Art History B U2L3 Greek Influence on Roman Sculpture

Greek Influence on Roman Sculpture In the late 4th century BCE, the Romans initiated a policy of expansion that, in 300 years' time, made them the masters of the Mediterranean world. Impressed by the wealth, culture, and beauty of the Greek cities, victorious military generals brought back art in all media to Rome. Soon, educated and wealthy Romans developed a taste for works of art that emulated Greek culture. To meet this demand, Greek and Roman artists created marble and bronze copies of the famous Greek statues. Molds taken from the original sculptures were used to make plaster casts that could be shipped to workshops anywhere in the Roman Empire, where they were then replicated in marble or bronze. Artists used hollow plaster casts to produce bronze replicas. Solid plaster casts with numerous points of measurement were used for marble copies. Since copies in marble lacked the tensile strength of bronze, they required struts or supports, which were often carved in the form of tree trunks, figures, or other kinds of images. Although many Roman sculptures are purely Roman in their conception, others are carefully measured—exact copies of Greek statues or variants of Greek prototypes adapted to the liking of the Roman patron. Some Roman sculptures are an imitation of one Greek original. Others combine the image of a Greek god or athlete with a Roman portrait head. The meaning of the original Greek statue often lent beauty, importance, or a heroic quality to the person portrayed. By the end of the 2nd century, the demand for copies of Greek statues was enormous. Besides their domestic popularity, marble and bronze statuary displayed in niches were decorating the numerous public monuments, theaters, and public baths throughout the Roman Empire. Because most ancient bronze statues have been lost or were melted down to reuse the valuable metal, Roman copies in marble and bronze often provide our primary visual evidence of masterpieces by famous Greek sculptors.