If there was a time in all contemporary history that meant a lot to know the current society as we know it today, that era is that of the Roman Empire. This era lasted for many years, after the conquest of territories and progress in many aspects, from the structure of cities to art.
From the beginning to the end of the Roman Empire, the Romans gave great importance and value to sculpture, but also to painting, which is what we are going to talk about today. In Overstory we are going to tell you everything, from the evolution of Roman painting to the different styles or characteristics it had.
Characteristics of Roman painting
If we talk about Roman painting, we must bear in mind that it is one of the paintings with the greatest value and richness at a historical level, since it took a very important step, not only because of the styles, but also because it shows some facts in them. or events of their way of life and their society. If we analyze its characteristics, these would be some of the most important:
- Art experts believe that Roman painting was one of the main sources of inspiration for what would be known years later as modern impressionism. This is due to the set that could be seen in the paintings, which included many contrasts in texturesplus they knew how to play very well with the lights.
- If we were to look at most of the Roman paintings, we could see how the colors feel very vivid, that’s because the Romans they applied a kind of wax all over the surfacewhich helped them not only to enhance the colors, but also helped them to preserve them.
- The vast majority of his works, in addition to being treated as mere decoration, were based on historical, everyday or mythological themes. The gods were a very important aspect for them.
- When artists had to make portraits, whether real or made up, surrounded by black borders. Experts say that the Romans did this so they could stand out from the rest of the work.
- It is known to all that the romans were very inspired by the greeks, and in painting it could not be less. Not only have works that were plagiarized from Greek paintings been seen, but pieces of Greek murals were taken to be used by them.
- As a general rule, the pigments that the Romans used the most were black, white, red and yellow; although on certain occasions they also used green and blue.
- The people or figures that could be observed in the works had two characteristics that made them stand out as Roman works, and that is that in addition to used to be groupsthe figures also did not have no movement.
- If there is a technique used frequently by the Romans, that is the mosaic; that not only could be seen on the ground, but on many occasions it was replaced by paintings. Of all the techniques that were used, he highlighted the technique of “opus tessellatum”, which was based on making mosaics with such a level of detail that it simulated how paintings were made.
- The Roman works that have been found in the world have been extracted from the ruins coming from Pompeii, herculaneum,, the palatine of rome Y the necropolis of El-Fayoumin Egypt.
Roman painting styles
Within Roman painting, we found several styles, some of them have lasted better than others throughout history.
Mosaic Painting
During the process of conquest and expansion of the Roman Empire, the mosaic was the most popular type of Roman painting In fact, something of this style was found in all the works.
Mosaics were made from small pieces of glass, including ceramics known as “tiles”, which were placed on the surfaces as puzzles. They were placed on a mass of cement to produce different shades of color and texture.
Although at first it was only used on walls and ceilings, for fear of damage, over time, it was used on floors, after improving and perfecting the technique.
- Opus Vermiculatum: They were very small pieces, since they were used in the curves and in the narrowest and most difficult to access areas.
- Opus Masivum: They were used on the walls of structures.
- Opus signinum: its meaning comes from Signia, an area of Italy famous for using roof tiles and building materials. It was not only used within the Roman Empire, but also evolved and progressed to other areas of the West, where it could be seen mostly on floors.
- Opus Sectile: they were the largest pieces and many varieties in sizes could be observed. Although it also highlighted the use of different colors, geometric figures, animals and humans.
Mural painting
It stood out for the different themes and themes that were used:
- Arricio: they used lime, sand and water during the surface preparation process, and took advantage of the humidity to apply the colors.
- intonaco: here a finer mixture of marble powder, lime and water was used, to put the corresponding pigments later.
- Cool: the best known and the one that lasted in history with greater clarity, a plaster base was applied, followed by several lime ones until a last one was available that was used as a surface to draw the images.
Tempera
One of the oldest, comes from Greece and was based on the use of water and some animal fat, or the egg, which was the preferred option by the great Michelangelo. According to art experts, tempera painting is easy to find within the painting of Rome.
encaustic painting
One of the characteristics of this type of painting is the wax that they used, and that is that they gave a creamy and dense appearance to the painting and the colors. After finishing the work, a linen cloth was passed to clean the impurities, which in turn helped to preserve it better.
Evolution of Roman painting
When we talk about the evolution of Roman painting, we must understand that Roman painting comes from further back and that it has a classification that we must see in order to understand the process of change:
How has Roman painting survived to this day?
There are many works that have survived the passage of time and that allow us, today, to see what Roman painting was like. These have been some of those works.
- Aldobrandine weddings: a divine scene, which includes the goddess Venus and is currently in the Vatican.
- Mosaic of Isssos: represents a battle of Alexander the Great and is in the Archaeological Museum of Naples
- Ceres around her: also located in the Archaeological Museum of Naples