Roman statues. The history of the creation of ancient sculptures of Rome. Building decorated with semi-columns

Roman sculpture, unlike Greek sculpture, did not create examples of an ideally beautiful person and was associated with the funeral cult of ancestors - protectors of the hearth. The Romans sought to accurately reproduce the portrait likeness of the deceased, hence such features of Roman sculpture as concreteness, sobriety, realism in detail, sometimes seeming excessive. One of the roots of the realism of the Roman portrait was its technique: according to many scientists, the Roman portrait developed from death masks, which were customarily removed from the dead and kept at the home altar along with figurines of lares and penates. In addition to wax masks, bronze, marble and terracotta busts of ancestors were kept in the lararium. Cast masks were made directly from the faces of the deceased and then processed to make them more life-like. This led to excellent knowledge by Roman masters of the features of the muscles of the human face and its facial expressions.

During the Republic, it became customary to erect full-length statues of political officials or military commanders in public places. Such an honor was granted by decision of the Senate, usually to commemorate victories, triumphs, and political achievements. Such portraits were usually accompanied by a dedicatory inscription telling about their merits.

With the advent of the Empire, the portrait of the emperor and his family became one of the most powerful means of propaganda.

The Roman sculptural portrait as an independent and unique artistic phenomenon can be clearly traced from the beginning of the 1st century BC. - the period of the Roman Republic. A characteristic feature of portraits of this period is extreme naturalism and verisimilitude in conveying facial features of what distinguishes a particular person from any other person. These trends go back to Etruscan art.

The reign of Emperor Octavian Augustus became the golden age of Roman culture. An important aspect that influenced the formation of Roman art of this period was the Greek art of the classical period, whose strict forms came in handy when creating a majestic empire.

The portrait of a woman acquires a more independent meaning than before.

Under the successors of Emperor Augustus - rulers from the Julio-Claudian dynasty - the image of a deified emperor became traditional.

During the time of Emperor Flavius, a tendency towards idealization arose - giving ideal features. Idealization proceeded in two ways: the emperor was portrayed as a god or hero; or virtues were attached to his image, his wisdom and piety were emphasized. The size of such images often exceeded life-size, the portraits themselves had a monumental image, the individual features of the face were smoothed out for this purpose, which made the features more regular and generalized.

During the time of Trajan, in search of support, society turns to the era of the “valiant Republic”, “the simple morals of our ancestors”, including its aesthetic ideals. A reaction arises against the “corrupting” Greek influence. These sentiments also corresponded to the stern character of the emperor himself.

During the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius - the philosopher on the throne - an equestrian statue was created, which became the model for all subsequent equestrian monuments in Europe.

Painting of Ancient Rome

Roman art, developing within the framework of the ancient slave era, at the same time was very different from it. The formation and formation of Roman culture took place in different historical conditions. The Romans' knowledge of the world took on new forms. The artistic understanding of life by the Romans bore the stamp of an analytical attitude. Their art is perceived as more prosaic in contrast to Greek. A striking feature of the art of Rome is its close connection with life. Many historical events were reflected in artistic monuments. Changes in the social system - the replacement of a republic by an empire, a change in the dynasties of the rulers of Rome - directly influenced changes in pictorial, sculptural and architectural forms. This is why it is sometimes not difficult to determine the time of creation of a particular work based on stylistic features.

With the shift of emphasis to the interior and the appearance of state rooms in Roman houses and villas, a system of highly artistic paintings developed based on the Greek tradition. Pompeian paintings introduce the main features of ancient frescoes. The Romans also used painting to decorate facades, using them as signs for commercial premises or craft workshops. By nature, Pompeian paintings are usually divided into 4 groups, conventionally called styles. The first style, inlay, widespread in the 2nd century. BC Simulates wall cladding with squares of multi-colored marble or jasper. The paintings of the first type are constructive, emphasizing the architectural basis of the wall, they correspond to the harsh laconicism of forms inherent in republican architecture. Since the 80s of the 1st century. BC The second style was used - architectural-perspective. The walls remained smooth and were dissected by picturesquely illusory columns, pilasters, cornices, and porticos. The interior acquired splendor due to the fact that between the columns a large multi-figure composition was often placed, realistically reproducing scenes on mythological themes from the works of famous Greek artists. The attraction to nature inherent in the Romans encouraged them to illusorily reproduce landscapes on stages using linear and aerial perspectives and thereby, as it were, expand the interior space of the room. The third style, orienting, is characteristic of the imperial era. In contrast to the pomp of the second style, the third style is distinguished by severity, grace and a sense of proportion. Balanced compositions, linear patterns, against a bright background, emphasize the plane of the wall. Sometimes the central field of the wall is highlighted, where paintings of some famous ancient master are reproduced. The fourth decorative style spreads in the middle of the 1st century. AD With its pomp and decorativeness, spatial and architectural design, it continues the tradition of the second style. At the same time, the richness of ornamental motifs is reminiscent of third style paintings. Fantastic and dynamic, perspective-oriented structures destroy the isolation and flatness of the walls, creating the impression of theatrical scenery, reproducing the intricate facades of palaces, gardens visible through their windows, or art galleries - copies of famous originals, executed in a free pictorial manner. The fourth style gives an idea of ​​ancient theater scenery. Pompeian paintings played an important role in the further development of the decorative arts of Western Europe.

Literature of Ancient Rome

The first steps of Roman fiction are associated with the spread of Greek education in Rome. Early Roman writers imitated classical examples of Greek literature, although they used Roman plots and some Roman forms. There is no reason to deny the existence of oral Roman poetry that arose in a distant era. The earliest forms of poetic creativity are undoubtedly associated with cult.

Thus arose a religious hymn, a sacred song, an example of which is the song of the Salievs that has come down to us. It is composed of Saturnian verses. This is the most ancient monument of Italian free poetic meter, analogies to which we find in the oral poetry of other peoples.

