FROM
SEVEN HILLS TO THREE CONTINENTS
THE
ART OF ANCIENT ROME
TEXT
PAGES 246-299
Define
or identify the following architectural elements and draw a simple illustration
of each.
Barrel vault The extension of a simple arch
creating a semicylindrical ceiling over parallel walls. It requires buttressing
of the walls below the vaults to counteract their downward and outward thrust.
Groin or cross vault Formed by the intersection at right angles of two barrel
vaults of equal size. Needs less buttressing and appears lighter than barrel
vaults.
Pseudo-peripteral A series of engaged columns that run around the sides and
back of the cella to give the appearance of a peripteral colonnade.
1. Which
cultures’ art most strongly influenced that of Rome?
Etruscan and Greek.
2. What two features of the Temple of
“Fortuna Virilis” (FIG. 10-2) were drawn from Etruscan temples?
a. The
plan—the high podium is accessible only by the front via a wide flight of
steps.
b. Columns
are confined to the porch.
From Greek temples ?
a. The Ionic features—the fluted columns with
bases and the Ionic frieze.
b.
It is built of stone overlaid with stucco
in imitation of Greek marble temples.
What element is distinctly Roman?
A series of engaged Ionic
half-columns on the sides and back of the cella (pseudo-peripteral).
3. List
two non-Greek features of the so-called Temple of Vesta (FIG. 10-3)?
1)
Axial alignment of the
narrow stairway being the only access to the high podium.
2)
The cella walls were not
constructed with masonry bocks but with concrete.
What
is the style of the temple plan?
Circular
4. What technical developments enabled
the Romans to create an architecture of space rather than of sheer mass?
The development of concrete – a cheap
and very strong material. It can create huge vaulted and domed rooms without
internal supports. It allowed the Romans to develop the groin vault and the
hemispherical dome.
5. In what ways does the Roman tomb
relief shown in FIG. 10-5 differ from Greek examples like the one shown in FIG.
5-64? What emotional effect is created by each, and what stylistic features
contribute to creating those effects?
The
portraits are specific likenesses (portraits) rather than idealized types. The
Roman reliefs focus on the heads (which are in high relief), torso, and hands,
rather than the full figures, making them more intimate depictions as opposed
to the formal Greek tomb.
What
do funerary reliefs tell us about the position of slaves in Roman as opposed to
Greek society?
Only freed
slaves could have portraits made of themselves, because slaves were property,
not people, under the law. Freed slaveholders proudly ordered portrait reliefs
for their tombs to commemorate their new status as Roman citizens.
6. What
was the major function of Roman Republican portrait sculpture?
The
patricians were proud of their heritage and used portraits for public show and
private purposes. Portraits were one way the patricians celebrated their
elevated position in Roman society.
What
stylistic features differentiate Roman Republican portraits from Greek
examples?
They were
“veristic,” e.g., realistic, not idealized. The head alone was enough to
constitute a portrait, whereas the Greeks believed the head and body were
inseparable parts of an integral whole. Romans sometimes put veristic heads on
bodies to which they could not actually belong.
POMPEII AND THE CITIES OF VESUVIUS
Define
or identify the following terms:
Amphitheater “Double theater,” a continuous elliptical cavea, resembling two Greek
theaters put together. Supported by concrete.
Atrium The
large central reception room in a Roman house.
Basilica
A civic
building that housed the law court and other offices. Rectangular in plan with
a central nave, flanked by two aisles.
Cubiculum
Bedroom.
Forum
Public
square, usually located in a city’s center at the intersection of the main
east/west and north/south avenues.
Impluvium
The basin
that catches rainwater that falls through an opening in the atrium roof.
peristyle garden
A
courtyard-type garden in a Roman house walled by colonnades on all sides;
separate from the atrium.
Triclinium
Dining
room.
1. What catastrophic event has enabled
modern scholars to learn so much about life in a Roman town?
The
eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 BCE.
2. How did the structure and setting of
the Capitolium differ from that of a Greek temple?
It faces
into the civic square at the heart of town, whereas a Greek temple would have
stood in isolation and could be approached from any angle. The Roman Capitolium
has a chief side that focuses attention.
3. Briefly describe the following
painting styles found in Pompeii and its vicinity and/or in Rome:
1st Style Stucco relief designs painted to resemble costly marble
panels..
2nd Style Painters aimed to dissolve a room’s confining walls and
replace them with the illusion of an imaginary three-dimensional world, either
confined to the surface (early style) or extending beyond it (mature style).
3rd Style A return to surface decoration, with delicate linear patterns
and fantasies sketched onto mostly monochromatic backgrounds.
4th Style Illusionism returns with landscapes (this time framed or
otherwise bordered) and architectural elements, painted on a white ground.
4.
List three pictorial devices used by Roman painters to suggest depth.
a.
