Download Ancient Rome Etruscan to Byzantine

Ancient Rome
Etruscan,
Early Roman and Christian,
and Byzantine
500 BCE
500 CE
Ancient History of the Italian Peninsula
The archaeological record indicates direct contact between the northern and southern parts
of the Italian peninsula, Sicily, and the Lipari Islands. The Villanovans flourish in the
northern and western parts of the peninsula, the Etruscans prosper along the coast just
north of Rome, and the Greeks begin to colonize the southern half of the peninsula and
Sicily. The Roman Republic is established in 509 B.C. and, through conquest and
diplomacy, acquires vast territories as subject provinces. Political rivalries in the first
century B.C., however, lead to civil wars and the eventual collapse of the Republic. The
principate of Augustus is established in 27 B.C. and, thus, begins the Principate or Roman
imperial period.
Under the Roman emperors, the Italian peninsula, particularly Rome and its
surrounding areas, experiences great achievements in literature, architecture, and the
arts. An eventual decline in imperial power and the threat of invasions across the Alps to
the north of the peninsula, however, lead to economic and political collapse.
Constantinople replaces Rome as the new capital in 330 A.D., and the Italian peninsula,
as part of the Western Roman Empire, eventually falls to the Ostrogoths in 476. During
the fifth century, the papacy at Rome gradually establishes its ascendancy over the
Western Christian Church.
The earliest Roman art is generally associated with the overthrow of the Etruscan kings and
the establishment of the Republic in 509 BC.
The end of Roman art and the beginning of medieval art is usually said to occur with the
conversion of the emperor Constantine to Christianity and the transfer of the capital of the
empire from Rome to Constantinople in AD 330.
Roman styles and even pagan Roman subjects continued, however, for centuries, often in
Christian guise. Roman art is traditionally divided into two main periods, art of the Republic
and art of the Roman Empire (from 27 BC on), with subdivisions corresponding to the major
emperors or imperial dynasties.
When the Republic was founded, the term Roman art was virtually synonymous with the art
of the city of Rome, which still bore the stamp of its Etruscan art; during the last two
centuries, notably that of Greece, Roman art shook off its dependence on Etruscan art;
during the last two centuries before Christ a distinctive Roman manner of building,
sculpting, and painting emerged.
Never-the-less, because of the extraordinary geographical extent of the Roman Empire and
the number of diverse populations encompassed within its boundaries, the art and
architecture of the Romans was always eclectic and is characterized by varying styles
attributable to differing regional tastes and the diverse preferences of a wide range of
patrons.
Roman art is not just the art of the emperors, senators, and aristocracy, but of all the
peoples of Rome's vast empire, including middle-class businessmen, freedmen, slaves, and
soldiers in Italy and the provinces.
Curiously, although examples of Roman sculptures, paintings, buildings, and decorative arts
survive in great numbers, few names of Roman artists and architects are recorded.
In general, Roman monuments were designed to serve the needs of their patrons rather than
to express the artistic temperaments of their makers.
http://www.crystalinks.com/romeart.html
Etruscan Art
Before the days of ancient Rome's greatness, Italy was the home of a nation called Etruria,
whose people we call the Etruscans. Its civilization prospered between 950 and 300 BCE. in
northwestern Italy — in a region between the Arno River (which runs through Pisa and
Florence) and the Tiber (which runs through Rome). These people rose to prosperity and
power, then disappeared, leaving behind many unanswered questions concerning their origin
and their culture. Because little Etruscan literature remains and the language of
inscriptions on their monuments has been only partially deciphered, scholars have gained
most of their knowledge of the Etruscans from studying the remains of their buildings,
monuments, vast tombs, and the objects they left behind, notably bronze and terra cotta
sculptures and polychrome ceramics.
Among theories about the Etruscans' origins are the possibilities that they migrated from
Greece, or from somewhere beyond Greece. Perhaps they traveled down from the Alps. Or, as
their pre-Indo-European language might suggest, they may have been a people indiginous to
today's Tuscany who suddenly acquired the tools for rapid development. The uncertainty is
held unresolved.
Theirs was not, however, a centralized society dominated by a single leader or a single
imperial city. Rather, towns and hill-top villages (many of which survive to this day, albeit
with few traces of their Etruscan origins) appear to have enjoyed considerable autonomy.
But they spoke the same language, which also existed in a written form. Further, their
religious rituals, military practices and social customs were largely similar. For their Greek
contemporaries and Roman successors, the Etruscans were clearly a different ethnic group.