In patrician families, songs and legends were composed that glorified famous ancestors. One of the types of creativity were elogies composed in honor of deceased representatives of noble families. The earliest example of an elelogy is the epitaph dedicated to L. Cornelius Scipio the Bearded, which also gives an example of Saturnian size. Other types of Roman oral creativity include funeral songs performed by special mourners, all kinds of incantations and spells, also composed in verse. Thus, long before the advent of Roman fiction in the true sense of the word, the Romans created a poetic meter, Saturnian verse, which was used by the first poets.

The beginnings of Roman folk drama should be sought in various rural festivals, but its development is associated with the influence of neighboring peoples. The main type of dramatic performances were atellans.

Oki appeared in Etruria and were associated with cult activities; but this form was developed by the Osci, and the very name “Atellan” comes from the Campanian city of Atella. Atellans were special plays, the content of which was taken from rural life and the life of small towns.

In the atellans, the main roles were played by the same types in the form of characteristic masks (glutton, boastful rag, stupid old man, hunchbacked cunning, etc.). Initially, the Atellans were introduced impromptu. Subsequently, in the 1st century. BC, this improvisational form was used by Roman playwrights as a special comedy genre.

The beginning of Roman prose also dates back to ancient times. In the early era, written laws, treaties, and liturgical books appeared. The conditions of public life contributed to the development of eloquence. Some of the speeches given were recorded.

Cicero, for example, knew the speech of Appius Claudius Caecus, delivered in the Senate regarding Pyrrhus’s proposal to make peace with him. We also find indications that funeral orations appeared in Rome already in an early era.

Roman literature emerges as imitative literature. The first Roman poet was Livy Andronicus, who translated the Odyssey into Latin.

By origin, Livy was a Greek from Tarentum. In 272 he was brought to Rome as a prisoner, then he was released and began teaching the children of his patron and other aristocrats. The translation of the Odyssey was done in Saturnian verses. His language was not distinguished by grace, and it even contained word formations that were alien to the Latin language. This was the first poetic work written in Latin. For many years, Roman schools studied from the translation of the Odyssey made by Andronicus.

Livy Andronicus wrote several comedies and tragedies, which were translations or adaptations of Greek works.

During the life of Livy, the poetic activity of Gnaeus Naevius (about 274 - 204), a Campanian native, who owns an epic work about the first Punic War with a brief summary of previous Roman history, began.

In addition, Naevius wrote several tragedies, including those based on Roman legends.

Since in the tragedies of Naevius the Romans performed, dressed in a formal costume - a toga with a purple border. Naevius also wrote comedies in which he did not hide his democratic convictions. In one comedy, he spoke ironically about the then all-powerful Scipio the Elder; addressed to the Metellas, he said: “By the fate of the evil Metella, the consuls are in Rome.” Naevius was imprisoned for his poetry and was released from there only thanks to the intercession of the tribunes of the people. However, he had to leave Rome.

Religion of Ancient Rome

The early Roman religion was animistic, i.e. recognized the existence of all kinds of spirits; it also had elements of totemism, which were reflected, in particular, in the veneration of the Capitoline she-wolf, who suckled Romulus and Remus. Gradually, under the influence of the Etruscans, who, like the Greeks, represented gods in human form, the Romans switched to anthropomorphism. The first temple in Rome - the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill - was built by Etruscan craftsmen. Roman mythology in its initial development was reduced to animism, i.e. belief in the animation of nature. The ancient Italians worshiped the souls of the dead, and the main motive for worship was fear of their supernatural power. For the Romans, as for the Semites, the gods seemed to be terrible forces that had to be reckoned with, appeasing them by strict observance of all rituals. Every minute of his life, the Roman was afraid of the disfavor of the gods and, in order to secure their favor, he did not undertake or complete a single deed without prayer and established formalities. In contrast to the artistically gifted and active Hellenes, the Romans did not have folk epic poetry; their religious ideas were expressed in a few, monotonous and meager in content myths. In the gods the Romans saw only the will (numen), which intervened in human life.

The Roman gods had neither their own Olympus nor genealogy, and were depicted in the form of symbols: Mana - under the guise of snakes, Jupiter - under the guise of stone, Mars - under the guise of a spear, Vesta - under the guise of fire. The original system of Roman mythology - judging by the data that ancient literature tells us, modified under a variety of influences - boiled down to a listing of symbolic, impersonal, deified concepts, under the auspices of which a person’s life consisted from conception to death; no less abstract and impersonal were the deities of souls, whose cult formed the most ancient basis of family religion. At the second stage of mythological ideas there were deities of nature, mainly rivers, springs and the earth, as producers of all living things. Next come the deities of heavenly space, deities of death and the underworld, deities - personifications of the spiritual and moral aspects of man, as well as various relations of social life, and, finally, foreign gods and heroes.

Along with the gods, the Romans continued to worship impersonal forces. Matzos - the souls of the dead, geniuses - spirits - patrons of men, Lares - guardians of the hearth and family, penates - patrons of the house and the entire city were considered to be disposed towards people. Evil spirits were considered larvas - the souls of unburied dead, lemurs - ghosts of the dead chasing people, etc. Already in the royal era, one can notice some formalism in the attitude of the Romans to religion. All cult functions were distributed among various priests united in colleges. The high priests were the pontiffs, who supervised other priests, were in charge of rituals, funeral cults, etc. One of their important responsibilities was drawing up calendars that marked days favorable for holding meetings, concluding treaties, starting military operations, etc. There were special colleges of priests - soothsayers: augurs told fortunes by the flight of birds, haruspices - by the entrails of sacrificial animals. Flamnine priests served the cults of certain gods, fetial priests monitored the strict observance of the principles of international law. As in Greece, the priests in Rome are not a special caste, but elected officials.

