The most famous sculptures in Rome, which are definitely worth seeing. Sculpture of ancient Rome - photo and description What discoveries did the Romans make in sculpture

Historians of ancient Roman art, as a rule, associated its development only with the changes of imperial dynasties. Therefore, it is important to determine the boundaries of its formation, flourishing and crisis in the development of Roman art, taking into account changes in artistic and stylistic forms in their connection with socio-economic, historical, religious, religious, and everyday factors. If we outline the main stages in the history of ancient Roman art, then in general terms they can be represented as ancient (VIII - V centuries BC) and republican (V century BC - I century BC) .) epochs.

The heyday of Roman art falls on the I-II centuries. n. e. Within the framework of this stage, the stylistic features of the monuments make it possible to distinguish between the early period: the time of Augustus, the first period: the years of the reign of Julio-Claudian and Flavius; second: the time of Trajan and early Hadrian; late period: the time of the late Hadrian and the last Antonines. From the end of the reign of Septimius Severus, the crisis of Roman art begins.

Having begun to conquer the world, the Romans got acquainted with new ways of decorating houses and temples. Roman sculpture continued the traditions of the Hellenic masters. They, like the Greeks, could not imagine the design of their home, city, squares and temples without it.

But in the works of the ancient Romans, unlike the Greeks, symbolism and allegory prevailed. The plastic images of the Hellenes among the Romans gave way to picturesque ones, in which the illusory nature of space and forms prevailed.

According to legend, the first sculptors in Rome appeared under Tarquinius Proud, that is, during the period of the most ancient era. In ancient Rome, sculpture was limited primarily to historical relief and portraiture.

In Rome, a copper image was first made by Ceres (the goddess of fertility and agriculture) at the beginning of the 5th century. BC e. From the images of the gods, it spread to a variety of statues and reproductions of people.

Images of people were usually made only for some brilliant deed worthy of perpetuation, at first for victory in sacred competitions, especially in Olympia, where it was customary to dedicate the statues of all the winners, and with a triple victory - statues with a reproduction of their appearance, which are called iconic by Pliny the Elder. Natural science about art. Moscow - 1994. p. 57.

From the 4th century BC e. begin to erect statues of Roman magistrates and private individuals. Mass production of statues did not contribute to the creation of truly artistic works.

Masters not only conveyed individual characteristics in sculptural images, but made it possible to feel the tension of the harsh era of wars of conquest, civil unrest, uninterrupted anxieties and unrest. In the portraits, the sculptor's attention was drawn to the beauty of the volumes, the strength of the skeleton, and the backbone of the plastic image.

In the years of August I - II centuries. portrait painters paid less attention to the unique features of the face, smoothed out individual originality, emphasizing in it something common, characteristic of everyone, likening one subject to another, according to the type pleasing to the emperor. A typical standard was created. The dominant aesthetic and conceptual idea that permeated the Roman sculpture of this time was the idea of the greatness of Rome, the power of imperial power.

At this time, more than before, women's and children's portraits were created, which were rare before. These were images of the wife and daughter of the princeps. The heirs to the throne appeared in marble and bronze busts and statues of boys. Many wealthy Romans installed such statues in their homes to emphasize their disposition to the ruling family.

Also, from the time of the “divine Augustus”, images of chariots appeared with statues of victors harnessed by six horses or elephants by Pliny the Elder. Natural science about art. Moscow - 1994. p. 58.

At the time of the Julio-Claudians and the Flavians, monumental sculpture strove for concreteness. Masters even gave the deities the individual features of the emperor.

The style of imperial portraits was also imitated by private ones. Generals, wealthy freedmen, usurers tried to resemble the rulers in everything; sculptors gave pride to the landing of heads, and decisiveness to turns, without softening the sharp, not always attractive features of the individual appearance.

The heyday of Roman art falls on the reign of the Antonines, Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (117-138).

In the portraits of this period, two stages can be distinguished: Trayan's, characterized by an inclination towards republican principles, and Adrian's, in the plasticity of which there is more adherence to Greek models. Classicism, even under Hadrian, was only a mask under which the proper Roman attitude to form developed. The emperors acted in the guise of generals chained in armor, in the pose of sacrificial priests, in the form of naked gods, heroes or warriors.