Amphora, 600 BCE
Etruscan Kalpis, 6th B.C. (Detail)
Askos, 4th B.C.
The Charinos Female Head-Shaped Rhython, 490 B.C.
Etruscan Perfume Bottles in Animal
Shapes
Gorgon Antefix, 6th B.C.
Sarcophagus of the Married Couple from The Bandataccia Necropolis, Cerveteri, 6th
B.C.
Sarcophagus of the Married Couple from The Bandataccia Necropolis, Cerveteri, 6th
B.C. (Detail)
Sarcophagus of Larthia Seianti from Chiuisi, 2nd B.C.
Canopic Urn, Terracotta Ossuary, 7th B.C.
Canopic Urns, Impasto,
7th B.C
Side view
Tomb Of The Hunting And Fishing,
510 B.C.
Tomb Of The Baron,
510 B.C.
Tomb Of The Typhon,
150 B.C.
Demon
Statuette of a Woman, 2nd B.C.
Standing Woman
Reminiscent Images in Modern Art
Alberto Giacometti was born into a Swiss family of
artists. His early work was informed by Surrealism
and Cubism, but in 1947 he settled into producing
the kind of expressionist sculpture for which he is
best known. His characteristic figures are extremely
thin and attenuated, stretched vertically until they
are mere wisps of the human form. Almost without
volume or mass (although anchored with swollen,
oversize feet), these skeletal forms appear weightless
and remote. Their eerie otherworldliness is
accentuated by the matte shades of gray and beige
paint, sometimes accented with touches of pink or
blue, that the artist applied over the brown patina
of the metal. The rough, eroded, heavily worked
surfaces of "Three Men Walking (II)“ (at left) typify
his technique. Reduced, as they are, to their very
core, these figures evoke lone trees in winter that
have lost their foliage. Within this style, Giacometti
would rarely deviate from the three themes that
preoccupied him—the walking man; the standing,
nude woman; and the bust—or all three, combined
in various groupings.
Chimera of Arezzo, 4th B.C.
She-wolf
also known as the Capitoline Wolf
bronze
ca. 500 B.C.E.
(with Renaissance additions—the twins Romulus and Remus)
- Early enough to still see the Greco-Roman influence notice the weight shift
- Sculpture in the round will decline in importance as the
medieval period progresses. We will see less emphasis on 3dimensions until its rebirth in the late Gothic
- Good example of Synthesization -the popular subject of
the calf bearer in Greece and Rome (see below) is taken up
by the Christians, but the boy is no longer the bearer of a
sacrificial gift, but becomes the symbol of Jesus Christ, the
Good Shepherd who is tending his flock (human kind)
http://www.spjc.edu/clw/humfa/hum/rodriguez/earlymid.htm#3
Christ as the Good Shepherd
Early Christian Art
Christianity was a sect of Judaism. Because it is
a messianic offshoot which believes that God
came to earth in the guise of his Son, Jesus, there
is a recognized visual form of God as Man. This
allowed for images of "God" to be made in the
likeness of Jesus. Visual forms became important
in the development of the Christian Church.
faculty.evansville.edu/.../sum04/art105-14.html
pagan ivory diptych, 387-402
Diptych of the Nicomachi-Symmachi
"Christ as the Good Shepherd," mosaic from the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, c.425450. Some devices of Roman illusionism are still being used -- shadows, tonality of forms,
spatial depth.
Reconstruction of Constantine's
church of St. Peter, Rome, c.
400.
Arch of Constantine, Rome, 313-15.
The mosaic to the left,
the "Miracle of the
Loaves and the Fishes,"
from the Church of
Sant'Apollinare Nuovo.
c.504. Compare the
stylistic change from
Galla Placidia -- Jesus
wears the Imperial
purple robe; the
dimension is more
shallow; the gold
background appears as a
'screen'; and there are
fewer references to the
physical world.
Rome in the East:
The Art of Byzantium
Royal, Luxurious, Heavenly, and Spiritual
The art of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Christian empire whose capital was
Constantinople (now known as Istanbul), which endured from c. 330 CE following the
Roman Empire in the east, until it was conquered by the Turks c.1450.
The term, however, refers more to a style associated with Byzantium than to its area.