Conclusion

The culture and art of Ancient Rome left humanity an enormous legacy, the significance of which is difficult to overestimate. The great organizer and creator of modern norms of civilized life, Ancient Rome decisively transformed the cultural appearance of a huge part of the world. For this alone he is worthy of lasting glory and the memory of his descendants. In addition, the art of Roman times left many remarkable monuments in a variety of fields, ranging from works of architecture to glass vessels. Each ancient Roman monument embodies a tradition compressed by time and taken to its logical conclusion. It carries information about faith and rituals, the meaning of life and the creative skills of the people to whom it belonged, and the place this people occupied in the grandiose empire. The Roman state is very complex. He alone had the mission of saying goodbye to the thousand-year-old world of paganism and creating those principles that formed the basis of Christian art of the New Age.

Culture of Ancient Greece

Plan

Introduction Sculpture in Ancient Greece (Polykleitos, Myron, Phidias)

Literature in Ancient Greece (Plato, Aristotle)

Theater in Ancient Greece (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes)

Conclusion

Introduction

Ancient Greece and its culture occupy a special place in world history. Thinkers from different eras and directions agree in their high assessment of ancient (i.e., Greco-Roman) civilization. The French historian of the last century, Ernest Renan, called the civilization of ancient Hellas a “Greek miracle.” The highest estimates of Greek civilization do not seem exaggerated. But what gave rise to the idea of ​​a “miracle”? Greek civilization is not the only one, nor is it the oldest. When it appeared, some civilizations of the ancient East measured their history in thousands of years. This applies, for example, to Egypt and Babylon. The idea of ​​the miracle of Greek civilization is most likely caused by its unusually rapid flowering. The society and culture of Ancient Egypt already at the beginning of the third millennium BC was at that stage of development that allows us to talk about the transition from barbarism to civilization. The creation of Greek civilization dates back to the era of the “cultural revolution” - 7th – 5th centuries. BC E. Over the course of three centuries, a new form of state arose in Greece - the first in the history of democracy. In science, philosophy, literature and fine arts, Greece has surpassed the achievements of ancient Eastern civilizations, which have been developing for more than three thousand years. Wasn't this a miracle? Of course, no one had in mind the supernatural origin of Greek civilization, but it turned out to be quite difficult to indicate the historical reasons for the appearance of the “Greek miracle”. The emergence and flourishing of Greek civilization, which actually took place over the course of several generations, constituted a mystery even for the Greeks themselves. Already in the 5th century. BC e. the first attempts to explain this phenomenon appeared. Egypt was declared the progenitor of many achievements of Greek culture. One of the first here was the “father of history” Herodotus, who extremely highly valued the culture of Ancient Egypt. The famous Rhetorian and Socrates argued that Pythagoras adopted his philosophy in Egypt, and Aristotle calls this country the birthplace of theoretical mathematics. The founder of Greek philosophy, Thales, was a Phoenician by birth. Arriving in Egypt, he studied with the priests, borrowed from them the idea of ​​​​water as the beginning of all things, as well as knowledge of geometry and astronomy. We find the same information from ancient authors regarding Homer, Lycurgus, Solon, Democritus, Heroclitus and other outstanding representatives of Greek culture. What made the Greeks look for the eastern roots of their own culture? Modern science indicates several reasons. Firstly, the Greeks, getting acquainted with the Egyptian culture and the culture of other countries of the Ancient East, indeed borrowed a lot, and in other cases they discovered similarities between their culture and the cultures of the East. Knowing about the great antiquity of eastern civilizations, the Greeks were inclined to explain the origin of this or that phenomenon of Greek culture by borrowings from the Hellenes in the East, which seemed logical. Secondly, this was facilitated by the conservatism of lifestyle, characteristic of all ancient societies. Greece was no exception in this regard. The ancient Greeks had a deep respect for antiquity. This is why the Greeks were willing to generously give away their own achievements to other nations. Modern science provides other explanations for the origin of ancient Greek civilization. Renan saw the reason for the “Greek miracle” in the properties allegedly inherent in Aryan languages: abstraction and metaphysicality. They highlighted the special talent of the Greeks in comparison with other peoples of antiquity. Various hypotheses are discussed in the book by historian A. I. Zaitsev “The Cultural Revolution in Ancient Greece in the 8th – 5th centuries BC.” He provided specific information that refutes racist hypotheses. Many historians come to the conclusion that the reasons for the greatness of Greek civilization should be sought not in the racial prehistory of Greece, but in the specific historical reality of the first millennium BC. e. The famous Swiss scientist Andre Bonnard, in his book “Greek Civilization,” argues that Greek civilization and ancient culture were based on ancient slavery. The Greek people went through the same stages of development as other peoples. Bonnard claims there is no Greek miracle. His book centers on the people who created and were created by Greek civilization. "The starting point and object of all Greek civilization is man. It proceeds from his needs, it has in mind his benefit and his progress. To achieve them, it plows at the same time both the world and man, one through the other. Man and the world, in the view Greek civilization are a reflection of each other - they are mirrors placed opposite each other and mutually reading one another."

The art of Rome begins with a portrait, just as the Etruscan Romans made wax or plaster casts of the face of the deceased. All the details of the face turned into a means of characterizing the image, where there is no place for ideal, everyone is who they are.

Taking Greek art as a model (after 146 BC in the era of Augustus), the Romans began to depict emperors in countless idealized statues of patricians, Atlanteans and gods, although the model, of course, is heroic, and the head is a portrait of the emperor.

Statue of Augustus from Primaporte.

Augustus as Zeus.

But more often the portrait sculpture of the Romans is a bust.

Beginning of the 1st century BC – characterized by deliberate simplicity and restraint.

