#Roman art

[ancientcharm]

Roman Glass Cups (3rd Century AD)

[uncleclaudius]

2 silver cups, part of the so-called Boscoreale treasure, buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

[lionofchaeronea]

Mummy portrait (wax encaustic on sycamore wood) of a girl, from the Fayum region of Egypt. Artist unknown; ca. 120-150 CE (reign of Hadrian or Antoninus Pius). Now in the Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.

[blueiskewl]

Roman Glass Bowl 1st century B.C. The J. Paul Getty Museum.

[the-cricket-chirps]

Bronze statuette of a dog

Roman

2nd-3rd century CE

[howamidrivinginlimbo]

The ancient city of Pompeii, Italy

On the first photo is the house of Paquius Proculus. On the last photo is the fullonica of Stephanus, a laundry worker who used the house as his workshop.

[a-sculpture-a-day]

Menelaus Carrying the Body of Patroclus or Ajax Carrying the Body of Achilles, 1st century AD, Roman copy after a Hellenestic bronze (ca. 200-150 BC), with modern restorations, marble, Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence.

[metanoias-substack]

When you think of ancient Greece or the Roman Empire, visions of white togas, ivory temples and sand-coloured amphitheatres likely come to mind.

If so, you might be in for a surprise.

Because this off-white and eggshell-dominated palette, which inspired the pristine surfaces of Renaissance sculptures and the blank facades of Neoclassical buildings, is… a lie.

We now know the ancient world was steeped in colour. It was, perhaps, a tad too colourful for our modern sensibilities — even borderline garish at times.

Click here to learn why generations of scholars and artists believed in a monochrome Classical Antiquity and see historically accurate reconstructions of ancient statues and buildings in all their glorious peacockery.

[arjuna-vallabha]

Medusa from Ipogeo dei Cristalli, naples, IT

[oliverscarlin]

Head from a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Alexander Severus (222-235 AD) from Ryakia, Archaeologica Museum, Dion

[paiawon]

villa of livia's garden room fresco, from palazzo massimo

known as ad gallinas albas (of the white hen) because of pliny the elder's tale in his naturalis historia, recounting the myth of livia, newly bethroted to octavian augustus, having a white hen holding a laurel branch in its beak dropped into her lap by an eagle, interpreted as an omen of good fortune.

full view on tiktok

[ancientcharm]

Roman gilt silver bowls with impressive reliefs (1st century AD)

I love how in ancient Rome anything, even a bowl, was a work of art

[thesilicontribesman]

Victoria Road Roman Pavement from Corinium Museum, Cirencester.

Part of a much larger pavement; twelve octagonal panels would have existed but only three survive today.

[lionofchaeronea]

Mosaic of sea creatures (the so-called "Fish Catalog") from the House of the Geometric Mosaics (VIII.2.16) at Pompeii. Artist unknown; ca. 100 BCE. Now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. Photo credit: Massimo Finizio.

[blueiskewl]

Roman Gold Ring w/ Carnelian Intaglio, Leaning Cupid Imperial period, ca. 1st to 3rd century CE

[carnageandculture]

Mosaic from Stabiae Villa San Marco in glass tesserae depicting a statue of a gloved boxer on a pedestal wearing a wreath, 1st century AD, Naples National Archaeological Museum