Fine art of Ancient Rome. Features of the culture of Ancient Rome

According to ancient legends, Rome was formed in the middle of the 8th century BC. E. The culture of the Roman Empire, which was considered one of the most influential in the period of antiquity, had a huge impact on European civilization. And this despite the fact that the painting and sculpture of Ancient Rome are based on Greek motives, and the theater and music are inseparably linked with the Etruscan ancient traditions.

Characteristics of ancient Roman art

Unlike other ancient countries, the Romans did not appropriate the art of educational or moral tasks. On the contrary, the fine arts of Ancient Rome carried a more utilitarian character, as it was considered only as a way to rationally organize the living space. This is why the architecture occupied an important place in the life of the population of this ancient country. The civilization of Ancient Rome still reminds of itself monumental buildings: temples, arenas and palaces.

In addition to magnificent monuments of architecture, the culture of Rome in the era of antiquity can be judged by the numerous sculptures that were portraits of those who lived at that time. Life in ancient Rome was always subject to strict rules, and in some periods sculptural portraits were created solely to immortalize the faces of rulers or famous people. Only after some time the Roman sculptors began to impart their statues with characters or special features. Important historical events the Roman creators preferred to depict in the form of bas-reliefs.

It is worth noting that the peculiarities of the culture of Ancient Rome are practically in the total absence of such phenomena as theater - in the usual sense for us, as well as our own mythology. Using the images created by the Greeks for many magnificent works of art, the Romans either distorted events to please their authorities, or did not attach much importance to them. This happened primarily because the fine art of Ancient Rome developed under the influence of the dominant ideology, which was alien to abstract philosophical principles and artistic fiction.

Distinctive features of the art of ancient Rome

Despite the proven existence of Rome as a separate civilization, historians for a long time could not separate the ancient Greek art from the Roman. However, thanks to the fact that many works of the artistic and architectural heritage of ancient Rome have been preserved to this day, it was possible to determine the main features inherent exclusively to ancient Roman works. So, what achievements and inventions of Ancient Rome in the field of fine arts characterize it as an independent phenomenon?

1. The architectural achievement of the Romans was the combination in buildings of spatial perception and artistic forms. Roman architects preferred to build separate buildings and ensembles in natural lowlands, and if they did not exist, they refurbished the structures with small walls.
2. In contrast to the Greek plastic images, Roman art posed an allegory, symbolism and illusory space. These inventions of Ancient Rome in relation to sculptural and artistic images allowed to impart not only sculptural portraits, but also mosaic or murals images.
3. Ancient Roman artists developed easel painting, which originated in Greece, which in its historical homeland was practically not widespread.

Despite the abundance of subtle and hardly visible to the eye of the average person, there is a factor that allows even a layman to determine whether a sculptural or architectural object belongs to the ancient Roman culture. This is its size. The civilization of Ancient Rome is known all over the world for its grandiose buildings and sculptures. Their magnitude is several times higher than the counterparts from ancient Greece and other countries.

Periodization

The fine arts of Ancient Rome developed in several stages, which corresponded to the periods of the historical formation of the state itself. If the evolution of ancient Greek art historians are divided into becoming (archaic), flowering (classics) and the crisis period (Hellenism), the development of Roman art acquires new features during the change of the imperial dynasty. This phenomenon is due to the fact that socio-economic and ideological factors played a fundamental role in the change of stylistic and artistic forms.

The stages of the evolution of art in Rome are considered to be the period of the Roman kingdom (7-5 centuries BC), the republican (5-1 century BC) and the period of the Roman Empire (1-2 centuries AD). The real flowering of all kinds of arts, including sculpture, theater, music and artistic and applied art, came at the end of the 1st century BC. E. And continued until the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Art of the Tsarist Period

Formation of ancient Roman art dates back to the 8th century BC. E., When the main motifs in architecture are the Etruscan ways of laying structures, masonry and the use of building materials. This can be judged from the temple of Jupiter Capitoline. Painting and making of decorative objects are also closely related to the Etruscan roots. Only by the middle of the 7th century BC. E., when the Romans colonized Greece, they became acquainted with the artistic devices of the Greeks. It is worth noting that the ancient Roman artists were already trying to create their own works as close as possible to the originals. Historians associate this with the tradition of making posthumous wax masks that exactly duplicated the features of a person. The gods of Ancient Rome, whose statues were executed during the Roman kingdom, were depicted in the same way as ordinary people.

Art of the republican period

The Republican period of the Roman state was marked by the final formation of architecture: all complexes (residential and temple) without exception acquired an axial structure and symmetry. The facade of the building was decorated more magnificently, and the entrance was led up (usually a stone staircase). In urban areas, a residential development of multi-storey buildings is spreading, while the wealthy layers of the population are building country terraced houses decorated with frescoes and sculptural compositions. During this period, such types of buildings as the theater of Ancient Rome (amphitheater), aqueducts and bridges were finally formed.

Fine art was based on portrait sculpture: official and private. The first served the purpose of perpetuating statesmen, and the second existed thanks to orders for the manufacture of statues and busts for houses and tombs. Public buildings were decorated with bas-reliefs depicting historical scenes or paintings of the daily life of the state. In the temples, you could often see paintings (including mosaics and frescoes) on which the gods of Ancient Rome were depicted.