Portrait of Nero

By the middle of the 1st century. AD – the desire for decorativeness and strong lighting effects intensifies. (This is the Flavian era)

The portraits are reminiscent of Hellenistic images, interest in the human personality appears, the subtle characteristics of feelings are conveyed without changes in idealization, but very prominently. The artist uses complex marble processing techniques, especially in women's elaborate hairstyles.

Portrait of a woman.

Portrait of Vittelius.

In the II century. AD (the era of Hadrian, Antoninov) - the portraits are distinguished by soft modeling, sophistication, a self-absorbed gaze, a haze of sadness and detachment.

Portrait of Sirpanka.

The direction and animation of the gaze is now emphasized by the cut-out pupil (previously it was drawn and painted).

Around 170, an equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius was cast (now stands on Capitol Square in Rome). The supposed heroism of the image does not coincide with the appearance of the emperor-philosopher.

III century marked by the features of the approaching end of ancient civilization. The fusion of local and ancient traditions that had developed in Roman art was destroyed by internecine wars and the decomposition of the slave-owning economic system.

The sculptural portrait is full of cruel and crude images, inspired by life itself. The images are truthful and mercilessly revealing, carrying fear and uncertainty, painful inconsistency. III century AD called the era of soldier emperors or the era of verism.

Portrait of Karakkana.

Portrait of Philip the Arabian.

The Romans were the creators of the so-called historical relief.

Wall of the Altar of Peace (13-9 BC) – Emperor Augustus with his family and associates march in a solemn procession of offerings to the Goddess of Peace.

Trajan's Column (113 AD) - a thirty-meter column rises in the Forum of Trajan (Rome) erected in honor of the victory over the Dacians. The relief, like a ribbon about one meter wide and 200 meters long, spirals around the entire trunk of the column. The main events of Trajan's campaign are depicted in historical sequence: the construction of the bridge over the Danube, the crossing, the battle itself, the siege of the Dacian fortress, the procession of prisoners, the triumphant return. Trajan at the head of the army, everything is depicted deeply realistically and permeated with the pathos of glorifying the winner.

Painting of Ancient Rome

By the middle of the 1st century. BC Ancient Rome becomes a rich state. Palaces and villas were built, which were decorated with frescoes. The floors and patios were decorated with mosaics - inlaid paintings made from natural pebbles, as well as from colored glass paste (smalt). Especially many frescoes and mosaics have been preserved in the villas of Pompeii (which were destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 74 AD)

In the House of the Faun in Pompeii (the name arose from the bronze figure of a faun found in the house), a mosaic of 15 sq.m. was uncovered, depicting the battle of A. Macedonian with the Persian king Darius. The excitement of the battle is perfectly conveyed, the portrait characteristics of the commanders are emphasized by the beauty of color.

In the 2nd century. BC The fresco imitated colored marble, the so-called inlay style.

In the 4th century BC architectural (perspective) style develops. As an example - the paintings of the Villa of Mysteries: on the red background of the wall, almost its entire height, there are large multi-figure compositions, including the figures of Dionysus and his companions - dancers, which amaze with their picturesque statuary and plastic movements.

During the period of the Empire IV. AD a third style is created, which is called ornamental or candelabra, characterized by Egyptian motifs reminiscent of candelabra (house of Lucretius Frontin).

In the second half of the 4th century. AD the paintings are filled with images of the architecture of gardens and parks, illusorily expanding the space of the rooms; in the center of the wall, mythological scenes are written like a separate picture in a frame (the house of the Vettii).

From the paintings of Roman villas we can get an idea of ​​ancient painting, the influence of which will be felt for many centuries to come.

The main advantage of Ancient Roman sculpture is the realism and authenticity of the images. First of all, this is due to the fact that the Romans had a strong cult of ancestors, and from the earliest period of Roman history there was a custom of removing death wax masks, which were later taken by sculpture masters as the basis for sculptural portraits.

The very concept of “ancient Roman art” has a very conditional meaning. All Roman sculptors were of Greek origin. In an aesthetic sense, all ancient Roman sculpture is a replica of Greek sculpture. The innovation was the combination of the Greek desire for harmony and Roman rigidity and the cult of strength.

The history of ancient Roman sculpture is divided into three parts - Etruscan art, sculpture of the Republic era and imperial art.

Etruscan art

Sculpture of the Roman Republic

But the main achievement in the sculpture of this era is the realistic sculptural portrait. Unlike Greece, where when creating a portrait, the master one way or another subordinated all the individual features of the model to the laws of harmony and beauty, Roman masters carefully copied all the subtleties of the models’ appearance. On the other hand, this often led to simplified images, rough lines and a distance from realism.

Roman Empire Sculpture

The statues of emperors in the forums of Rome are made in a harsh, rough manner. There is no longer a trace of that Greek harmony and beauty that was characteristic of early Roman art. The masters, first of all, had to portray strong and tough rulers. There was also a departure from realism. Roman emperors were depicted as athletically built and tall, despite the fact that rarely any of them had a harmonious physique.

Almost always during the Roman Empire, sculptures of gods were depicted with the faces of the ruling emperors, so historians know for sure what the emperors of the largest ancient state looked like.

Despite the fact that Roman art, without any doubt, entered the world treasury of many masterpieces, in its essence it is only a continuation of ancient Greek. The Romans developed ancient art, made it more magnificent, more majestic, brighter. On the other hand, it was the Romans who lost the sense of proportion, depth and ideological content of early ancient art.

INTRODUCTION

Problems of the history of Roman culture have attracted and continue to attract close attention from both wide circles of readers and specialists in various fields of science. This interest is largely determined by the enormous significance of the cultural heritage that Rome left to subsequent generations.

The accumulation of new material allows us to take a fresh look at a number of established, traditional ideas about Roman culture. General cultural changes also affected art, accordingly affecting sculpture.