Also, the idea of the greatness of Rome was embodied in various sculptural forms, primarily in the form of relief compositions depicting scenes of military campaigns of emperors, popular myths, where gods and heroes, the patrons of Rome, acted. Most outstanding monuments such a relief was the frieze of Trajan's column and the column of Marcus Aurelius Kumanetsky K. History of culture Ancient Greece and Rome: Per. from the floor - M.: Higher school, 1990. p. 290.

The late heyday of Roman art, which lasted until the end of the 2nd century, was characterized by the extinction of pathos and pomposity in artistic forms. Masters of that era used various, often expensive materials for portraits: gold and silver, rock crystal, and glass.

Since that time, the main thing for the masters was a realistic portrait. The development of the Roman individual portrait was influenced by the custom of removing wax masks from the dead. The masters sought a portrait resemblance to the original - the statue was supposed to glorify this person and his descendants, so it was important that the depicted face was not confused with someone else.

The plastic realism of the Roman masters reached its peak in the 1st century BC. BC BC, giving rise to such masterpieces as marble portraits of Pompey and Caesar. The triumphant Roman realism is based on the perfect Hellenic technique, which made it possible to express in facial features many shades of the hero's character, his virtues and vices. In Pompeii, in his frozen wide fleshy face with a short upturned nose, narrow eyes and deep and long wrinkles on a low forehead, the artist sought to reflect not the momentary mood of the hero, but his inherent characteristic properties: ambition and even vanity, strength and at that at the same time, some indecision, a tendency to hesitate Kumanetsky K. History of culture of Ancient Greece and Rome: Per. from the floor - M.: Higher school, 1990. p. 264.

In the round sculpture, an official direction is formed, which from different angles are portraits of the emperor, his family, ancestors, gods and heroes patronizing him; most of them are made in the traditions of classicism. Sometimes the portraits showed features of genuine realism. Along with the traditional plots of gods and emperors, the number of images of ordinary people increased.

Two stages can be distinguished in the development of late Roman art. The first is the art of the end of the principate (3rd century) and the second is the art of the era of domination (from the beginning of the reign of Diocletian to the fall of the Roman Empire).

From the end of the 3rd century BC e., thanks to the conquests, Greek sculpture begins to have a great influence on Roman sculpture. When plundering Greek cities, the Romans capture a large number of sculptures; there is a demand for their copies. In Rome, a school of neo-Attic sculpture arose, which produced these copies. On the soil of Italy, the original religious significance of archaic images was forgotten. Kobylina M. M. The role of tradition in Greek art. With. thirty.

An abundant influx of Greek masterpieces and mass copying retarded the flourishing of their own Roman sculpture.

In the works of sculpture of the era of the dominant (IV century). Pagan and Christian subjects coexisted. Artists turned to the image of not only mythological, but also Christian heroes. Continuing what began in the III century. praising the emperors and members of their families, they prepared the atmosphere of unbridled panegyrics and the cult of worship, characteristic of the Byzantine court ceremonial. Face modeling gradually ceased to occupy portrait painters. The material of portrait painters became less and less warm and translucent from the surface of marble, more and more often they chose to depict faces less similar to the qualities human body basalt or porphyry.

1. INTRODUCTION

2. HOW THE FIRST SCULPTURES WERE BORN

3. SCULPTURE OF THE REPUBLIC PERIOD

4. SCULPTURE OF THE EMPIRE PERIOD

5. CONCLUSION

6. LIST OF USED LITERATURE

7. APPS

1. INTRODUCTION

Roman sculpture was much different from Greek. The Greeks very often depicted the Gods in the form of statues, and the Romans tried to give the image of a man: his appearance. They made busts and huge statues to their full height. In the II century. BC. the forum was so cluttered with bronze statues that a special decision was issued, according to which many of them were removed.

The purpose of my essay is: a description of the sculptures - the origin and sculpture in different periods of Rome (republican and imperial).

