The document summarizes key artworks from ancient Rome including: - The Ara Pacis altar which depicted actual individuals and combined portraiture and allegory. - The Pantheon with its dome structure and oculus that gives a sense of rising up. - The Colosseum which could hold 55,000 spectators and used different architectural orders on each level. - Trajan's Column with its continuous narrative of Trajan's Dacian campaign shown through small figures.

1. AP Art History Test 4

2. Tomb of Reliefs Cerveteri, Italy, 3rd century BCE Carved out of rock to resemble a house Walls were plastered and painted and it was fully furnished The Etruscans made every effort to provide earthly comforts for their dead Sometimes tomb decorations included creatures from Etruscan mythology A kind of dog with many heads is shown on the back wall = Cerberus, the guardian of the gates of the underworld They cremated their dead Like Egyptians, wanted to create paradise for eternity This is not like the Greeks who had no say about the afterlife Brightly colored paintings of convivial scenes of feasting, dancing musical performances and other pleasures often decorated tomb walls

3. Sarcophagus C. 520 BCE, from Cerveteri, Italy, painted terracotta They added a domestic touch The two are lively, happy individuals rendered in sufficient detail to convey current hair and clothing styles They gesture to communicate something important with the viewer Looks like Kouros/Kore Shows banquet for eternity Shows gender equality

4. Capitoline Wolf (She-Wolf) C. 500 BCE, Rome, 2’7” high, bronze Most famous symbol of Rome The twins were added during the Renaissance Stood on Capitoline Hill, the governmental ad religious center of ancient Rome It was at once placed outside the Lateran Palace, the home of the pope At one time, two small men stood under the wolf & personified the alliance between the Romans and their former enemies the Sabines The sculpture was later misidentified and people thought it dealt with the founding of Rome

5. Aulus Metellus (Arringatore) C. 80 BCE, bronze, 6’ Roman republic artists sought to render accurate and faithful portraits of individuals This way may have been derived from Roman ancestor veneration and the practice of making death masks of dead relatives Skilled Etruscan artists often executed the roman portraits This roman official’s name is inscribe don the hem of his garment in etruscan letters It is also known as The Orator It depicts the man addressing a gathering with a pose of authority Large statues like this were often placed atop columns as memorials to the individuals portrayed

6. Temple of Portunus 2nd century BCE, Rome Small rectangular temple, stands on raised platform beside Tiber River May have been dedicated to Portunus, god of harbors and ports Had a rectangular cella and a porch at one that was accessed by a single flight of stairs It echoes the Greek prostyle plan with a colonnade across the entrance, but it adapted the Etruscan podium and front porch entrance with stairs The ionic columns are freestanding on the porch and engaged around the cella It also resembles that of a peripteral temple but because the columns around the cella are engaged, it is called a pseudoperipteral Shows interest in internal space

7. Head of a Roman Patrician C. 75 BCE, marble The Romans created more realisitc portrayals of humans They did not always give the statues a look of youth and strength This shows all the details of an aged face Veristic portrait Exacting truthful likeness -- not idealized Found in homes - served as records Virtuous remembrances Later, busts like these become narrative and are used in funerary art (?)

8. Initiation Rites of the Cult of Bacchus C. 50 BCE, Second Style wall paintings from the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy, frieze section 5’ Romans painted landscapes, city views, and historical and mythological scenes in still lifes and portraits This is one of the most famous painted rooms in Roman art The rites of mystery religions were often performed in private homes as well as in special buildings or temples This room must have been a shrine or meeting place for such a cult Bacchus was the god of vegetation and fertility as well as wine The architectural setting was completely painted and consisted of a “marble” dado (lower part of wall) The deep red color was very popular among Roman painters The scene unfolds around the entire room

9. Second Style wall Painting C. 50 BCE, Boscoreale, Italy The walls open to a fantastic urban panorama Roman artists attempted to produce the illusion of thin slabs of marble covering the walls Later, architectural details such as columns were painted, and they became increasingly fanciful The wall surfaces seem to dissolve behind columns and lintels, which frame a maze of floating architectural forms creating purely visual effects These paintings may have been inspired by theater scene painting The artist used intuitive perspective to create a general impression of real space

