter

  • geta gets damned

• subject matter

  • one of the first family portraits

• subject matter

  • julia domna is pictured with this much jewelry usually

Portrait of Julia Domna as Ceres

AD 203
Marble
Ostia

• subject matter

  • melon frisur hairstyle

  • appears commonly

• context

  • diversion from antonine portraiture

• subject matter

  • poppies and stalks of wheat

  • ceres

Arch of Septimius Severus

Small Frieze
Parthian captives on pedestal AD 203
Marble
Forum Romanum, Rome

• subject matter

  • Commemorates Severus's parthian wars.

  • Conquered in 198 CE

  • Gets voted to him by the senate - votes him a triumph

  • Petrified memento of the triumph that gets celebrated in his conquest

• Findspot

  • Right over the via sacra- exactly the route that the triumph parade would’ve taken- up onto the capitoline hill

  • Diagonal augustus’s arch

  • Which commemorates the parthians

  • Meta topography

• function findspot

  • trying to connect himself with Trajan and Augustus

Small Frieze

• style

  • native italic

• subject matter

  • scenes of the parthian war like the CoT

• subject matter

  • vertical stacking

Forma Urbis Romae/Severan Marble Plan

Detail, Theater of Pompey

c. AD 203-211
Marble
Templum Pacis, Rome

• function

  • meant to be a piece of severan propoganda

  • showed the power of the dynasty

• findspot

  • hung in a temple of vespasian

  • had annotations for architecture

• context

  • fragments found tell us what the significance of this piece is

Fragment:

• style

  • severan monuments had more detail- propganda

• findspot

  • very minimal fragments remain

• subject matter

  • showed both private and public houses

Basilica in Severan Forum Pilasters with Peopled Scrolls Detail, pilaster with peopled scrolls AD 196-206
Marble, brick, concrete
Lepcis Magna, Libya

• material

  • marble from aphrodisias amd people

• style

  • direct echo of trajan’s forum

• style

  • deep drilling

  • severan baroque style

• subject matter

  • crossign vines, patron dieties of the severan dynasty in the crosses

• typical of baroque style

• frontality

  • like in the antonine period

Quadra-Frons Arch of Septimius Severus Concordia Augustorum Relief
Chariot Procession Relief
AD 203

Marble
Lepcis Magna, Libya

• subject matter

  • these kind of pilasters have not been seen in rome before- square

• style

  • severan baroque style

• lots of features that arent actually useful

• Concorida Panel

  • Founding a dynasty

  • Procession Panel

Four horses, quadriga

Scene of triumph

Head of Caracalla

c. AD 206-212
Marble
Rome

• style

  • different way of portraying emperors- short cropped hair and stubble

• context

  • marks the beginning of the downfall of the roman empire

• subject matter

  • is caracalla - known for his cruelty

Baths of Caracalla (plan) Aerial View
AD 216
Brick, concrete, stone
Rome

• Baths of caracalla

• Imperial bath complex

• Height of imperial baths 

  • Penn station is modeled on this 

• Rooms of a roman bath

  • Modeled of the central room- cold room/frigidarium 

  • Bathing block

    • Most elaborate of the rooms 

  • Areas where you would change your clothes (locker room alsmot)

    • Apodyteria 

      • Sometimes there would be thieves 

  • Exercise yard

    • palaestra/gymnasium 

  • Then you would go to the cold room - where people would be socializing 

    • Dotted lines- groin vaults 

  • Then your servant would douse you in olive oil, and you would use a scraper to scrape the dirt off your body

    • Progress through warm rooms

      • Then youd get into a caldarium 

        • Round , facing east, sky lights, hottest room possible

  • How to heat these rooms?

    • Created a false floor 

      • Was not the bottom of the bath building

        • They had a furnace and work corridors under the floor

        • S

Farnese Hercules

by Glykon of Athens
Roman copy of Greek original, the Weary Herakles by Lysippos of c. 320 BC
Marble
Baths of Caracalla, Rome

• findspot

  • example of lavish decoration in one of the last periods before the soldier emperors

• subject matter

  • strength and associations with ancient greece

• style

  • right before the late antiquity style

  • statue type

Dionysos and Seasons Sarcaphogus

AD 220-235
Marble
Findspot unknown

• style

  • severan style

    • deep drilling

    • frontality

• findspot function

  • ready made sarcophagi

• subject matter

  • dion!

