Roman art is the art produced in Ancient Rome or in territories under its rule from the founding of Rome in the 9th or 10th century BC, through the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire periods, until the decline of the Roman Empire by the 5th century AD.

Influenced by the Etruscan civilization and Ancient Greek art, and later by the art forms of its enormous empire, Roman art included sculpture, pottery, and painting.

Development of Roman art

The development of Roman art was strongly influenced by Etruscan and Ancient Greek art. As Rome's rule on the ancient bolls grew it was influenced by other countries like Ancient Egypt and the Sassanid Empire.

Knowledge of Roman painting relies in large part on the preservation of artifacts from Pompeii and Herculanum after the eruption of Vesuvius in 79. AD. Nothing remains of the Greek paintings imported to Rome during the 4th and 5th centuries, or of the painting on wood done in Italy during that period. Pliny explicitly states (XXXV, 36) around 69-79 AD that the only true painting was painting on wood and that this had nearly disappeared by his time, to the benefit of the muralists, which was more indicative of the wealth of the owners than their artistic tastes.

Roman Painting

Roman painting provides a wide variety of themes: animals, still life, and scenes from everyday life. During the Hellenistic period, it evoked the pleasures of the countryside and represented scenes of shepherds, herds, rustic temples, rural mountainous landscapes and country houses.

Innovation of Roman painting

The main innovation of Roman painting compared to Greek art was the development of landscapes, in particular incorporating techniques of perspective. The art of the ancient East would have known the landscape only in terms of civil or military scenes. This theory, defended by Franz Wickhoff, is debatable. It is possible to see evidence of Greek knowledge of landscape portrayal in Plato's Critias (107b-108b):

"...and if we look at the portraiture of divine and of human bodies as executed by painters, in respect of the ease or difficulty with which they succeed in imitating their subjects in the opinion of onlookers, we shall notice in the first place that as regards the earth and mountains and rivers and woods and the whole of heaven, with the things that exist and move therein, we are content if a man is able to represent them with even a small degree of likeness..."

Roman Mmural Painting

Roman mural painting is generally distinguished by four periods, as originally described by the German archaeologist August Mau and dealt with in more detail at Pompeian Styles.

From the 3rd century AD, a specific genre known as Triumphal Paintings appeared, as indicated by Pliny (XXXV, 22). These were paintings which showed triumphal entries after military victories, represented episodes from the war, and conquered regions and cities. Summary maps were drawn to highlight key points of the campaign.

Roman Sculpture

Roman sculpture was heavily influenced by Greek examples, in particular their bronzes. It is only thanks to some Roman examples that we know of Greek originals which have since been lost. Another example of this is at the British Museum, where an intact 2nd century AD Roman copy of a statue of Venus is displayed, while a similar original 500 BC Greek statue at the Louvre is missing her arms.

Contrary to the belief of early archaeologists, many of their sculptures were large polychrome terra-cotta images, such as the Apollo of Veii (Villa Givlia, Rome), but the painted surface of many of them has worn away with time. Romans were nearly unique in the mixures of materials (e.g. marble and porphyry) used both for painting and sculptures themselves, largely due to cost.