10. Augustus of Prima Porta C. 20 BCE, marble, 6’8”, in Rome Roman artists of the Early and High Empire created figures ideally Discovered in the villa belonging to Augustus’s wife, Livia It demonstrates the creative assimilation of earlier sculptural traditions into a new context In its idealization of a specific ruler and his prowess, the sculpture also shows use of imperial portraiture for political propaganda This figure eloquently adapted the orator’s gesture of Aulus Metellus and combined it with the pose and ideal proportions developed by the Greek Polykleitos and shown in his Spear Bearer Mythological imagery exalts Augustus’s position Cupid, son of Venus, rides a dolphin next to emperor’s leg = a reference to the claim of the emperor’s family to descent from the goddess Venus thru her human son Aeneas His bare feet suggest his elevation to divine status after death

11. Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace) C. 13-9 BCE, marble, Rome The combination of realism and idealism is apparent The altar commemorates Augustus’s triumphal return to Rome after establishing Roman rule in Gaul Its decoration is a thoughtful union of portraiture and allegory, religion and politics, the private and the public On the inside, garlands of flowers suspened in swags (loops) surround the altar The ox skulls symbolize sacrificial offerings The garlands signify continuous peace On north side there is a scene of a procession with double lines of senators On the south side, the imperial family members were depicted The people are recognizable Unlike the ideal procession created for the Parthenon frieze, this procession depicted actual individuals participating in a specific event at a known time To suggest a double line of marchers in space, they varied the height of the relief, with the closest elements in high relief and those farther back in low relief Panels on the east and west side show an allegory of Peace and War

12. Romulus, the first king of Rome, is shown On the east side are personifications of war and peace two young women with billowing veils personify the wind This would have reminded contemporaries of Rome’s dominion over the Med. Sea The land wind, symbolized by the swan, and the sea wind shown by the sea monster and waves The inclusion in the panel of features from the natural world - sky, water, rocks- represents a Roman contribution to monumental sculpture The idealized figures themselves, however, are clearly drawn from Greek sources The artists conveyed a sense of 3D and volume by turning the figures in space and wrapping them in revealing draperies The delicacy and minute details are characteristic of Roman decorative sculpture Exquisite skill characterizes the all the arts of the Augustan period

13. Pont-du-Gard C. 16 BCE, Nimes, France Aqueduct Conveys balance, proportion, and rhythmic harmony of a great work of art Fits naturally into landscape - reflection of Roman’s attitude toward the land

14. Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) C. 70-80 CE, Rome Construction began under Vespasian and completed under Titus who dedicated it as Flavian Amphitheater “ Colosseum” derived from a statue of Nero known as Colossus Athletic events occurred here Sand floor laid over foundation of service rooms and tunnels It could hold 55,000 spectators Barrel-vaults were greatly used There was a sun screen awning The outer wall of the colosseum consists of 3 levels of arcades Friezes mark division between levels Each level uses a different order, increasing in complexity from bottom to top

15. Arch of Titus C. after 81 CE, concrete and white marble, Rome, Italy Free standing arch commemorates a triumph or formal victory celebration, through which war heroes and their captives would parade This arch was commisioned by Domitian to honor the capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE by his bro Titus The arch’s passage is covered by a barrel vault The structure originally served as a giant base for a statue of a four-horse chariot and driver There are engaged columns of the composite order The inscription on the attic story declares that the Senate and Roman people erected the monument to honor Titus The sculptors’ use of elegant Roman capital letter established a standard that calligraphers and alphabet designers still follow

16. Spoils from the Temple of Solomon, Jerusalem Relief on Arch of Titus, 7’ marble The capture of Jerusalem ended a fierce campaign to crush a revolt of the Jews in Palestine The Romans sacked and destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem and carried off its treasures The reliefs on the inside walls of the arch show Titus’s soldiers flaunting their riches as they travel through the streets of Rome Spatial relationship is demonstrated among figures by rendering close elements in higher relief than those more distant

