The Romans wanted to be art and architecture benefit people. They planned well in advance the construction of cities, bridges, aqueducts, public baths, markets, residential buildings and harbors. By order of a Roman official, a sculpture was built in the center of the city square, which was supposed to tell the future generation about the greatness ancient rome. Even though art ancient rome borrowed from the ancient Greeks and Etruscans, and had an artistic beginning among these peoples, its practical use was purely Roman.

Andrea Palladio founded the so-called Palladianism, which gained great importance for the further development of European architecture, and therefore for French and English architecture. He built mainly palaces and villas. The Baroque was based on a form of High Renaissance vocabulary, which resulted in greater dynamism and dramatic expression and movement. Theatricality is a fundamental feature of the Baroque. If the revival of the century was predominantly aimed at the individual observer, the art of baroque art wants to appeal: much is planned for farsightedness.

At the end of 600 BC. e. The most influential people in Italy were the Etruscans, who came from Asia Minor and settled in Tuscany, in the north of Rome. Although the Etruscans borrowed the Greek style in art, they also achieved a lot on their own. They developed a very realistic type of portrait sculpture and were the first to introduce the use of stone arches in ancient architecture.

Rational feeling was replaced by emotional pathetic expression. Classicism should be understood as an opposition to the Baroque movement; he tended towards clear, cool, rational and sculptural art. With this era began the decline of the fine arts in Italy. After many glamorous centuries, Italian art has now led to a shadowy death of over a hundred years, from which it is only once again that the focus of European art has shifted to France, especially to Paris. In the second half of the nineteenth century art and antiquities were revived with numerous archaeological excavations and discoveries.

Architecture

The Romans put the lessons of the Etruscans into practice. Baths and arenas are a tribute to the skill of the great builders of Rome. Using arches, the Romans could build their cities over large areas, unlike the Greeks, who used a bar and a crossbar (beams supported by two columns) instead of arches. The arch could support much more weight than the bar and crossbar. Roman aqueducts were often built with three levels of arches piled on top of each other. And their buildings, called the baths of Caracalla, occupied vast territories.

With the early baroque architecture of Italy, especially Rome, once again confirmed its artistic leadership in Europe. The style developed here encompasses predominantly Spanish architecture, Swiss and Austrian architecture, and South German art. In these countries, the style developed in its own way.

The beginning of the Baroque is the construction of Il Geso in Rome, the mother church of the Jesuit order. This church shows some of the characteristic features of baroque ecclesiastical architecture, including the uniformity of space, the division of the side ships into clock-like niches that are hardly interconnected with the central nave, and accommodate the altar carriages that were intended as part of the architecture. The development of the façade into a sumptuous, rich and ornate, sometimes pleasing display wall was already set out in the Italian tradition of Romanesque architecture.

In the 1st century BC e. The Romans were the first to use concrete in construction. They poured concrete into molds, depending on what they wanted to build: arches, vaults or domes. The use of concrete allowed architects to build structures of enormous proportions. One of these gigantic structures was the Temple of Fortune at Praeneste, built by the ruler Sulla around 80 BC. e. During the construction, the architects used concrete to support the terrace and built a building that in our time would resemble a skyscraper. For the construction of outdoor theaters, the Greeks used the areas between the hills, using their slopes as support for tiers of seating spectators. But Roman engineers used concrete to support the three giant tiers of the Colosseum, their main stadium for mass recreation and public spectacle. At all three levels there were visual places for more than 45 thousand people.

Rome became the capital of baroque architecture, with its countless baroque churches, piazzas, freestanding fountains and fountains, the epitome of the baroque city. Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona. Vincenzo Scamozzi worked in Venice and Upper Italy, in Turin Guarino Guarini and Filippo Juvarre.

The builders of classicism were, Giuseppe Piermarini, Giannantonio Selva, Giuseppe Valadier and Pietro Bianchi. The idealistic tendency of the Carracci and their school and realistic trend Caravaggio and his followers: two trends of Italian painting of the century collided - to be in artistic historical literature usually - somewhat schematically. The Carracci family of painters from Bologna, especially Annibale Carracci, but also his brother Agostino Carracci and their cousin Lodovico Carracci, overcame mannerism and were formative for the early Baroque.