The sculpture of ancient Rome, like that of ancient Greece, developed within the framework of a slave society. Moreover, they adhere to the sequence - first Greece, then Rome. Roman sculpture continued the traditions of Hellenic masters.

Roman sculpture went through four stages of its development:

1. The origins of Roman sculpture

2. The formation of Roman sculpture (VIII - I centuries BC)

3. The heyday of Roman sculpture (1st – 2nd centuries)

4. The crisis of Roman sculpture (III – IV centuries)

And at each of these stages, Roman sculpture underwent changes associated with the cultural development of the country. Each stage reflects the time of its era with its features in style, genre and direction in sculptural art, which are manifested in the works of sculptors.

THE ORIGINS OF ROMAN SCULPTURE

1.1 Italic sculpture

“In ancient Rome, sculpture was limited primarily to historical relief and portraiture. The plastic forms of Greek athletes are always presented openly. Images like a praying Roman, throwing the edge of his robe over his head, are mostly contained within themselves, concentrated. If the Greek masters consciously broke with the specific uniqueness of features in order to convey the broadly understood essence of the person being portrayed - a poet, orator or commander, then the Roman masters in sculptural portraits concentrated attention on the personal, individual characteristics of a person.”

The Romans paid less attention to the art of plastic arts than the Greeks of that time. Like other Italian tribes of the Apennine Peninsula, their own monumental sculpture (they brought a lot of Hellenic statues) was rare among them; small bronze figurines of gods, geniuses, priests and priestesses predominated, kept in home sanctuaries and brought to temples; but the portrait became the main type of plastic art.

1.2 Etruscan sculpture

Plastic arts played a significant role in the daily and religious life of the Etruscans: temples were decorated with statues, sculptural and relief sculptures were installed in tombs, an interest in portraits arose, and decor was also characteristic. The profession of sculptor in Etruria, however, was hardly highly valued. The names of the sculptors have hardly survived to this day; Only the one mentioned by Pliny, who worked at the end of the 6th - 5th centuries, is known. Master Vulka.

FORMATION OF ROMAN SCULPTURE (VIII – I CENTURIES BC)

“During the years of the Mature and Late Republic, various types of portraits were formed: statues of Romans wrapped in a toga and performing a sacrifice (the best example is in the Vatican Museum), generals in a heroic guise with the image of a number of military armor (statue from the Tivoli of the National Museum of Rome), noble nobles , demonstrating antiquity with a kind of busts of ancestors, which they hold in their hands (repetition of the 1st century AD in the Palazzo Conservatori), orators giving speeches to the people (bronze statue of Aulus Metellus, executed by an Etruscan master). In statuary portrait sculpture, non-Roman influences were still strong, but in funerary portrait sculptures, where, obviously, everything alien was less allowed, there were few of them left. And although one must think that the tombstones were initially executed under the guidance of Hellenic and Etruscan masters, apparently, the customers more strongly dictated their desires and tastes in them. The tombstones of the Republic, which were horizontal slabs with niches in which portrait statues were placed, are extremely simple. Two, three, and sometimes five people were depicted in a clear sequence. Only at first glance do they seem - due to the monotony of poses, arrangement of folds, and hand movements - similar to each other. There is not a single person similar to another, and what they have in common is the captivating restraint of feelings characteristic of all, the sublime stoic state in the face of death.”

The masters, however, not only conveyed individual characteristics in sculptural images, but also made it possible to feel the tension of the harsh era of wars of conquest, civil unrest, and continuous anxiety and unrest. In portraits, the sculptor’s attention is drawn, first of all, to the beauty of the volumes, the strength of the frame, the backbone of the plastic image.

THE FLOWING OF ROMAN SCULPTURE (I – II CENTURIES)

3.1 Time of the Principate of Augustus

During the years of Augustus, portrait painters paid less attention to the unique features of the face, smoothed out individual originality, emphasized something common in it, characteristic of everyone, likening one subject to another, according to the type pleasing the emperor. It was as if typical standards were created.

“This influence is especially clearly manifested in the heroic statues of Augustus. The most famous is his marble statue from Prima Porta. The Emperor is depicted calm, majestic, with his hand raised in an inviting gesture; dressed as a Roman general, he seemed to appear before his legions. His armor is decorated with allegorical reliefs, and his cloak is thrown over the hand holding a spear or staff. Augustus is depicted with his head uncovered and with bare legs, which, as is known, is a tradition in Greek art, which conventionally represents gods and heroes naked or half-naked. The posing of the figure uses motifs of Hellenistic male figures from the school of the famous Greek master Lysippos.

The face of Augustus bears portrait features, but, nevertheless, is somewhat idealized, which again comes from Greek portrait sculpture. Such portraits of emperors, intended to decorate forums, basilicas, theaters and baths, were supposed to embody the idea of ​​the greatness and power of the Roman Empire and the inviolability of imperial power. The Age of Augustus opens a new page in the history of Roman portraiture."

In portrait sculpture, sculptors now loved to operate with large, poorly modeled planes of the cheeks, forehead, and chin. This preference for flatness and rejection of three-dimensionality, especially clearly manifested in decorative painting, was also reflected in sculptural portraits at that time.

During the time of Augustus, more portraits of women and children, previously very rare, were created than before. Most often these were images of the princeps’ wife and daughter; the heirs to the throne were represented in marble and bronze busts and statues of boys. The official nature of such works was recognized by everyone: many wealthy Romans installed such sculptures in their homes to emphasize their affection for the ruling family.

3.2 Julio–Claudian and Flavian time

The essence of art in general and sculpture in particular of the Roman Empire began to fully express itself in the works of this time.

Monumental sculpture took forms different from Hellenic ones. The desire for specificity led to the fact that masters even gave the deities the individual features of the emperor. Rome was decorated with many statues of gods: Jupiter, Roma, Minerva, Victoria, Mars. The Romans, who appreciated the masterpieces of Hellenic sculpture, sometimes treated them with fetishism.