17. Column of Trajan Dedicated c. 112 CE, marble, 125’ high Would’ve been painted Continuous narrative of Dacian campaign Has been Christianized Shows Roman bureaucracy Specificity of soldiers Shows military strategy and was imperial propaganda Trajan is repeatedly displayed as a strong, stable, and efficient commander of a well-run army His enemies are shown as disorganized and pathetic Natural and architectural elements in the scenes have been kept small to emphasize the important figures The beginning of the narrative starts at the bottom with Trajan’s army crossing the Danube River

18. Pantheon C. 118-125 CE, Rome Temple to the Olympian gods, literally “all the gods” Originally stood on a podium and was approached by stairs from a colonnaded square Designed and constructed entirely during the reign of emperor Hadrian The building says it was built by Marcus Agrippa son of Lucius who was consul three times, but this is only as a gesture to the memory of the famous consul The rotunda walls are 20 ft thick The cut away squares or coffers -- which once may have held rosettes -- draw the viewer’s eye to the oculus This gives the viewer a sense that he could rise upward out of the building and talk with the gods A marble façade hides its brick and concrete interior Pope Boniface IV dedicated it as the Christian church of Saint Mary and the Martyrs, ensuring its survival through the Middle Ages

19. Hadrian’s Villa C. 125 CE, Tivoli, Italy Each building of the villa had its own inner logic and each took advantage of natural land formations and attractive views Walls and floors had veneers of marble and travertine or exquisite mosaics and paintings Copies of famous Greek statues and sometimes even the originals filled the spaces between columns Hadrian loved Greek sculpture and even had the caryatids of the Erechtheion replicated for his palace

20. Apartment block (insula) C. 2nd century CE, Ostia Roman architects based urban plans on the layout of army camps The grid plan was adopted from Etruscan and Greek cities Towns were divided into 4 quarters defined by intersecting north-south and east-west avenues called decumanus and cardo Ostia was a commerical city with a population of 100k and was laid out for the convience of merchants and traders with a long mainstreat paralleling the Tiber River Insulae (“islands”) consisted of brick apartment blocks with internal courtyards, multiple floors, narrow staircases, and occasional overhanging balconies Unlike Greek women, Roman women enjoyed a public life outside the home

21. Equestrian of Marcus Aurelius C. 175 CE, gilded bronze, 11’, Campidoglio, Rome Marcus Aurelius was a successful military commander who was equally proud of his intellectual attainments His imperial portrait also served as propaganda It came to be revered mistakenly as a statue of Constantine and therefore escaped being melted down The horse’s raised foreleg once trampled a crouching barbarian His hair and beard resemble traditional philosopher portraits of the Republican period He wears no armor and carries no weapons Like Egyptian kings, he conquers effortlessly by the will of the gods Like his predecessor Augustus, he reaches out to the people in a persuasive, beneficent gesture The sculptor found a balance between the horse and rider size, and it became a model for later artists

22. Mummy portrait of a Man C. 160 CE, from Fayum, Egypt, encaustic on wood After the death of Cleopatra VII, the Romans succeeded the Ptolemies as Egypt’s rulers Fayum portraits were painted faces on panels inserted into mummy wrappings

23. Baths of Caracalla C. 211-217 CE, Rome Septimius Severus began the popular public-works project, but his son, Carcalla completed and inaugurated them in his own name Baths were recreational and educational centers These baths were laid out on a strictly symmetrical plan The facilities were grouped in the center of the main building to make use of below-ground furnaces Many other facilities -- exercise rooms, shops, latrines, dressing rooms -- were housed on each side of the bathing block The baths covered 5 acres Men and women had separate baths in some places, but not others Men had access to the full range of facilities

24. Heroic portrait of Trebonianus Gallus C. 251-253 CE, bronze, 7’11” “ pinhead” Proportions skewed Really awkward Symbolism of taking over The huge body resembles that of an athlete or gladiator, like those in the baths of caracalla