Sculpture

The Romans used sculptures to decorate their architectural structures. The walls of buildings for decoration were often decorated with columns and in fact were not a means of supporting the structure. Many of these columns were copied from columns erected in Greece. In fact, many Greek architectural forms were placed on the facades of the buildings of Ancient Rome just for decoration and did not carry any practical use.

It included Guido Reni, Francesco Albani, Domenichino and Herzino. Of the very great influence on late Baroque painting, not only in Italy, but also in others European countries, in particular Spain and the Netherlands, Caravaggio with his sometimes dull realism and his chiaroscuro. Among the immediate successors of Caravaggio were Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Bartolomeo Manfredi and Carlo Saraceni. In a whimsical light-color painting, Alessandro Magnasco later expanded with his individual and unmistakable, mostly nocturnal gloomy landscapes.

The eraser and copper cutter of Giovanni Battista Piranesi appeared mainly in the field of printing and printing. In Venetian painting, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was the dominant personality of Giambattista Piazzetta, mostly created by genre and religious imagery. Canaletto, Pietro Longhi and Francesco Guardi worked as lead artists. In Rome, a. fresco artist Pietro da Cortona, Giovanni Battista Salvi, also known as Sassoferrato, Salvator Rosa and Carlo Maratta. Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena worked in Naples.

In the images of the gods, the Greeks used the ideas of giving them form and beauty. Roman sculptors largely used the ideas of the Greeks. However, the Romans showed their skill and originality in creating portraits. They portrayed their emperors, generals and senators with a degree of realism unknown to the Greeks. Thinning hair, double chins, crooked noses, and other flaws in physical features that distinguish one person from another can be found in Roman portraits and paintings.

The great and versatile Baroque painter was Gian Lorenzo Bernini; He became famous as a sculptor and master builder who influenced baroque Rome like no other. The classicist direction of Baroque sculpture, also in Rome, was represented by Alessandro Algardi. The most important classicist sculptor in Italy was Antonio Canova.

Italian art was largely paralyzed with classicism. Very few artists of international importance emerged. Only with Futurism did Italy again become associated with international art. In Italy, too, classicism was replaced by representative historicism, which re-occupied the stylistic forms of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Cities such as Florence and Rome were modernized. Similarly, Alessandro Antonelli, in his 168-meter Mole Antonelliana in Turin, combined in its original form the technical possibilities of engineering architecture with architectural historical quotations.

Painting

In 79 A.D. e. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed the cities of Pompeii, covering it with layers of lava, which eventually turned into rocks. The frescoes preserved in these rocks can tell us a lot about Roman painting.

Painting is usually created as decoration. In Pompeii, for example, paintings were painted on the walls of houses in fresco (painting on wet plaster). Often such frescoes were used to make a room look larger, creating the illusion of depth or pastoral landscapes, in rooms where there were no windows.

Pier Luigi Nervi built a very technically oriented architecture. Fascism promoted a monumental style comparable to that of National Socialist architecture, such as Marcello Piacentini. In this style, you started from the central station of Rome; however, only the wings were completed. The front façade, with an antechamber covered by a corrugated concrete roof, was built in modern style after the end of the world war.

Among the architects of the post-war period are Carlo Scarpa and Aldo Rossi, who followed a rational architecture approach. After World War II, Italy was one of the most important countries in design and fashion. Products by furniture designer Carlo Bugatti as well as fashion and costume designer Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace are products of the exhibition.

Columns and other forms of architecture were often painted in various compositions to add a sense of depth. The dot-image system was known and used in ancient Rome. Red, black and creamy whites were some of the most popular and loved ones.

Roman painting achieved a high degree of naturalism through the artists' understanding of the perspective of the use of light and shadow. The Romans painted many charming images of nature, portraits of children, beautiful young men and women. Religion also provided inspiration for art of ancient rome.

