Roman Sculpture

  • The Romans admired and copied the Classical Greek style of sculpture.
  • Schools for studying the sculptures of Classical Greece existed in Athens and in Rome by the 1st century BCE.

Influence of Ancient Greece

  • The Romans idealised the Sculptures from Classical Greece of the 5th to 4th centuries BCE, and when the supply ran out, they commissioned copies to be made. This style of copying Classical Greece is known as Neo-Attic or Atticizing. As a result, many of the great Sculptures from Classical Greece which have been lost, are preserved in Roman imitations.
  • The Romans used Bronze, Glass, Terracotta and Marble for their sculptures, but only those made in Marble have survived, because metal was often melted down for reuse.
  • Gradually, the pursuit of the Greek Classical Sculpture based on Realism changed, and the Romans introduced their own style, absorbing influences from the East, and creating Giant Statues.

Gardens of Sallust

  • The Emperors maintained the Gardens as a Public Park from 20-410 CE, which was filled with Works of Art.
  • The Gardens included many pavilions, a Temple to Venus and several copies of famous Greek Sculptures:

Schools of Sculpture

  • There were two schools for copying Classical Greek Sculptures, one in Athens and one in Rome, from the first century BCE.
  • Some of the Great Sculptors in the school in Rome were Pasiteles, Apollonios, Evander, Glykon, and Archesilaos.
  • Smaller copies of famous Sculptures were also made for display in Roman Homes.

The Early Style: (mainly before 50 CE, with some later)

  • Imitation of the Classical Greek Sculptures which pursued perfection and realism.
    • ‘Orestes and Electra’
    • ‘The Doryphoros of Polykleitos’
      • Made between 120-50 BCE, the Spear Bearer by Polykleitos.
      • It is the nude depicture of either a Heroic man, or a God..
      • Found in the Municipal Gymnaseum of Pompeii, it was a copy made in marble. The original was made of Bronze around 440 BCE. Another copy was found in Herculaneum.
      • It is housed in the National Archeological Museum Naples.
    • ‘The Augustus of Primaporta’
      • The statue is a life size portrait of the Emperor Augustus.
      • Augustus is posing in military uniform celebrating his conquests, but in the style of a Heroic Man, as in the Doryphoros of Polykleitos discussed above.
      • It is a White Marble copy of a Bronze original dated around 20 BCE, and found in the villa of Augustus’ third wife, Livia Drusilla.
      • It is currently displayed in the Braccio Nuovo wing of the Vatican Museum, Rome.
    • The Galatian Gauls
      • Three 2nd Century CE Roman Marble copies of Greek Statues originally made in Bronze by Attalus I of Pergamon around 230-220 BCE after his victory over the Gauls of Galatia: They depict the Galatian Gauls.
      • However, they were found in the gardens of the Villa Ludovisi in Rome, originally the Gardens of Sallust (a first century Roman Historian), and are now on show in Rome.
      • The Ludovisi Gaul
        • Displaying a Man holding his dying wife whilst killing himself, now in the National Roman Museum, Palazzo Altemps, Rome.
      • The Dying Gaul
        • The statue, originally called the Dying Gladiator, depicts a Celtic warrior wearing a Torc, with a sword wound in his side.
        • It is on display in the Capitoline Museums, Rome, with a copy in the Courtauld Gallery in London.
      • The Kneeling Gaul
        • On display in the Louvre, Sully, Ground Floor, Room 17, Paris.

The Later Style: (from 50 CE onwards)

  • During the first century CE, larger than life statues of the Emperors and of the Gods, started to be made from Marble and Bronze:
    • Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
      1. Erected in 175 CE, It stands in the grounds of the Capitoline Museums.
      2. It is a giant Bronze Statue 13.9 ft high (4.24m), originally covered in gold.
      3. It is located in the Capitoline Museums
    • Trajan's Column
      • Erected in 113 CE to celebrate Trajan‘s Dacian Wars.
      • It is located in Trajan's Forum, in the Via dei Fori Imperiale, Rome, Italy, 3 minutes walk from the Capitoline Museums.
      • The Architect is thought to have been Apollodorus of Damascus, who built Trajan's Forum.
      • It has a spiral staircase of 185 steps inside leading to a viewing platform above.
      • It contains 2,662 figures in 155 scenes, made out of 19 drums of white marble, originally the figures were painted in colour with their swords and armour painted bronze.
      • It is probably Ancient Rome’s most original and best Sculpture.
      • It was topped with a statue of Trajan, but today it has been replaced by a Bronze statue of St. Peter.
      • It is also Trajan’s Tomb, his ashes lie under the plinth.
    • Colossus of Barletta (Eastern Roman Empire c. 565 CE)
      • It is a Bronze statue of an Eastern Roman Emperor, 16ft 7in tall (5.11m) and variously attributed to be of Valentinian I, Justinian I (527-565 CE) or Theodosius I.
      • The statue is located in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Barletta, Italy.

 

Gardens of Sallust, Rome

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