ROMAN ART

37 B.C. - 476 A.D.

Beauty and art went to work in service of the state as Rome pioneered a new militaristic spirit combined with a fascination with powerful gods.

As the focus of civilization shifted from Athens to Rome, the new realism, pioneered by the Greeks, grew with a decidedly militaristic flair. Place side-by-side, Greece’s, Kritios Boy and Rome’s, Trajan’s Column, commemorating a great general. Place Greece’s, Herakles Wrestling Antaios beside Rome’s, Marriage of Mars and Venus, and see how much the focus of a civilization had moved from citizen to god. And, yet, there is the Pantheon, the temple of all Roman gods, showing how the mysteries of gods have moved the human spirit since the days of Greece and Rome. Perhaps Rome’s most lasting contribution to art was development of Mosaics, popular through modern times.