Among the Italian artists of the century, Giovanni Segantini can be considered internationally preeminent. He was close to symbolism in his later work. In the first half of the century, Rome was the meeting place and residence of the Nazarenes. Lorenzo Bartolini, Giovanni Dupre and above all Medardo Rosso stood out.

Italian Futurism was one of the revolutionary revolutions started in contemporary art. This movement included Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Luigi Russolo and Gino Severini. Carlo Carra and Giorgio de Chirico were at times close to surrealism, enriched by a variation of Pittur's Metafisica. Amedeo Modigliani was especially famous for his actions. Marino Marini was a sculptor who preferred sculpture in ancient and Etruscan sculpture. Giulio Turcato tried to become a painter in abstraction in different styles and also emerged as a sculptor.

According to ancient traditions, Rome was formed in the middle of the 8th century BC. e. The culture, which was considered one of the most influential during 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 motifs, and theater and music are inextricably linked with ancient Etruscan traditions.

The artist Renato Guttuso represented social-critical neorealism. Emilio Vedova, active in Venice, is an important exponent of Abstract Expressionism. The sculptor and artist Lucio Fontana formulated his theory of "Spasialism", which meant that he was looking for new cosmic experiences not only in sculpture, but above all in painting. Alberto Burri has also created works that expand the panel into material and relief, and so close to object art. With his use of simple everyday materials, he expected Arte Povera.

Characteristics of ancient Roman art

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

Thus, he completed his own breath, his blood and jarted excrement, placed the earth on a vertical pedestal for the world, and announced people to living works by signing them. With Arte Povera, an independent Italian art movement emerged in the 1960s which, in opposition to the international pop art, had complex relationships with cultural traditions since antiquity, and the impulses of object art, minimal art and conceptual art varied and often worked with natural materials.

Mario Merz, Giovanni Anselmo, Yannis Kounellis, Luciano Fabro, Giulio Paolini, Gilberto Zorio, Giuseppe Penone and Enzo Cucchi, all of whom are Greece. Michelangelo Pistoletto also dealt with political themes in his work with formally similar means.

In addition to magnificent architectural monuments, the culture of Rome in antiquity can also 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 perpetuate the faces of rulers or famous people. Only after some time, Roman sculptors began to endow their statues with characters or special features. Roman creators preferred to depict important historical events in the form of bas-reliefs.

The international style of the so-called neo-expressionism is represented in Italy by the national variant - Transavantgarde; these include Vettor Pisano, Sandro Chia, Mimmo Paladino and Francesco Clemente. In Roman painting, there will be a decisive influence of Greek art, since already from the time of Caesar, Greek paintings came that fell off the walls and were taken to Rome. This is one of the reasons why it is unlikely that any Greek wall paintings survive.

Like other arts, painting in Rome had a practical purpose: to decorate houses and palaces. social condition the artist was an artisan, although those who painted on wood had more prestige. The painting was done using a fresco technique, although it is also claimed that mixed methods will be used in some cases. Techniques were used to paint on board to accommodate the encaustic as well. The range of colors was wide, as to one from the Greek and Egyptian world they add a few more colors to them.

It is worth noting that the features lie in the almost complete 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 Romans, they either distorted events to please their authorities, or did not give them at all of great importance. This happened primarily because the fine arts of Ancient Rome developed under the influence of the dominant ideology, which was alien to abstract philosophical principles and artistic fiction.

They emphasize black, white, red and yellow, although greens, blues and violets are also sometimes used. They were used mixed with water and sometimes with glue. The paintings of Pompeii are best preserved from the year 79. The eruption of Vesuvius covered the entire city, which allowed the paintings to be preserved, since they were not preserved in any other city.

All the paintings of Pompeii were in the Domus. It is so called because it imitates the decoration of marble that was applied in Hellenistic times. This is a very colorful style, a very luxurious look. The wall is usually divided into three: a painted base imitating granite, a middle zone imitating marble, and a cornice finish made in plaster.