Roman Empire: the final period of the development of art

The period of the Roman Empire is considered the time of the true heyday of ancient Roman art. In architecture, the arch, the vault and the dome dominate. Stone walls are everywhere faced with brick or marble. Large spaces in the premises are occupied by decorative paintings and sculptures. The visual art of Ancient Rome during this period undergoes significant changes. In the manufacture of sculptural portraits, less attention is paid to individual features, which sometimes look somewhat schematic. At the same time, the sculptors tried to depict the swiftness of movements, the emotional state of the portrait (the position of the body, arms and legs, hair, etc.). Bas-relief images take the form of panoramas with a gradually developing plot.

Decorative painting, in contrast to the previous period, becomes more complicated due to the introduction of landscape and architectural backgrounds. The colors used for frescoes are brighter, and the color combinations are more contrasting. In addition to the color mosaic, black and white is widely distributed.

The most famous sculptural portraits

Roman portraits of statesmen, gods and heroes are represented by busts or full-sized statues. The earliest ancient Roman portrait is considered to be the bronze bust of Junia Brutus. It feels a great influence of Greek art, but typical features for the Romans and a slight asymmetry allow us to once again make sure that the Roman sculptors already then, in the 3rd century BC. E., Gave their works a maximum of realism. Despite the lack of modern technologies for metal processing, small parts of the bust are perfectly executed. First of all, it is noticeable by the fine engraving of the beard and hair.

The most realistic is still considered to be the sculptural portrait of Vespasian, the Roman emperor. The master not only in the smallest details transferred his image, but also gave the bust the characteristic features. Particular attention is drawn to the eyes: deeply planted and small, they radiate the natural cunning and wit of the emperor. But the most remarkable is the fact that the sculptor painted the smallest details (taut veins and veins on his neck, crossing the forehead of the wrinkles), which speak of the strength and inflexibility of the state leader. No less expressive was the sculptors and bust of usurer Lucius Cecilia Yukunda, greedy eyes and greasy hair depicted with astonishing accuracy.

Great monuments of architecture of the Roman era

To date, none of the buildings built in the era of ancient Rome has been completely preserved. The most famous and famous of them is the Colosseum - the arena where gladiator fights took place and speeches of statesmen of different levels, including emperors. No less striking is the history of the temple of Saturn, which was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt again. It unlike the Coliseum can not be seen, since from the magnificent structure there are only a few columns. But managed to keep the famous Pantheon, or the temple of all the gods, which is a fairly large building, crowned with a dome.

Poets of Ancient Rome and their works

Despite the mythology borrowed from the Greeks, the ancient Romans also had their talents in the sphere of the addition of poems, songs and fables. The most famous poets of Rome are Virgil and Horace. The first was famous for having written the poem "Aeneid", which was very similar to the "Iliad" of Homer. Despite the less expressive poetic and artistic component, this poem is still considered the standard of the original Latin language. Horace, on the other hand, mastered the artistic word magnificently, thanks to which he became a court poet, and the lines from his poems and songs still appear in the writings of many writers.

Theatrical art

The theater of Ancient Rome initially did not remind us of what we consider today. Virtually all of the performances took place in the genre of competition between poets and musicians. Only sometimes the ancient Roman connoisseurs of art could enjoy the play of the actors, accompanied by a large choir. Quite often spectators were shown circus numbers, theatrical pantomime and solo or group dances. A distinctive feature of the ancient Roman theater performance was the multiplicity of the troupe. As for this, viewers said that there are fewer of them than actors.

It is worth noting that the costumes and makeup were not given much attention at that time. Only sometimes, playing the role of the emperor or a significant person in the state, the actors dressed in more sumptuous clothes of red color. The repertoire consisted mainly of the works of Roman poets: Horace, Virgil and Ovid. Quite often unhurried narrations and hymns in theaters were replaced by bloody battles of gladiators, to which the audience went with no less pleasure.

Music and musical instruments

The music of Ancient Rome was formed independently of the Ancient Greek. At carrying out of mass actions and representations the musical instruments, capable to make very loud sound used the greatest popularity: pipes, horns and so forth. However, most often during performance preferred stringed instruments: timpani, harp, cithara. It is worth noting that everyone was fond of music, including Roman emperors. There were among musicians and singers those who were immortalized in sculpture. The singers and kifarids Apelles, Terpnius, Diodorus, Anaxenor, Tigellius and Mesomed enjoyed special popularity and love of the Roman people at that time. The music of Ancient Rome is still alive, as not only the main motifs, but also musical instruments are preserved.

The influence of ancient Roman art on modernity

The influence of Roman civilization on modernity is said a lot and everywhere. Of course, the characteristic of Ancient Rome, to be more precise, of that area that belongs to art, has not yet been fully presented. Nevertheless, even now it can be argued that the architecture, sculpture and visual arts of the Roman era directly influenced the cultural component of virtually all European states. This is especially noticeable in architecture, when the harmony and majesty of buildings is enclosed in a clear symmetrical form.