Roman Art and architecture

August 24, 2013
Circus Maximus
The Romans developed or improved their art by copying the art from the Greeks for the statues.

Statues were made from clay or marble. Metal was sometimes added to the statues so that they had added strenght. Statues were well made, were nude and they were made of gods or important leaders which were recognised . The fact that the statues had important people meant that they had to be done as well as possible since it was honouring their gods.

Paintings and mosaics were important too as they were used to advertise or to show everyday life scenes. These were made in local colours which were found in the stone, plants and any other source of colour. one example of this is in the Roman town of Pompeii. These paintings usualy showed scenes of everyday life in the countryside.

Mosaics are said to have come from the city of Babylon and that since the Romans found great beauty decided to copy it, adding it to buildings etc. There are different styles of mosaics and there is a name for each style. These names are opus sectile which is a name given to mosaics made with geometric shapes of stone put in a certain way to make a shape of the desired look. There is also opus tessellatum which are like dice. Square in shape and are all of the same shape so these were used mostly on floors. There is a more complex styles which is called Opus vermiculatum where the square stones are of varying sizes. Mosaics are usually made up of tiny stones which are painted. When they are placed in a certain way they make scenes from everyday life like paintings or photos do now.

The Romans also engraved gems and used them as seals, to mark official documents to prove that they were by certain people so that no one could falsify the document. They engraved the background so that the character stood out of the ring.
Source: www.main-vision.com
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