“During the heyday of the Empire, trophy monuments were created in honor of victories. Two huge marble Domitian trophies still decorate the balustrade of the Capitoline Square in Rome. The huge statues of the Dioscuri in Rome, on the Quirinal, are also majestic. Horses rearing up, powerful young men holding the reins, are shown in a decisive, stormy movement.”

The sculptors of those years sought, first of all, to amaze people. The art of the Empire became widespread in the first period of its heyday,

however, there is also chamber sculpture - marble figurines that decorated the interiors, quite often found during excavations of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia.

Sculptural portraiture of that period developed in several artistic directions. During the years of Tiberius, sculptors adhered to the classicist manner, which prevailed under Augustus and was preserved along with new techniques. Under Caligula, Claudius and especially the Flavians, the idealizing interpretation of appearance began to be replaced by a more accurate representation of a person’s facial features and character. It was supported by the republican style with its sharp expressiveness, which did not disappear at all, but was muted during the years of Augustus.

“In the monuments belonging to these various movements, one can notice the development of a spatial understanding of volumes and the strengthening of an eccentric interpretation of composition. A comparison of three statues of seated emperors: Augustus of Cumae (St. Petersburg, Hermitage), Tiberius of Privernus (Vatican of Rome) and Nerva (Vatican of Rome), convinces that already in the statue of Tiberius, which preserves the classicist interpretation of the face, the plastic understanding of forms has changed . The restraint and formality of the pose of the Kuma Augustus was replaced by a free, relaxed body position, a soft interpretation of volumes, not opposed to space, but already merged with it. Further development of the plastic-spatial composition of the seated figure is visible in the statue of Nerva with his torso leaning back, his right hand raised high, and a decisive turn of his head.

Changes also occurred in the plastic of upright statues. The sculptures of Claudius have much in common with Augustus from Prima Porta, but eccentric tendencies make themselves felt here too. It is noteworthy that some sculptors tried to contrast these spectacular plastic compositions with portrait statues, designed in the spirit of a restrained republican manner: the setting of the figure in the huge portrait of Titus from the Vatican is emphatically simple, the legs rest on full feet, the arms are pressed to the body, only the right one is slightly exposed.”

“If in the classicizing portrait art of the time of Augustus the graphic principle prevailed, now sculptors recreated the individual appearance and character of nature by voluminous sculpting of forms. The skin became denser, more prominent, and hid the structure of the head, which was clear in republican portraits. The plasticity of the sculptural images turned out to be richer and more expressive. This was manifested even in the provincial portraits of Roman rulers that appeared on the distant periphery.”

The style of imperial portraits was also imitated by private ones. Generals, rich freedmen, moneylenders tried in everything - their postures, movements, demeanor - to resemble the rulers; the sculptors imparted pride to the landing of the heads and decisiveness to the turns, without, however, softening the sharp, not always attractive features of the individual appearance; after the harsh norms of Augustan classicism in art, they began to appreciate the uniqueness and complexity of physiognomic expressiveness. The noticeable departure from the Greek norms that prevailed during the years of Augustus is explained not only by general evolution, but also by the desire of the masters to free themselves from foreign principles and methods and to reveal their Roman characteristics.

In marble portraits, as before, pupils, lips, and possibly hair were tinted with paint.

In those years, female sculptural portraits were created more often than before. In the images of the wives and daughters of emperors, as well as noble Roman wives, the master

At first they followed the classicist principles that prevailed under Augustus. Then complex hairstyles began to play an increasingly important role in women’s portraits, and the importance of plastic decoration became more pronounced than in men’s portraits. Portraits of Domitia Longina, using high hairstyles, in the interpretation of faces, however, often adhered to a classicist manner, idealizing features, smoothing the surface of marble, softening, as far as possible, the sharpness of the individual appearance. “A magnificent monument from the time of the late Flavians is a bust of a young Roman woman from the Capitoline Museum. In the depiction of her curly locks, the sculptor moved away from the flatness noticeable in the portraits of Domitia Longina. In portraits of elderly Roman women, the opposition to the classicist style was stronger. The woman in the Vatican portrait is depicted by the Flavian sculptor with all impartiality. Modeling a puffy face with bags under the eyes, deep wrinkles on sunken cheeks, squinting eyes that seem to be watery, thinning hair - everything reveals the frightening signs of old age.”

3.3 Time of Trojan and Hadrian

During the second period of the flowering of Roman art - during the time of the early Antonines - Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (117-138) - the empire remained strong militarily and prospered economically.

“Round sculpture during the years of Hadrian’s classicism largely imitated the Hellenic one. It is possible that the huge statues of the Dioscuri, dating back to the Greek originals, flanking the entrance to the Roman Capitol, arose in the first half of the 2nd century. They do not have the dynamism of the Dioscuri from the Quirinal; they are calm, restrained and confidently lead the reins of quiet and obedient horses. Some monotony, lethargy of forms make you think,

that they are the creation of Adrian's classicism. The size of the sculptures (5.50m – 5.80m) is also characteristic of the art of this time, which strived for monumentalization.”

In the portraits of this period, two stages can be distinguished: Trajan's, characterized by a tendency towards republican principles, and Adrian's, in whose plastics more following Greek models. Emperors appeared in the guise of armored commanders, in the pose of priests performing sacrifices, in the form of naked gods, heroes or warriors.