2. HOW THE FIRST SCULPTURES WERE BORN

The development of the Roman individual portrait was influenced by the custom of removing wax masks from the dead, which were then kept in the main room of the Roman house. These masks were taken out of the house during solemn funerals, and the more such masks there were, the more noble the family was considered. When sculpting, the craftsmen, apparently, widely used these wax masks. The emergence and development of the Roman realistic portrait was influenced by the Etruscan tradition, which was guided by the Etruscan masters who worked for Roman customers.

From the end of the 3rd century BC. wonderful Greek sculpture begins to exert a powerful influence on Roman sculpture. When plundering Greek cities, the Romans seize a large number of sculptures that delight even the practical and conservative Romans. A flood of Greek statues literally poured into Rome. For example, one of the Roman commanders brought to Rome after his campaign 285 bronze and 230 marble sculptures, another carried 250 carts with Greek statues in triumph. Greek statues are exhibited everywhere: in the forum, in temples, baths, villas, in city houses. Despite the abundance of originals taken out of Greece, there is a great demand for copies from the most famous statues. A large number of Greek sculptors migrated to Rome, who copied the originals of famous masters. An abundant influx of Greek masterpieces and mass copying retarded the flourishing of Roman sculpture itself. Only in the field of realistic portraiture did the Romans, who used the Etruscan tradition, contribute to the development of sculpture and created some excellent works (the Capitoline she-wolf, Brutus, Orator, busts of Cicero and Caesar). Under the influence of Greek art, the Roman portrait begins to lose the features of naturalism characteristic of the Etruscan school, and acquires the features of some generalization, i.e. is truly realistic.

3. SCULPTURE OF THE REPUBLIC PERIOD

In funeral processions, relatives carried the masks of their ancestors, it seemed that all the elders of the family were participating in the funeral. Noble Romans, being proud of their origin, ordered their statues with portraits of their ancestors to sculptors (Fig. 63). Very few early republican sculptural portraits have survived. Masters of the 1st c. BC, while working on a portrait, they exactly followed nature, often, probably already on a dead face, without changing anything, preserving all the small details. Magnificent portrait of a usurer from Pompeii. The character of the cunning and evil person who did not know sympathy for people.

The conquest of Greece and the Hellenistic states was accompanied by a grandiose robbery of Greek cities. Along with slaves, various kinds of material values were exported to Rome in large quantities, Greek statues and paintings. So the works of Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippus and many other great Greek masters were transported to Rome.

4. SCULPTURE OF THE EMPIRE PERIOD

In well-known images, Octavian Augustus is depicted in the military armor of a commander. Cupid on a dolphin at his feet recalls the divine origin of Augustus (the dolphin is an attribute of Venus, which the Julius family considered their divine progenitor). The emperor's face and figure are too embellished. It is known that Augustus had large ears, sunken cheeks, a weak and stooped body. The face is devoid of signs of age. A hero, a demigod, addressing the troops is sure of their devotion. The emperor's armor depicts the gods of heaven and earth, allegorical figures denote the conquered provinces of Gaul and Spain - a narrative relief.

Augustus, although shown in ceremonial armament, is depicted barefoot, like a Greek god and hero. The statue, like the Greek one, was painted. The statue of Augustus is based on the classical sculpture of the school of Polykleitos. This statue was near the altar of the temple of Mars during the construction of his forum by Augustus.

And here is Augustus seated on the throne with the goddess of victory Nike in right hand and a rod in the left as a sign of power over the world. This is a well-known composition in the ancient world: the composition of the statue of Olympian Zeus (5th century BC) made of gold and ivory, performed by Phidias. August is half-naked, as it was customary to depict gods and heroes in Greek art.

The sculptural portrait changes over time. Since the time of Hadrian (2nd century AD), Roman sculptors have ceased to paint marble: the iris, pupil, eyebrows are now transferred with a chisel. The surface of the exposed parts of the body is polished to a bright sheen, while the hair and clothes remain matte. On multi-figured reliefs, the coloring continued to be preserved.

In numerous portraits of emperors, their wives, members of their families and individuals, portrait resemblance, individual features of facial structure and hairstyles are always strictly observed. But all portraits also have common features: this is an expression of sad reflection, self-absorption, sometimes sadness. The ideas of the official philosophy of Stoicism were imbued with pessimism and disappointment in earthly goods. This is read in the face of Marcus Aurelius in his portrait statue (equestrian statue of the 160s - 170s AD).

