Roman urban design was based on a grid system for efficient travel and transportation. Cities were organized around public spaces like temples, forums, and basilicas which indicated the importance of religion and government. Residential spaces like insulae had businesses on the ground floors and apartments above with shared bathrooms and courtyards. Private homes served purposes beyond shelter like entertaining. Interior spaces like cubicula were decorated with frescoes, mosaics depicting myths, and murals painted in the first to fourth styles which gave illusions of materials, perspective, and framed images.

1. ROMAN SPACES:
PUBLIC DESIGN AND PRIVATE DECORATION

2. In this week's material, we study mostly the works
commissioned by powerful leaders to support their
political agendas. But how do common people
support the arts? Let's look at how non-imperial
people live.

3. Roman Urban Design
• Based on a grid for greater ease of traffic and
greater efficiency of travel (we see this plan
throughout the Roman Empire, from Syria to
Northern Africa to England)
• Speaks to a strong, central leadership who
can dictate a unified vision that transcends
regional customs and styles
• Organization centered around a Temple and
Forum (public gathering space and political
center) and basilica (Courthouse)
• Tells us that religious practice is obligatory,
as opposed to the more private, intimate
worship of the Greeks

4. Residential Spaces
• Insula where businesses occupy the ground
level and apartments filler the upper levels
• Large courtyard in center of complex
• Apartments lack private kitchens as most
time is spent outside of the domestic space
• Bathrooms are communal
• Private Homes serve the purpose of
entertaining and business (rather than solely
for shelter). NOTE: Romans spend little time
at home (unlike we do today).
• Very small cubicula surround an atrium and a
peristyle courtyard all decorated with frescos

5. Ornamenting Private Space

6. Mosaics
• Made up of small tesserae--
small stones or cut tiles
arranged so as to create a
legible iconography
• Generally used to decorate
floor space
• Often revealed flat, black
and white scenes of
mythological narratives, but
more wealthy patrons could
commission great displays
of realism

7. Murals
• Painted with the buon
fresco technique, in
which pigment is
applied to wet plaster
and then allowed to dry
• An appropriate
technique for a hot,
Mediterranean climate
• Categorized by four
styles

8. First Style
• Academics may call this
the incrustation,
structural, or masonry
style
• Gives the illusion of more
expensive materials
• Preferred as it was less
expensive and more
easily installed than
actual marble or stone

9. Second Style
• Academics may call this the
architectural style
• Uses linear and atmospheric
perspective to give the illusion of
a three dimensional space
• Dissolves the wall
• Preferred as it brings the outside
and inside together (you can still
enjoy the outdoors during
inclement weather)

10. Third Style
• Academics may call
this the ornate style
• Reinforces the wall with
floating images
"framed" by fine,
delicate architectural
elements (stylobates,
columns, pediments) on
a monochromatic
background

11. Fourth Style
• Incorporates all three
previous styles but adds
portrait images, garish
colors, irrational
architectural elements
(walls that do not meet
up in the corners or
spaces that do not match
in dimensional illusion)

12. We are influenced by these styles today. Can you recognize
which style of Roman painting is most influential in the
contemporary decorations below?

13. ROMAN SPACES
Public Design and Private Decoration