“In the busts of Trajan, who can be recognized by the parallel strands of hair descending onto his forehead and the strong fold of his lips, calm planes of the cheeks and a certain sharpness of features always prevail, especially noticeable in both the Moscow and Vatican monuments. The energy concentrated in a person is clearly expressed in the St. Petersburg busts: the hook-nosed Roman Sallust, a young man with a decisive look, and the lictor.” The surface of the faces in the marble portraits of Trajan's time conveys the calm and inflexibility of the people; they appear to be cast in metal rather than sculptured in stone. Subtly perceiving physiognomic shades, Roman portrait painters created far from unambiguous images. The bureaucratization of the entire system of the Roman Empire also left its mark on their faces. Tired, indifferent eyes and dry, tightly compressed lips of a man in a portrait from the National Museum

Naples is characterized by a man of a difficult era, who subordinated his emotions to the cruel will of the emperor. The female images are filled with the same sense of restraint, volitional tension, only occasionally softened by slight irony, thoughtfulness or concentration.

The turn under Hadrian to the Greek aesthetic system is an important phenomenon, but in essence this second wave of classicism after the August wave was even more external in nature than the first. Even under Hadrian, classicism was only a mask under which the Roman attitude to form itself did not die, but developed. The originality of the development of Roman art, with its pulsating manifestations of either classicism or the Roman essence itself, with its spatiality of forms and authenticity, called verism, is evidence of the very contradictory nature of the artistic thinking of late antiquity.

3.4 Time of the last Antonines

The late heyday of Roman art, which began in the last years of the reign of Hadrian and under Antoninus Pius and lasted until the end of the 2nd century, was characterized by the fading of pathos and pomp in artistic forms. This period was marked by an effort in the cultural sphere of individualistic tendencies.

“The sculptural portrait underwent great changes at that time. The monumental round sculpture of the late Antonines, while preserving Hadrian's traditions, also testified to the fusion of ideal heroic images with specific characters, most often the emperor or his entourage, to the glorification or deification of an individual personality. The faces of deities in huge statues were given the features of emperors, monumental equestrian statues were cast, an example of which is the statue of Marcus Aurelius, and the splendor of the equestrian monument was enhanced by gilding. However, even in the monumental portrait images of even the emperor himself, fatigue and philosophical reflection began to be felt.” The art of portraiture, which experienced a kind of crisis in the years of early Hadrian due to the strong classicist trends of the time, entered under the late Antonines a period of prosperity that it had not known even in the years of the Republic and the Flavians.

In statuary portraiture, heroic idealized images continued to be created, which determined the art of the time of Trajan and Hadrian.

“Since the thirties of the 3rd century. n. e. New artistic forms are being developed in portrait art. The depth of psychological characterization is achieved not by detailing the plastic form, but, on the contrary, by laconicism and parsimoniousness in the selection of the most important defining personality traits. Such, for example, is the portrait of Philip the Arabian (St. Petersburg, Hermitage). The rough surface of the stone well conveys the weathered skin of the “soldier’s” emperors: generalized lenka, sharp, asymmetrically located folds on the forehead and cheeks, processing of hair and short beard only with small sharp notches focuses the viewer’s attention on the eyes, on the expressive line of the mouth.”

“Portrait artists began to interpret the eyes in a new way: the pupils, which were depicted plastically, cutting into the marble, now gave the look liveliness and naturalness. Slightly covered with wide upper eyelids, they looked melancholic and sad. The look seemed absent-minded and dreamy; submissive submission to higher, not fully realized, mysterious forces prevailed.” Hints of the deep spirituality of the marble mass were echoed on the surface in the thoughtfulness of the gaze, the movement of strands of hair, the trembling of the light curves of the beard and mustache. Portrait painters, when creating curly hair, slammed a drill hard into the marble and sometimes drilled out deep internal cavities. Illuminated by the sun's rays, such hairstyles seemed like a mass of living hair.

The artistic image became similar to the real one, and we got closer and closer

sculptors and what they especially wanted to depict - the elusive movements of human feelings and moods.

Masters of that era used various, often expensive, materials for portraits: gold and silver, rock crystal, and glass, which became widespread. Sculptors appreciated this material - delicate, transparent, creating beautiful highlights. Even marble, under the hands of masters, sometimes lost the strength of stone, and its surface seemed like human skin. A nuanced sense of reality made the hair in such portraits voluminous and mobile, the skin silky, and the fabrics of clothes soft. They polished the marble of a woman's face more carefully than a man's; youthful was distinguished by texture from senile.

CRISIS OF ROMAN SCULPTURE (III – IV CENTURIES)

4.1 End of the era of the Principate

In the development of the art of Late Rome, two stages can be more or less clearly distinguished. The first is the art of the end of the Principate (III century) and the second is the art of the Dominant era (from the beginning of the reign of Diocletian to the fall of the Roman Empire). “In artistic monuments, especially of the second period, the extinction of ancient pagan ideas and the increasing expression of new, Christian ones are noticeable.”

Sculptural portrait in the 3rd century. Has undergone particularly noticeable changes. The statues and busts still retained the techniques of the late Antonines, but

the meaning of the images has already become different. Wariness and suspicion replaced the philosophical thoughtfulness of the characters in the second half of the 2nd century. The tension made itself felt even in the women's faces of that time. In portraits in the second

quarter of the 3rd century The volumes became denser, the masters abandoned the gimlet, made hair with notches, and achieved especially expressive expression of wide-open eyes.

The desire of innovative sculptors to increase the artistic impact of their works by such means caused a reaction and a return to old methods in the years of Gallienus (mid-3rd century). For two decades, portraitists again depicted Romans with curly hair and curly beards, trying, at least in artistic forms, to revive the old manners and thereby recall the former greatness of plastic art. However, after this short-term and artificial return to Antoninian forms, already at the end of the third quarter of the 3rd century. Once again, the sculptors’ desire to convey the emotional tension of a person’s inner world using extremely laconic means was revealed. During the years of bloody civil strife and frequent changes of emperors fighting for the throne, portrait painters embodied shades of complex spiritual experiences in new forms that were born then. Gradually, they were increasingly interested not in individual traits, but in those sometimes elusive moods that were already difficult to express in stone, marble, and bronze.