It was considered a special honor to capture the emperor, commander or other political figure on a horse (the horse was an ancient symbol of the sun). The fate of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius is interesting in that, taken in the Middle Ages for the image of Emperor Constantine, revered by the Christian church as a saint, it was not destroyed as a pagan one, was carefully preserved and became a model for equestrian statues of the Renaissance.

Dreamy melancholy is full of the image of Commodus, represented in the form of Hercules (AD 190, ill. 64), although such an expression does not at all correspond to the rough and cruel character of this last ruler from the Antonine dynasty. He has a lion's skin on his shoulders, a club in his right hand, magic apples in his left, restoring youth.

Of special brilliance in the 2nd century. reached relief. Reliefs adorned the forum of Trajan and the famous memorial column (ill. 61). A column with a Doric type capital stands on a plinth with an Ionic base framed by a laurel wreath. The top of the column was crowned with a gilded bronze statue of the emperor, and his ashes were buried in a golden urn in the base of the column. The reliefs on the column make 23 turns and reach 200 m in length. The relief of Trajan's column accurately tells about all the details of the campaigns of the Roman troops on the Danube in 101-102 and 105-106. against the ducks.

The composition of the entire relief belongs to one author, but there were many performers, all the masters went through the school of Greek, more precisely, Hellenistic art, but in different directions, which is especially noticeable in the interpretation of the figures and heads of the Dacians. The entire multi-figure frieze (more than 2000 figures) is subordinated to one idea: to demonstrate the strength, organization, endurance and discipline of the Roman army - the winner. Trajan has been depicted 90 times. The Dacians are characterized by courageous, brave, but poorly organized barbarians. The images of the Dacians turned out to be more expressive than the images of the Romans, their emotions openly come out.

The relief was colorfully painted, the details were gilded; it looked like a bright picturesque tape, full of lively dynamic pictures. In the last third of the century, in the reliefs of the column of Marcus Aurelius, the features of a change in style, its "barbarization" are already clearly visible. This process was intensively developed in the 3rd-4th centuries.

Only strong-willed, energetic, harsh rulers could keep power in their hands during the onset period of crisis and the collapse of the empire. Portraits depicting mild sadness, melancholy give way not to the depiction of any mood, but to the disclosure of character. Such, for example, is the portrait of Philip the Arabian (3rd century AD). This ruler killed his predecessor and, relying on the troops loyal to him, came to power. The outstanding sculptor conveyed the gloomy expression on the face of Philip the Arabian, his vigorously closed lips, the weathered skin of a soldier. The portrait reveals courage and strength, as well as suspicion and distrust of others. Equally expressive is the portrait of the Emperor Caracalla.

The triumph of the Christian church was accompanied by the destruction of many monuments of ancient sculpture.

5. CONCLUSION

sculpture roman statue ceres

The first bronze sculpture was a statue of the goddess of fertility Ceres, cast at the beginning of the 5th century. BC. From the 4th century BC. they begin to erect statues of Roman magistrates and even private individuals. Many Romans sought to place statues of themselves or their ancestors in the forum. For the Romans, the most important thing in the statue was the portrait resemblance to the original. The statue was supposed to glorify this person, his descendants, and therefore it was important that the depicted face was not confused with someone else.

In numerous portraits of emperors, their wives, members of their families and individuals, portrait resemblance, individual features of facial structure and hairstyles are always strictly observed.

It was considered a special honor to capture the emperor, military leader or other political figure on horseback. The conquest of Greece and the Hellenistic states was accompanied by a grandiose robbery of Greek cities. Along with slaves, various kinds of material values were exported to Rome in large quantities, Greek statues and paintings. So the works of Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippus and many other great Greek masters were transported to Rome.

6. LIST OF USED LITERATURE

1. Tutorial in cultural studies, publishing house of the Russian Economic Academy named after G.V. Plekhanov, Moscow, 1994.

