Roman Art Research Paper

1480 Words3 Pages

Imagine the time when Romans lived at the peak of their civilization, creating fantastic pieces of art sculpted from marble. Now picture the world around 1650 years later, when Europe was starting to turn the wheel of democracy, wanting freedom from their monarchical governments. There too, art was created to show their beliefs in wanting the common man’s reality to become everyone’s reality. The Realism period’s focus was to show the common man and celebrate the working class, as the people were starting to want democratic governments. Roman art’s purpose was to commemorate important individuals and their achievements (Henig). A specific piece of art made during the Roman period was The Return of the Body of Meleager to Kalydon, depicting …show more content…

An important difference is that, “A key aspect of Roman public art was the commemoration of important individuals, and the later Republic is a period of striking portraits of leading Romans” (Hensig). On the other hand, the Realism movement idolized the importance of the people of the working class, according to “Realism Movement, Artists and Major Works.” This shows that artists in Rome made the life and accomplishments of rulers and heroes important, but Realism artists wanted to show the opposite of that. This is because of the urging for democratic government systems in Europe, whereas people in Rome cherished the Empire. Realism art was effective in approaching a want for equality, whereas the Romans’ approach effectively did the opposite, by bringing idols into the world. Roman art seemed to wish to teach people the accomplishments of their rulers. However, Realism art, as “Realism Movement, Artists and Major Works” states, cherished, and therefore taught people the importance of the life of the lower and middle class civilians. This effectiveness worked better in Rome, however, as most of the people only had that art to view, unlike the still popular Romantic and Neoclassical art in the 1800’s. Another major difference is the people’s support of the art. Whereas, according to Martin Henig, Roman art was a sign of wealth, and thus widely needed …show more content…

The Realism movement defined that art lacked the need to follow rules, similar to present-day art. Also, Roman art is vast, diverse, and strangely familiar to the artwork of today (Henig). Thus, even Roman art, which is near two-thousand years old, has provided influence onto today’s form of art. In that sense, art, like history, repeats itself in simple and idealistic ways, showing clear similarities. The Roman and Realism art periods, and the pieces made within them, such as The Return of the Body of Meleager to Kalydon and Bare Knuckles, show clear contrasts. However, upon further examination, comparisons between each of the pieces and eras can become obvious. Whether in the glorious city of Rome in the height of their Mediterranean empire, or in a revolutionary country of Europe in the mid-1880’s, art created culture, and culture defines

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