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 ancient Greek art from Roman art. However, due 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 in ancient Roman works. So, what achievements and inventions of Ancient Rome in the field of fine art characterize it as an independent phenomenon?

It is called an architectural style because it imitates not only pavements but also architectures. It is also called " Architectural style perspective" because he is looking for depth and perspective. This makes the numbers look bigger. Most often windows, through which you can see buildings, and more theatrical, in addition, the landscape appears.

In short, this is a Roman painting that tends to dissolve the wall. This is a style already filled with Roman creation. This is a mixed style, because to some extent it is a mixture of the previous two. This is less real and more fantastic style. It is characterized by the presentation of very light decorative elements, appearing also fantastic buildings, friezes with children, highly stylized plant elements, figures of animals, people also, but smaller and delicate and small mythological scenes.

  1. The architectural achievement of the Romans was the combination in the buildings of spatial perception and art forms. Roman architects preferred to erect separate buildings and ensembles in natural lowlands, and if there were none, they surrounded the structures with small walls.
  2. In contrast to Greek plastic images, Roman art posed allegory, symbolism and the illusory nature of space. These inventions of ancient Rome in relation to sculptural and artistic representation made it possible to endow with character not only sculptural portraits, but also mosaic or fresco images.
  3. Ancient Roman artists developed the concept that originated in Greece easel painting, which was practically not common in its historical homeland.

Despite the abundance of subtle and barely noticeable features to the layman's eye, there is a factor that allows even a non-specialist to determine whether a sculptural or architectural object belongs to the ancient Roman culture. This is his size. The civilization of Ancient Rome is known throughout the world for its grandiose buildings and sculptures. Their value is several times higher than analogs from Ancient Greece and other countries.


periodization

art Ancient Rome developed in several stages, which corresponded to the periods of the historical formation of the state itself. If historians divide the evolution of ancient Greek art into formation (archaic), flourishing (classic) and crisis period (Hellenism), then the development of ancient Roman art acquires new features during the change imperial dynasty. This phenomenon is due to the fact that socio-economic and ideological factors played a fundamental role in changing 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 centuries 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 arts, came at the end of the 1st century BC. e. and continued until

Art of the Tsarist period

The formation of ancient Roman art dates back to the 8th century BC. e., when the main motives in architecture are the Etruscan ways of planning buildings, masonry and the use building materials. This can be judged by the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Painting and making decorative objects are also closely linked to Etruscan roots. Only by the middle of the 7th century BC. e., when the Romans colonized Greece, they met with artistic techniques Greeks. It is worth noting that the ancient Roman artists already then sought to create their works as close as possible to the originals. Historians attribute this to the tradition of making death wax masks that exactly repeated the features of a person's face. The gods of ancient Rome, whose statues were made during the period of 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: without exception, all complexes (residential and temple) acquired an axial structure and symmetry. The facade of the building was decorated more magnificently, and an ascent (usually a stone staircase) led to the entrance. Residential development from multi-storey buildings is spreading in cities, while wealthy segments 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.

Visual arts were based on portrait sculpture: official and private. The first served the purpose of immortalizing 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. Everyday life states. In temples, one could most often see paintings (including mosaics and frescoes) depicting the gods of Ancient Rome.


Roman Empire: the final period of the development of art

The period of the Roman Empire is considered the time of the true flowering of ancient Roman art. The architecture is dominated by arches, vaults and domes. Stone walls are everywhere faced with brick or marble. Large spaces in the rooms are occupied by decorative paintings and sculptures. The fine arts of ancient Rome during this period undergoes significant changes. When making sculptural portraits, less attention is paid to individual features, which sometimes look somewhat schematic. At the same time, sculptors tried to depict the swiftness of movements, emotional condition portrayed (position of the body, arms and legs, hairstyle, etc.). Bas-relief images take the form of panoramas with a gradually developing plot.

Unlike the previous period, it becomes more complex due to the introduction of landscape and architectural backgrounds. The paints used for the frescoes are brighter, and the color combinations are more contrasting. In addition to color mosaics, black and white is widely distributed.