2. Life and history in antiquity / Ed. G.S. Knabe. M., 1988.

3. History ancient rome/ Ed. IN AND. Kuzitsin. M., 1982.

4. Kebe G.S. Ancient Rome - history and modernity. M., 1986.

5. Culture of Ancient Rome / Ed. E.S. Golubtsov. M., 1986. Vol. 1 and 2.

6. Truhit I.11. Politics and politics of the "golden age" of the Roman Republic. M., 1986.

7. Shtaerman EM. Social foundations of the religion of Ancient Rome. M., 1987.

The ancient Romans loved to decorate their cities with sculptures. In Rome at the beginning of the 4th c. AD there were about 4 thousand bronze statues, including 22 large equestrian monuments, of which only the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (the Roman emperor who ruled from 161 to 180) has survived. (A copy of the statue stands on the Capitol, and the original is kept in the Capitoline Museum.) There were a lot of marble statues. Sculptures and statues were placed on tombstones, they decorated the private houses of Roman citizens, streets, squares and temples the eternal city. At the Roman Forum there were statues of emperors, generals, famous orators and other noble citizens. In the Colosseum alone, 160 statues of emperors and Roman gods were installed in its 240 arches!

One of the ancient Roman statues of the 1st century, installed on the Capitol at the base of the Michelangelo stairs in front of the Palace of the Senators (the current residence of the mayor of Rome).
01.

Roman sculpture is not only a full-length depiction of gods and emperors. The ancient Romans achieved great skill in portraiture, the development of realism which was facilitated by the fact that the ancient Romans removed wax masks from the faces of the dead. This custom has existed for over two thousand years. Among the ancient Romans, the production of death masks was associated with a funeral ceremony, when in a funeral procession, hired artists put on the masks of the deceased ancestors of a noble and wealthy deceased, thus emphasizing the nobility of an aristocratic family, thus seeing him off on his last journey. The masks were kept at the home altar. The roots of such a funeral cult were taken by the Romans from the Etruscans, where the portrait was also extremely developed.
02.

The ancient Romans also achieved great art in bas-reliefs, most of which were on sarcophagi, which realistically depicted not only scenes of military battles, but also everyday life, for example, weddings.

03.
Vatican. Belverdere courtyard.

Bas-relief on the triumphal arch of Constantine.
04.

Trajan's Column.
In 106, Emperor Trajan defeated Dacia (modern Romania, turning it into a Roman province. In commemoration of this victory, Trajan's Forum was built in 112, in the middle of which stands Trajan's Column, 30 meters high, for about two thousand years.
The entire column is wrapped in a spiral sculptural bas-relief with episodes of the war with the Dacians. The length of the developed relief is about 200 meters. This is a real realistic story about the war of the Romans with the Dacians and Sarmatians. The bas-relief depicts about 2,500 figures!
05.

Column of Marcus Aurelius(Colonna di Marco Aurelio)
The column was erected in 193 in memory of the Marcomannic War of Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 AD), Trajan's Column served as the prototype of the column.
The height of the column is 29.6 m, its pedestal - 10 m. The total height of the monument was 41.95 m, but 3 meters of its base after the restoration of 1589 were below the ground. The trunk of the column consists, according to various sources, of 27 or 28 blocks of Karar marble 3.7 meters in diameter.
The relief of the column of Marcus Aurelius differs markedly from the relief of the column of Trajan in greater expressiveness. The play of light and shadow is much more pronounced on it, since the stone carving is deeper, the heads of the figures are slightly enlarged so that the facial expressions can be more accurately conveyed. At the same time, there is a decrease in the level of detailing of weapons and clothing.
06.

Like Trajan's column, this column is hollow, inside there is a spiral staircase with 190-200 steps leading to the top, where a sculpture of Marcus Aurelius was installed in antiquity. The staircase is illuminated through small slits, which are clearly visible in the pictures here.
In the Middle Ages, climbing a ladder to the top of a column was so popular that the right to charge an entrance fee was put up for auction every year.
07.

The ancient Greeks admired the beauty of the human body. They valued everything beautiful, and believed that the main thing in a person is the harmony of the external appearance and internal qualities. This was reflected in their classical sculpture: in the statues of the Olympian gods and heroes, depicted with ideal bodily forms.