4.2 Era of Dominance

In works of sculpture of the 4th century. Pagan and Christian themes coexisted; artists turned to depicting and glorifying not only mythological, but also Christian heroes; continuing what began in the 3rd century. praising emperors and members of their families, they prepared the atmosphere of unrestrained panegyrics and cult of worship characteristic of Byzantine court ceremonial.

Facial modeling gradually ceased to interest portrait painters. The spiritual powers of man, which were especially acutely felt in the age when Christianity conquered the hearts of the pagans, seemed cramped in the rigid forms of marble and bronze. The awareness of this deep conflict of the era, the impossibility of expressing feelings in plastic materials, gave artistic monuments of the 4th century. something tragic.

Widely opened in portraits of the 4th century. eyes, looking sometimes sadly and imperiously, sometimes inquiringly and anxiously, warmed the cold, ossified masses of stone and bronze with human feelings. Portrait painters’ material less and less often became warm marble, which was translucent from the surface; more and more often they chose basalt or porphyry to depict faces, which were less similar to the qualities of the human body.

CONCLUSION

From everything considered, it is clear that sculpture developed within the framework of its time, i.e. it drew very heavily on its predecessors, as well as on the Greek. During the heyday of the Roman Empire, each emperor brought something new, something of his own, to art, and along with art, sculpture changed accordingly.

Christian sculpture is replacing ancient sculpture; to replace the more or less unified Greco-Roman sculpture, widespread within the Roman Empire, provincial sculptures, with revived local traditions, already close to the “barbarian” ones replacing them. A new era in the history of world culture begins, in which Roman and Greco-Roman sculpture is included only as one of the components.

In European art, ancient Roman works often served as original standards, which were imitated by architects, sculptors, glassblowers and ceramists. The priceless artistic heritage of ancient Rome lives on as a school of classical excellence for modern art.

LITERATURE

1. Vlasov V. Portrait of Antonin Pius. - Art, 1968, No. 6

2. Voshchina A.I. Ancient art, M., 1962.

3. Voshchinina A.I. Roman portrait. L., 1974

4. Dobroklonsky M.V., Chubova A.P., History of art of foreign countries, M., 1981

5. Sokolov G.I. Antique Black Sea region. L., 1973

6. Sokolov G.I. The Art of Ancient Rome, M., 1985.

7. Sokolov G.I. Art of the East and Antiquity. M., 1977

8. Shtaerman E.M. Crisis of the 3rd century in the Roman Empire - Question. Stories, 1977, No. 5

The culture of Ancient Rome existed for more than 12 centuries and had its own unique values. The art of Ancient Rome glorified the veneration of the gods, love of the Fatherland, and soldier's honor. Many reports have been prepared on Ancient Rome, which tell about its achievements.

Culture of Ancient Rome

Scientists divide the history of ancient Roman culture into three periods:

• Tsarsky (8th-6th centuries BC)
• Republican (6th-1st centuries BC)
• Imperial (1st century BC - 5th century AD)

Tsarsky is considered a primitive period in terms of cultural development, however, it was then that the Romans developed their own alphabet.

The artistic culture of the Romans was similar to the Hellenic, but had its own characteristic features. For example, the sculpture of Ancient Rome acquired emotions. On the faces of the characters, Roman sculptors began to convey the state of mind. There were especially numerous sculptures of contemporaries - Caesar, Crassus, various gods, and ordinary citizens.

During the times of Ancient Rome, such a literary concept as a “novel” first appeared. Among the poets who wrote comedies, the most famous was Lucilius, who wrote poems on everyday topics. His favorite topic was ridiculing the obsession with achieving various riches.

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The Roman Livius Andronicus, who worked as a tragic actor, knew Greek. He managed to translate Homer's Odyssey into Latin. Probably, under the impression of the work, Virgil will soon write his “Aeneid” about the Trojan Aeneas, who became the distant ancestor of all Romans.

Rice. 1. The Rape of the Sabine Women.

Philosophy has achieved extraordinary development. The following philosophical movements were formed: Roman Stoicism, whose task was to achieve spiritual and moral ideals, and Neoplatonism, the essence of which was the development of the highest spiritual point of the human soul and the achievement of ecstasy.

In Rome, the ancient scientist Ptolemy created a geocentric system of the world. He also owns numerous works on mathematics and geography.

The music of Ancient Rome copied the Greek. Musicians, actors and sculptors were invited from Hellas. The odes of Horace and Ovid were popular. Over time, musical performances acquired a spectacular character, accompanied by theatrical performances or gladiatorial fights.

A letter from the Roman poet Martial has been preserved, in which he claims that if he becomes a music teacher, he will be guaranteed a comfortable old age. This suggests that musicians were in great demand in Rome.

Fine art in Rome was utilitarian in nature. It was presented by the Romans as a way to fill and organize living space. It, like architecture, was carried out in the form of monumentality and grandeur.

To summarize, we note that Roman culture can be considered a successor to Greek, however, the Romans introduced and improved a lot in it. In other words, the student has surpassed the teacher.

Rice. 2. Construction of a Roman road.

In architecture, the Romans built their buildings to last for centuries. The Baths of Caracalla are a striking example of gigantism in construction. Architects used such techniques as the use of palaestras, peristyle courtyards, and gardens. The baths were equipped with sophisticated technical equipment.

Majestic Roman structures include roads that are still in use today, the famous defensive ramparts of Trajan and Hadrian, aqueducts and, of course, the Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum).

Rice. 3. Colosseum.

What have we learned?

Speaking briefly about the culture of Ancient Rome, we note that created with a militaristic and majestic orientation, created for centuries, laid the foundation for the entire future European culture, it left its mark on the development of civilization and aroused admiration among descendants.

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