The most famous sculptural portraits

Roman portraits of statesmen, gods and heroes are represented by busts or full-size statues. The earliest ancient Roman portrait is considered to be a bronze bust of Junius Brutus. It has a great influence of Greek art, however, the typical Roman facial features and slight asymmetry make it possible to once again be convinced that the ancient Roman sculptors already then, in the 3rd century BC. e., gave their works a maximum of realism. Despite the absence modern technologies metalworking small details of the bust are perfectly executed. First of all, this is noticeable in the fine engraving of the beard and hair.

The most realistic is still considered to be a sculptural portrait of Vespasian, the Roman emperor. The master not only conveyed his image in the smallest detail, but also gave a bust characteristic features. Eyes attract special attention: deep-set and small, they radiate the natural cunning and wit of the emperor. But the most remarkable thing is the fact that the sculptor depicted and the smallest details(tense veins and veins on the neck, wrinkles crossing the forehead), which speak of the strength and inflexibility of the state leader. No less expressive was the bust of the usurer Lucius Caecilius Jucundus, whose greedy eyes and greasy hair are depicted with amazing accuracy.


Great architectural monuments of the ancient Roman era

To date, not a single one of the buildings built in the era of Ancient Rome has been fully preserved. The most famous and famous of them is the Colosseum - an arena where gladiator fights and performances by statesmen of various levels, including emperors, took place. The temple of Saturn, which was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt again, has a no less vivid history. Unlike the Colosseum, it cannot be seen, since only a few columns remain from the magnificent building. But they managed to save the famous Pantheon, or the temple of all the gods, which is a fairly large building topped with a dome.

Poets of Ancient Rome and their works

Despite the mythology borrowed from the Greeks, the ancient Romans also had their own talents in the field of adding poetry, songs and fables. The most famous poets of Rome are Virgil and Horace. The first became famous for writing the poem "Aeneid", which was very reminiscent of the "Iliad" by Homer. Despite the less expressive poetic and artistic component, this poem is still considered the standard of the original Latin. Horace, on the other hand, had a great command of artistic word, thanks to which he became a court poet, and lines from his poems and songs still appear in the works of many writers.

Theatrical art

The theater of ancient Rome initially bore little resemblance to what we consider to be such today. Almost all performances were held in the genre of competitions of poets and musicians. Only occasionally could ancient Roman connoisseurs of art enjoy the performance of actors, accompanied by a large choir. Often the audience was shown circus numbers, theatrical pantomime and solo or group dances. A distinctive feature of the ancient Roman theatrical performance was the large number of the troupe. Regarding this, the audience said that there were fewer of them than actors.

It is worth noting that at that time they did not pay much attention to costumes and makeup. Only sometimes, playing the role of an emperor or a person significant in the state, the actors dressed in more magnificent clothes of red color. The repertoire consisted mainly of works by Roman poets: Horace, Virgil and Ovid. Quite often, unhurried narrations and chants in the theaters were replaced by bloody gladiator fights, 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. During mass events and performances, the most popular were musical instruments capable of producing a very loud sound: pipes, horns, and the like. However, most often during the performance, timpani, harps, and citharas were preferred. It is worth noting that everyone was fond of music, including the Roman emperors. Among the musicians and singers were those who were immortalized in sculpture. The singers and kyfareds Apelles, Terpnius, Diodorus, Anaxenor, Tigellius and Mesomedes enjoyed special popularity and love among the Roman people in that era. The music of Ancient Rome is still alive, as not only the main motives, but also musical instruments have been preserved.

The influence of ancient Roman art on modernity

Much is said about the influence of Roman civilization on modernity and everywhere. Of course, the characteristics of Ancient Rome, or rather, of its area that relates to art, has not yet been presented in full. Nevertheless, it can already be argued that the architecture, sculpture and fine arts of the ancient Roman era directly influenced the cultural component of almost all European states. This is especially noticeable in architecture, when the harmony and majesty of buildings are enclosed in a clear symmetrical form.