Sculptures of Ancient Greece and Rome

The best period in the creation of ancient Greek sculptural masterpieces is considered to be the 6th-5th centuries. BC. The works of art were created according to the principle of symmetry, the poses of the statues were uncomplicated, and the face radiated a joyful smile. Later, during the era of classicism, sculptors created amazing statues in more diverse forms and poses.
In ancient Greece, there were many schools of plastic arts. In the classical period, the most famous was the school of sculpture in. The greatest sculptor of this time, Phidias, is the author of the sculptural masterpieces of the Parthenon. In the era of Hellenism, other centers of plastic art began to appear - Rhodes, Alexandria and Pergamum. The most famous sculptors of that period are Polydorus, Athenodorus, Agesander, Chares. Agesander created the famous "Aphrodite of Milos". Chares is the author of one of the seven "wonders of the world" - a huge statue of the "Colossus of Rhodes".
Ancient Roman sculpture is only an imitation and continuation of Greek art. All sculptors in ancient Rome were Greeks. The Roman style differs from the Greek in greater rudeness, coldness and realism in images.

Sculptors of ancient Rome

The history of Rome has preserved a small number of names of famous sculptors. But, at the same time, there are a lot of statues in the city, some of which were brought from and. In the ancient Roman period, artists - painters and sculptors, were equated with artisans, their work was considered humiliating. At this time, a sculptural portrait appears, depicting a specific person, not a deity. One of the most famous statues of Octavian

Monuments of Roman culture II-I centuries. BC e. not very numerous. This is, for example, the so-called "Brut", made of bronze. The main streets of the city of Rome in the late Republican period were decorated with magnificent marble statues, mostly copies of Greek masters. Thanks to this, the works of famous Greek sculptors have come down to us: Myron, Polyclegus, Praxiteles, Lysippus.
From the end of the 3rd century BC. wonderful Greek sculpture begins to exert a powerful influence on Roman sculpture. When plundering Greek cities, the Romans seize a large number of sculptures that delight even the practical and conservative Romans.
Roman sculpture was much different from Greek. The Greeks very often depicted the Gods in the form of statues, and the Romans tried to give the image of a man: his appearance. They made busts and huge statues to their full height. In the II century. BC. the forum was so cluttered with bronze statues that a special decision was issued, according to which many of them were removed.

According to legend, the first sculptures in Rome appeared under Tarquinius Proud, who decorated the roof of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol built by him with clay statues according to the Etruscan custom. In sculpture, the Romans were far behind the Greeks, although in their portraits there is individuality and an attempt to convey a specific image (as opposed to idealized Greek statues). At the same time, the Roman sculpture of the Republican period is characterized by a certain simplification and angularity of forms. The first bronze sculpture was a statue of the goddess of fertility Ceres, cast at the beginning of the 5th century. BC. From the 4th century BC. they begin to erect statues of Roman magistrates and even private individuals. Many Romans sought to place statues of themselves or their ancestors in the forum. In the II century. BC e. the forum was so cluttered with bronze statues that a special decision was issued, according to which many of them were removed. Bronze statues, as a rule, were cast in the early era by Etruscan masters, and starting from the 2nd century. BC. - Greek sculptors. The mass production of statues did not contribute to the creation of good works, and the Romans did not aspire to this. For them, the most important thing in the statue was a portrait resemblance to the original. The statue was supposed to glorify this person, his descendants, and therefore it was important that the depicted face was not confused with someone else. Monuments of Roman culture II-I centuries. BC e. not very numerous. This is, for example, the so-called "Brut", made of bronze. The main streets of the city of Rome in the late Republican period were decorated with magnificent marble statues, mostly copies of Greek masters.
The development of the Roman individual portrait was influenced by the custom of removing wax masks from the dead, which were then kept in the main room of the Roman house. These masks were taken out of the house during solemn funerals, and the more such masks there were, the more noble the family was considered. When sculpting, the craftsmen, apparently, widely used these wax masks. The emergence and development of the Roman realistic portrait was influenced by the Etruscan tradition, which was guided by the Etruscan masters who worked for Roman customers.
From the end of the 3rd century BC. on Roman sculpture wonderful Greek sculpture begins to exert a powerful influence. When plundering Greek cities, the Romans seize a large number of sculptures that delight even the practical and conservative Romans. A flood of Greek statues literally poured into Rome. For example, one of the Roman commanders brought to Rome after his campaign 285 bronze and 230 marble sculptures, another carried 250 carts with Greek statues in triumph. Greek statues are exhibited everywhere: in the forum, in temples, baths, villas, in city houses. Despite the abundance of originals taken out of Greece, there is a great demand for copies from the most famous statues. A large number of Greek sculptors migrated to Rome, who copied the originals of famous masters. An abundant influx of Greek masterpieces and mass copying retarded the flourishing of Roman sculpture itself. Only in the field of realistic portraiture did the Romans, who used the Etruscan tradition, contribute to the development of sculpture and created some excellent works (the Capitoline she-wolf, Brutus, Orator, busts of Cicero and Caesar). Under the influence of Greek art, the Roman portrait begins to lose the features of naturalism characteristic of the Etruscan school, and acquires the features of some generalization, i.e. is truly realistic.