One-point perspective
b. The
illusion of a shallow ledge (painted flat on the wall) for figures to stand on.
c. Painted
doors and gates that invite the viewer to step through them to the painted
world beyond.
5. Note the function of each room of a
Roman villa:
Fauces
Foyer
Atrium
Courtyard reception room
Impluvium
The basin used to collect rain below
the skylight in the atrium.
Cubiculum
Bedroom
Tablinium
Home office
Triclinium
Dining room
Peristyle
Garden
6. A house with the features listed
above would have belonged to an upper class family. How would a dwelling for
the poor differ?
The poor
lived in multistory apartment buildings of brick-faced concrete and glass
windows. There were shops on the ground floor and up to
four floors of apartments above. They had only
narrow light wells and courtyards on the interior of the building. Only deluxe apartments had private toilets; others used
communal latrines.
7. Design a Roman house that uses at
least five of the features listed above. Draw the plan and label the rooms. Use
a larger paper if you like.
Where
do you think the kitchen and the sanitary facilities would be found?
Probably
at the back, near the garden and with ventilation.
What
type of decorations would you use in the various rooms of the house you are
designing? Select from the styles illustrated above.
What
features of the house would you like to have in a contemporary dwelling?
EARLY EMPIRE
Define or identify the following:
colosseum
A massive concrete
amphitheatre erected by Vespasian ca. 70-80 CE. It was built on land Nero had
confiscated for his private use. The Colosseum could hold 50,000 spectators and
showcased gladiator fights, naval battles, and other spectacles.
Pont-du-Gard
An aqueduct bridge, comprised
of three rows of arches, providing 100 gallons of water a day to Nimes, France,
from a source 30 miles away.
rusticated masonry
Roughened surfaces and beveled edges of stone blocks. Used to
contrast with precisely-carved blocks in the Greek style.
1. What stylistic sources inspired the
Augustus of Primaporta (FIG. 10-25)
Classical Greek art, especially
Polykleitos’ works.
What
was the political message of the figure?
He is depicted as a general
addressing his troops. The reliefs on his armor advertise a diplomatic victory;
the Cupid at his feet indicates divine descent.
2. What was the purpose of
the Ara Pacis Augustae (FIG. 10-27 – 10-29), and how did the iconography
reflect that purpose?
To celebrate his most important
achievement, the establishment of peace in the Roman Empire (the Pax Romana),
which was to last two centuries.
3. Name a building erected in France in
the Augustan style:
Maison Carrée, Nimes, France.
4. What was the purpose of the
Pont-du-Gard?
An aqueduct to carry water from a
source 30 miles away.
What
engineering principles was it based upon?
Gravity flow; the channels have a
continuous gradual decline that runs from the water’s source to the city.
5. What is rustication and how was it
used on the Porta Maggiore in Rome (FIG. 10-32)?
Rough
masonry cutting used to contrast with Greek-style smooth surfaces, creating an
exciting and varied appearance.
6. Describe the hall from Nero’s Domus
Aurea that is illustrated on (FIG. 10-33):
Shape?
Octagonal
Material?
Cement
Its
major significance?
For the first time, architects seem to have thought of walls and
vaults as not merely limiting space but shaping it.
7. What name is commonly used for the
Flavian Amphitheater?
The Colosseum.
How
many people could it hold?
50,000.
What
material was vital for its construction?
Concrete.
4.
How did Flavian portraits differ from those done during the Republican
period?
Flavian-era artists brought back the veristic tradition,
possibly at Vespasian’s specific direction, with the intention of distancing
himself from the excesses of Nero.
5. The subjects depicted in the reliefs
on the Arch of Titus were:
a.
A historical scene of the Spoils of Jerusalem, Titus’
triumphant return from the Jewish Wars.
b.
An allegorical scene of Titus in his triumphal chariot
being crowned by Victory.
What
was their political significance?
This was the first instance of divine and
human figures intermingling in Roman monumental sculpture. However, it was not
erected until after the emperor’s death, when he was officially considered a
god.
THE HIGH EMPIRE
Define or identify the following:
apotheosis Ascent
to the heavens, elevated to the rank of the gods.
Apse A recess,
usually semicircular, in the wall of a Roman basilica or at the east end of a
church.
Basilica A
civic building that housed the law court and other offices. Rectangular in plan
with a central nave, flanked by two aisles.
Circus Maximus An
oblong arena holding a racecourse where the world’s best horse teams competed
in chariot races, .
continuous narration In narrative art, where the same figure appears multiple
times in the same space at different stages of the story.
encaustic painting Painting where the pigment is mixed with wax and applied to a
surface while hot.
equestrian portrait A portrait of a figure on horseback.
Insula Multistory
apartment buildings.
Oculus Circular
opening in a dome.
1. Describe the type of plan that was
used at Timgad.