  • relates to the cycle of life and how life after death was becoming a belief

Portrait of Alexander Severus

c. AD 222-235
Marble
Provenance unknown

Cross between caracalla nd trajan

Caracalla: cropped hairstyle

Roundish boyish face

Hair doesn’t look organically connected to his head

Classicizing and tough guy look

Also has a stippled beard almost

• gets assasinated btw

Portrait of Philip the Arab

AD 244-249
Marble
Rome

• example of a soldier emperor

• continuity

  • square face, x forms, fisher pryce hair, looking up

• change

  • pattern in the drapery

  • more idealization

Aurelian Wall

AD 271-275
Brick and concrete Rome

• date

  • hasnt been efforts to fortify the empire since the fourt century

• function findspot

  • fears of romans nd their emperor

  • foreshadows the crisis of the fourth century

• material

  • they went super fast, shows their urgency

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus

c. AD 260
Marble
Rome

• function

  • meant to stop the spread of disease

• subject matter

  • stock scenes

• subject matter

  • meant to have a message that this person will be victorious in the afterlife.

Portrait of the Tetrarchs

c. AD 300
Porphyry
Originally from Constantinople, now set into Basilica of S. Marco Venice

• findspot

  • found in constantinople and inside an open air sculpture park

• subject matter

  • made to look like they r a united force

• material

  • porphyry

  • reserved for imperial monuments- also communicates this message

Arch of Galerius

Detail, Relief

c. AD 298–303
Brick, concrete, marble Thessalonica

• subject matter

  • arch advertising the rulers and tetrarchs

• subject matter

  • little victories are the origins of angels

• subject matter

  • shows galerius’s ad wentus

  • celebrates him

Villa at Piazza Armerina and
Detail of Command Group in Great Hunt Mosaic
AD 305
Brick, concrete, marble
Piazza Armerina, Sicily

• findspot

  • the area was a marble production center

  • even after the building was destroyed it remained in use during the byzantine and arab period

    • precursor….

• context

  • covered in a landslide

  • preserved the whole floors of mosaics

• subject matter

  • mosaics in the roman world start going up and up onto the walls and ceilings

Great Hunt Mosaic

• subject matter

  • shows the regions that the animals come from

• region

  • close to lepsis magna

  • animals were brought from there to feet the hunt and performances

• subject matter

  • members of the roman army

Good Shepherd

3rd c AD
Ceiling Fresco
Catacombs of S. Callisto, Rome

• flexible continuity

• contrappasto

• pagan subjects

Good Shepherd Statue

3rd c AD
Marble
Catacomb of Domitilla, Rome

• flexible continuity

• contrappasto

• pagan subjects

Portrait of Constantine

c. AD 315-330
Marble
Basilica Nova, Forum Romanum, Rome

• style

  • echoing crab claw hairstyle

  • clean shaven

  • hooked nose

  • portruding chin

  • portruding ears

• findspot

  • commissioned this statue to put it in the building at the center of rome

    • takes over the basilica nova

    • makes alterations so that it becomes his own

  • bro its 8.5 feet

• context

  • nvr b4 seen huge statues of emperors

Arch of Constantine

AD 312–315
Marble
Rome

• genres

  • continuation of the triumphal arch

  • commemorates constatines triumph over maxentius

• context

  • central battle of constatines career when he gains control over the western half of the roman empire

• spolia

  • covered in reliefs from monuments around rome

  • dacians from trajan’s forum

  • hadrianic hunting roundels

  • panels from marcus aurelius

    • his face gets recarved as constantines face

Old St. Peter’s

Plan
c. AD 320-330
Brick and concrete Rome

• basilica

  • earliest of these types of churches

  • adopted the plan of a roman basilica and started using that for a church plan

• function

  • gathering place but also as a tomb for martyrdom

• becomes not just a congregational church but also a pilgrimage place, a shrine, and a martyrion

Basilica Nova

Basilica Nova Reconstruction

c. AD 315
Brick and concrete
Rome

• place where the constantine statue was located

• soldier emperor maxentius built this

  • after constantine defeats him, he takes over this basilica

  • instead of having it longitudinally, he puts the apse on the other side.