25. Portrait of the Tetrarchs C. 305 CE, porphyry (purple stone from Egypt), 4’, from Constantinople The idea of a tetrarchy was devised by Diocletian This sculpture documents a turn in art toward abstraction and symbolic representation The 2 figures with beards (probably the senior Augusti) and the 2 clean-shaven (probably the Caesars) are nearly identical Dressed in military garb w/ swords, they embrace each other in a show of imperial unity, proclaiming a kind of peace thru concerted strength and vigilance Served as a piece of propaganda and a summary of the state of affairs at the time The difficulty of the stone to carve may have added to the figure’s abstractness There is great simplification of natural forms to geometric shapes, the disregard for normal human proportions & the emphasis on a message or idea -- this is common in Roman art by the end of the 200’s It may have been made in Egypt Today it is installed at the corner of the façade of the Cathedral of Saint Mark in Venice

26. Palace of Diocletian C. 300 CE, Split, Croatia Architecture changed under Diocletian’s patronage Previously, great palaces had been semipublic Diocletian broke with this tradition, by building a huge and well-fortified imperial residence at Split on the Dalmation coast after he retired from active rule Revolutionary in design, the structure recalls the compact, regular plan of a Roman army camp rather than the irregular, sprawling design of Hadrian’s Villa The palace was surrounded by a wall and crossed by 2 colonnaded streets dividing it into quarters, each w/ a certain function

27. Church of Santa Maria Degli Angeli (Baths of Diocletian, c. 300 CE) His palace incorporates other buildings (like the baths) They were designed by Michelangelo The baths were later used as a Church

28. Arch of Constantine C. 312-315 CE, Rome, next to the colosseum Erected by senate to memorialize Constantine’s victory over Maxentius as succesor of Diocletian and Maximian This huge triple arch dwarfs the nearby Arch of Titus The attic story has inscribed “To the Emperor Constantine from the Senate and the Roman People…” The triumpal insignia on the arch were in part looted from earlier monuments made for Constantine’s famous predecessors (Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius) These reused items show old Roman strength, courage, and piety New reliefs made for the arch reflect the long-standing Roman affection for depicting important events w/ realisitc detail The figures are stocky, mostly frontal, and are compressed by the buildings into the foreground plane The figures, besides Constantine, all look alike He is visually connected to his predecessors on each side This 2-D and abstract style are far removed from the realism of earlier imperial reliefs It has an emphasis on authority, ritual, and symbolic meaning -- this style was adopted by the emerging Xtian Church Constantinian art bridges the art of the classical world and the art of the middle ages

29. Basilica of Constantine C. 306-313 CE Maxentius, Constantine’s rival ordered the repair of many buildings - this was his most impressive undertaking This was the last imperial government building erected in Rome It functioned as an administrative center and provided a magnificent setting for the emperor when he appeared as supreme judge The central hall is covered with groin vaults And the side aisles, lower barrel vaults

30. Portrait of Constantine C. 315-330, from basilica of Constantine, marble, 8’ This statue, although made of less expensive materials, must have been awe-inspiring Constantine was a master at the use of portrait statues to spread imperial propaganda He used visible symbols to express authority He commissioned this statue and had it placed in the original apse The statue acted as Constantine’s stand -in The sculpture combines features of traditional Roman portraiture with the abstract qualities evident in The Tetrarchs The work projects imperial power and dignity with no hint of human frailty or imperfection

31. Priestess of Bacchus C. 400 CE, right panel of an ivory diptych, 11”x 4” Diptych = pair of panels attached by hinges It attests to the close relationship between their families, perhaps through marriage, as well as to their firmly held beliefs One family’s name is inscribed at the top of each panel This panel has the family name Symmachorum inscribed at the top A stately priestess burns incense at a beautifully decorated altar On her head is a wreath of ivy, sacred to Bacchus The event occurs under an oak tree, sacred to Jupiter It imitates the Augustan style There is great rendering of the drapery and foliage that recalls the reliefs of the Ara Pacis