A
square divided into equal quarters by its two main streets which cross at right
angles and are bordered by colonnades. The quarters are each divided into
square blocks.
2. What major complex did Trajan build
in Rome?
A forum twice the size of the forum Augustus had built a century
earlier.
Who
was its architect?
Apollodorus of Damascus.
What
was portrayed on the Column of Trajan?
Trajan’s two successful military campaigns against the Dacians.
Describe
the technique used to create the frieze:
The story is told in more than 150 episodes (carved in low
relief) in a winding, 625-foot long band. The band increases in width as it
winds up the column, to make it easier to read as it reaches the top and is
farther from the viewer.
3. Name an emperor, other than Augustus,
who commissioned art that showed strong Greek influence:
Hadrian.
4. What revolutionary architectural
concept finds its fullest expression in the Roman Pantheon (FIGS. 10-48
--10-50)?
For the first time, architecture was conceived in terms of
units of space that could be shaped by enclosures. The Pantheon is formed by
the intersection of two circles, one horizontal (the orb of the earth) and one
vertical (the dome of the heavens).
5. What principle does Hadrian’s Villa
(FIG. 10-51) share with the 2nd century tomb from Petra (FIG.
10-52)?
Classical Greek architectural elements are used in a purely
ornamental fashion and with a studied disregard for classical rules that is
distinctly Roman.
6. What types of scenes were depicted on
funerary plaques found at Ostia?
Scenes of daily life.
7. What change in burial practices
caused sarcophagi to become so popular during the 2nd century?
Romans began to favor burial over cremation, possibly
reflecting an interest in Christianity and other eastern religions that
conceived of an afterlife for the body.
What
types of themes were used to decorate them?
Greek mythology was very popular, with portraits of the
deceased serving as the faces of the Greek heroes and heroines.
LATE EMPIRE
Define
or identify the following terms:
caladarium
The hot-bath section of a Roman bathing establishment.
frigidarium
The cold-bath section of a Roman bathing establishment.
tempera
A technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk,
glue, or casein. Also the medium of the paint.
tepidarium
The warm-bath section of a Roman bathing establishment.
1. Describe the features of the Late
Antique style that are illustrated in the relief shown in FIG. 10-66:
The frontality of the emperor and his sons and the “floating”
figures of the higher row of figures. These motifs were new to official art but
had been present in the lower-class art of freed slaves.
2. What functions, other than sanitary,
did Roman baths fulfill?
They had landscaped gardens, lecture halls, libraries, exercise
courts, and a swimming pool.
What
type of vaults were used for the frigidarium of the Baths of Caracalla (FIG.
10-68)? Groin vaults.
3. How do the portraits of Trajan Decius
(FIG.10-69) and Trebonianus Gallus (FIG. 10-70) reflect the art of the
so-called “soldier emperors”?
Trajan Decius’ portrait shows worry and anxiety with deep lines
in the forehead and offset eyes, reflecting the out-of-control continuous civil
war era of the latter half of the second century. Trebonianus Gallus is nude as
in the Greek tradition, but his physique emphasizes bulk and power over a
balance of brain and body, giving it a feeling of brute force.
4. What is most distinctive about the
structure of the Temple of Venus at Baalbek?
It is the only known example of five-sided Corinthian columns
on pentagonal bases.
5. List three stylistic characteristics
of the 4th century portraits of the tetrarchs (FIG. 10-74).
a.
Individual
appearances and personalities of the figures are less important than the idea
of the tetrarchy itself. They are clad in identical clothing and have very
similar faces.
b. Large cubical heads on squat bodies.
c. The figures are grouped together and subsumed into a whole;
the figure is once again shown in iconic terms and is no longer freed from
formal rigidity as seen in Egyptian statues.
6. What reasons can be
given for Constantine’s reuse of 2nd century sculpture on his
triumphal arch?
Declining creativity and skill
in sculpture is one possibility. An alternative explanation is that the statues
were carefully selected to associate Constantine with the “good emperors” of
the second century, such as Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius.
7. What type of architectural elements were used
to construct Constantine’s Basilica Nova (FIG. 10-79).
Brick-faced concrete
walls, coffered barrel vaults, and groin vaults.
What features does it share with the
Aula Palatina (FIGS. 10-80 and 10-81) that Constantine built in Germany?
The austere brick exterior, a
relatively simple interior, and large windows.
How does it differ ? It has a semicircular apse separated from the main hall by a
“triumphant arch,” and it also has boldly projecting buttresses.
8. What is the significance of the
Christogram on Constantine’s coin portrait (FIG. 10-82)? Inscribed on his helmet are the letters Chi Rho Iota (XPI),
the initial letters of Christ’s name in Greek. Constantine is portrayed both as
the Roman emperor and as a soldier in the army of the Lord.
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