Initially, the Romans completely imitated Greek sculpture, considering it the height of perfection, often making copies of the surviving Greek statues they liked the most (thanks to which we can judge the existing originals). But if the Greeks sculpted gods and mythological heroes, then the Romans have sculptural portraits of specific people. The Roman sculptural portrait is considered an outstanding achievement of ancient culture. Its creation was influenced by the custom of the times of the republic to remove a plaster mask from the face of the deceased.
In funeral processions, relatives carried the masks of their ancestors, it seemed that all the elders of the family were participating in the funeral. Noble Romans, proud of their origin, ordered their statues with portraits of their ancestors to sculptors. Very few early republican sculptural portraits have survived. Masters of the 1st c. BC, while working on a portrait, they exactly followed nature, often, probably already on a dead face, without changing anything, preserving all the small details. Magnificent portrait of a usurer from Pompeii. The character of a cunning and evil person who did not know sympathy for people is truthfully conveyed.

With the establishment of the empire, one of the main themes in Roman art is the glorification of the emperor. The first emperor Octavian Augustus himself and his assistants carefully supported those trends in literature and art that corresponded to the spirit of the official ideology. The glorification of the "divine Augustus", the glorification of the Roman world, the idealization of antiquity become the main motives for the work of Roman poets and artists. The majestic style of Phidias, the ideal athletic beauty of the statues of Polykleitos were best suited to express new ideas. The sculptural images of this period differ significantly from the sculptural portraits of the Republican period.
In well-known images, Octavian Augustus is depicted in the military armor of a commander. Cupid on a dolphin at his feet recalls the divine origin of Augustus (the dolphin is an attribute of Venus, which the Julius family considered their divine progenitor). The emperor's face and figure are too embellished. It is known that Augustus had large ears, sunken cheeks, a weak and stooped body. The face is devoid of signs of age. A hero, a demigod, addressing the troops is sure of their devotion. The emperor's armor depicts the gods of heaven and earth, allegorical figures denote the conquered provinces of Gaul and Spain - a narrative relief.
Augustus, although shown in ceremonial armament, is depicted barefoot, like a Greek god and hero. The statue, like the Greek one, was painted. The statue of Augustus is based on the classical sculpture of the school of Polykleitos. This statue was near the altar of the temple of Mars during the construction of his forum by Augustus. And here is Augustus seated on the throne with the goddess of victory Nike in his right hand and a rod in his left as a sign of power over the world. This is a well-known composition in the ancient world: the composition of the statue of Olympian Zeus (5th century BC) made of gold and ivory, performed by Phidias. August is half-naked, as it was customary to depict gods and heroes in Greek art.
The sculptural portrait changes over time. Since the time of Hadrian (2nd century AD), Roman sculptors have ceased to paint marble: the iris, pupil, eyebrows are now transferred with a chisel. The surface of the exposed parts of the body is polished to a bright sheen, while the hair and clothes remain matte. On multi-figured reliefs, the coloring continued to be preserved.
In numerous portraits of emperors, their wives, members of their families and individuals, portrait resemblance, individual features of facial structure and hairstyles are always strictly observed. But all portraits also have common features: this is an expression of sad reflection, self-absorption, sometimes sadness. The ideas of the official philosophy of Stoicism were imbued with pessimism and disappointment in earthly goods. This is read in the face of Marcus Aurelius in his portrait statue (equestrian statue of the 160s - 170s AD).
It was considered a special honor to capture the emperor, commander or other political figure on a horse (the horse was an ancient symbol of the sun). The fate of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius is interesting in that, taken in the Middle Ages for the image of Emperor Constantine, revered by the Christian church as a saint, it was not destroyed as a pagan one, was carefully preserved and became a model for equestrian statues of the Renaissance.
