PrimeLuck ArtsAncient Roman art
Roman art mixed Greek influence with Roman practical skill. It is known for realistic portraits, engineering in concrete and the spread of mosaic and wall painting across the empire.
- Period
- Ancient civilizations
- Approximate dates
- c. 509 BCE to 476 CE (Western Empire)
- Place of origin
- Rome and the Roman Empire
- Key regions
- Italy, North Africa, the Near East, Gaul, Britain
- Art forms
- Portraiture, architecture, mosaic, wall painting, relief
- Major artists
- Apollodorus of Damascus (architect); many makers unnamed
Visual introduction
The Pantheon
Unknown; rebuilt under Emperor Hadrian · c. 126 CE · Concrete, brick and marble · Rome
Its huge unreinforced concrete dome shows Roman engineering and design.
Image: Photo: Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre)
Unknown · Completed 80 CE · Concrete, travertine and brick · Rome
Shows how arches and vaults let Romans build large public buildings.
Augustus of Prima Porta
Unknown · Early 1st century CE · Marble · Vatican Museums
An idealised imperial portrait used to present the emperor's power and authority.
Historical context
Rome grew from a city to an empire that stretched around the Mediterranean. Roman patrons admired Greek art and commissioned many copies, but they added their own aims: portraits of real people, records of military victories, and public buildings that showed the power of the state.
Roman concrete allowed large vaults and domes. Roads, aqueducts, baths and amphitheatres carried Roman design far from Italy, including North Africa.
Visual characteristics
Portraiture: realistic faces that include age and character, not only ideal beauty.
Architecture: arches, vaults and domes built with concrete and brick, often faced with stone or marble.
Painting and mosaic: wall paintings, such as those preserved at Pompeii, and floors made of small stone pieces called tesserae, found across the empire.
Related movements
Sources and further reading
Further reading: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Tate, Art Terms. Smarthistory.