Byzantine paintings and mosaics are characterized by a rich use of color and figures
which seem flat and stiff. The figures also tend to appear to be floating, and to have large
eyes. Backgrounds tend to be solidly golden or toned. Intended as religious lessons, they
were presented clearly and simply in order to be easily learned. Early Byzantine art is
often called "Early Christian art."
Byzantine architects favored the central plan covered by a huge dome.
Making generalizations about the visual culture of any group of people is a crude
endeavor, especially with a culture as diverse as Byzantium's. With this thought in mind,
know that this survey, as any must be, is tremendously limited in its breadth and depth.
http://www.artlex.com/
In the apse mosaic at
Sant'Apollinare in Classe,
Ravenna, Italy, c.549, the change
is complete. Notice the different
arrangement in the human figure
and sheep between this image and
the Good Shepherd image in the
Galla Placidia tomb. Notice, too,
the gold background and the
abstraction of landscape elements.
The beauty and the richness of early Christian churches can still be found
in several 5th and 6th century buildings in Ravenna, Italy
Emperor Justinian and Attendants, Byzantine tile mosaic, 540-547A.D.
Mosaic from San Vitale in Ravenna, showing the Emperor Justinian and Bishop
Maximian of Ravenna surruonded by clerics and soldiers.
Leaf from an ivory diptych of
Areobindus, consul in Constantinople, 506.
Areobindus is shown above, presiding over
the games in the Hippodrome, depicted
beneath.
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία; Holy
Wisdom, Turkish Ayasofya) is a former
patriarchal basilica and mosque, now a
museum, in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in
particular for its massive dome, it is
considered the epitome of Byzantine
architecture and one of the most
beautiful buildings in the world.
The building was originally constructed
as a Church between 532 and 537 on the
orders of the Byzantine Emperor
Justinian, and was in fact the third
Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the
site (the previous two had both been
destroyed by riots).
In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II
ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and
sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over.
The Islamic features - such as the four minarets outside, the mihrab and minbar - were
added over the course of the Ottoman Empire It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it
was converted into a museum by the secular Republic of Turkey.
The dome is supported by
pendentives which had never been
used before the building of this
structure. The pendentive enables
the round dome to transition
gracefully into the square shape
of the piers below. The
pendentives not only achieve a
pleasing aesthetic quality, but
they also restrain the lateral
forces of the dome and allow the
weight of the dome to flow
downward.
Another interesting fact about the original structure of the dome was how the
architects were able to place forty windows around the base of the dome. Hagia Sophia
is famous for the mystical quality of light that reflects everywhere in the interior of the
nave, which gives the dome the appearance of hovering above the nave. This design is
possible because the dome is shaped like a scalloped shell or the inside of an umbrella
with ribs that extend from the top of the dome down to the base. These ribs allow the
weight of the dome to flow between the windows, down the pendentives, and ultimately
to the foundation.
The anomalies in the design of Hagia Sophia show how this structure is one of the
most advanced and ambitious monuments of late antiquity.
Interior of Early Medieval cathedral
Old Saint Peter’s, Rome, c. 320-327; atrium added in later 4th century.
- A good example of the synthesization of Roman style and Christian
ideas. -The Roman basilica was converted to the Early medieval cathedral
- Early Medieval cathedral utilized post and lintel construction.
- The identifiable parts: -atrium - (added at Old St. Peter's) space for
convert instruction or offices -narthex - vestibule where purification must
take place before entrance into the church proper -nave - church proper,
where the congregation stood -transept - (added at Old St. Peter's) -apse framed the alter and contained seats for the clergy -triforium - vertical
element which was decorated by splendid mosaics -clerestory - vertical
element which held small windows
Sarcophagus of Archbishop Theodore, 6th century
-Wonderful example of medieval Symbolism and synthesis of Roman and Christian ideas
in this Early medieval period :
- small doves eating grapes from the vine = reference to communion ; the peacocks =
paradise ; alpha and omega = reference to Jesus as "the beginning and the end" of all
things (because of the context, this could also symbolize the end of this earthly life and
the beginning of eternal life in heaven.) ; the laurels on the cover = in Roman times
associated with the immortality of the emperors who wore them, now symbolize the
immortality of the Christian soul.
-This is the sarcophagus of Archbishop Theodore of Ravenna. Figurative Sarcophgi, are
from 4th to mid 6th c., and show the human figure. Figurative Sarcophagi give way to
Symbolic Sarcophagi such as this one with its design of peacocks and medallions,
perhaps influenced by Sassanid silks imported from Egypt with peacocks in a surround
design.