Dreamy melancholy is full of the image of Commodus, represented as Hercules (AD 190), although such an expression does not at all correspond to the rough and cruel character of this last ruler of the Antonine dynasty. He has a lion's skin on his shoulders, a club in his right hand, magic apples in his left, restoring youth.
Of special brilliance in the 2nd century. reached relief. Reliefs decorated the forum of Trajan and the famous memorial column. A column with a Doric type capital stands on a plinth with an Ionic base framed by a laurel wreath. The top of the column was crowned with a gilded bronze statue of the emperor, and his ashes were buried in a golden urn in the base of the column. The reliefs on the column make 23 turns and reach 200 m in length. The relief of Trajan's column accurately tells about all the details of the campaigns of the Roman troops on the Danube in 101-102 and 105-106. against the ducks.
The composition of the entire relief belongs to one author, but there were many performers, all the masters went through the school of Greek, more precisely, Hellenistic art, but in different directions, which is especially noticeable in the interpretation of the figures and heads of the Dacians. The entire multi-figure frieze (more than 2000 figures) is subordinated to one idea: to demonstrate the strength, organization, endurance and discipline of the Roman army - the winner. Trajan has been depicted 90 times. The Dacians are characterized by courageous, brave, but poorly organized barbarians. The images of the Dacians turned out to be more expressive than the images of the Romans, their emotions openly come out.
The relief was colorfully painted, the details were gilded; it looked like a bright picturesque tape, full of lively dynamic pictures. In the last third of the century, in the reliefs of the column of Marcus Aurelius, the features of a change in style, its "barbarization" are already clearly visible. This process was intensively developed in the 3rd-4th centuries.
Only strong-willed, energetic, harsh rulers could keep power in their hands during the onset period of crisis and the collapse of the empire. Portraits depicting mild sadness, melancholy give way not to the depiction of any mood, but to the disclosure of character. Such, for example, is the portrait of Philip the Arabian (3rd century AD). This ruler killed his predecessor and, relying on the troops loyal to him, came to power. The outstanding sculptor conveyed the gloomy expression on the face of Philip the Arabian, his vigorously closed lips, the weathered skin of a soldier. The portrait reveals courage and strength, as well as suspicion and distrust of others. Equally expressive is the portrait of the Emperor Caracalla.
The triumph of the Christian church was accompanied by the destruction of many monuments of ancient sculpture.

Initially, the Romans completely imitated Greek sculpture, considering it to be the height of perfection, often making copies from the surviving Greek statues they liked the most. But still, Roman sculptures were much different from Greek ones. The Greeks very often depicted the Gods in the form of statues, and the Romans tried to convey the image of a person: his appearance. They made busts and huge statues to their full height. In the II century. BC e. the forum was so cluttered with bronze statues that a special decision was issued, according to which many of them were removed.
The first bronze sculpture was a statue of the goddess of fertility Ceres, cast at the beginning of the 5th century. BC. From the 4th century BC. they begin to erect statues of Roman magistrates and even private individuals. Many Romans sought to place statues of themselves or their ancestors in the forum. For the Romans, the most important thing in the statue was the portrait resemblance to the original. The statue was supposed to glorify this person, his descendants, and therefore it was important that the depicted face was not confused with someone else. In numerous portraits of emperors, their wives, members of their families and individuals, portrait resemblance, individual features of facial structure and hairstyles are always strictly observed.
The conquest of Greece and the Hellenistic states was accompanied by a grandiose robbery of Greek cities. Along with slaves, various kinds of material values were exported to Rome in large quantities, Greek statues and paintings. So the works of Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippus and many other great Greek masters were transported to Rome.