ROMANRoman artrefers to the visual arts made inAncient Romeand in the territories of theRoman Empire. Roman art includesarchitecture,painting,sculptureandmosaic work. Luxury objects inmetal-work,gem engraving,ivory carvings, andglass, are sometimes considered in modern terms to be minor forms of Roman art, although this would not necessarily have been the case for contemporaries. Sculpture was perhaps considered as the highest form of art by Romans, but figure painting was also very highly regarded. The two forms have had very contrasting rates of survival, with a very large body of sculpture surviving from about the 1st century BC onwards, though very little from before, but very little painting at all remains, and probably nothing that a contemporary would have considered to be of the highest quality.Ancient Roman potterywas not a luxury product, but a vast production of "fine wares" interra sigillatawere decorated with reliefs that reflected the latest taste, and provided a large group in society with stylish objects at what was evidently an affordable price.Roman coinswere an important means of propaganda, and have survived in enormous numbers. Other perishable forms of art have not survived at all.Painting

Pompeianpainter with painted statue and framed paintingPompeiiThe Ancient Romans lived in a highly visual society, surrounded by images: "It is difficult for us to imagine the delight which the ancients found in pictures ... halls, verandahs and bowers swarmed with painted doves, peacocks, lions, panthers, fish, cupids, shepherds, sailors, idylls, myths and fairy tales".Of the vast body of Roman painting we now have only a very few pockets of survivals, with many documented types not surviving at all, or doing so only from the very end of the period. The best known and most important pocket is the wall paintings fromPompeii,Herculaneumand other sites nearby, which show how residents of a wealthy seaside resort decorated their walls in the century or so before the fatal eruption ofMount Vesuviusin 79 AD. Asuccession of dated styleshave been defined and analysed by modern art historians beginning withAugust Mau, showing increasing elaboration and sophistication.Starting in the 3rd century AD and finishing by about 400 we have a large body of paintings from theCatacombs of Rome, by no means all Christian, showing the later continuation of the domestic decorative tradition in a version adapted - probably not greatly adapted - for use in burial chambers, in what was probably a rather humbler social milieu than the largest houses in Pompeii. Much ofNero's palace in Rome, theDomus Aurea, survived as grottos and gives us examples which we can be sure represent the very finest quality of wall-painting in its style, and which may well have represented significant innovation in style. There are a number of other parts of painted rooms surviving from Rome and elsewhere, which somewhat help to fill in the gaps of our knowledge of wall-painting. FromRoman Egyptthere are a large number of what are known asFayum mummy portraits, bust portraits on wood added to the outside ofmummiesby a Romanized middle-class; despite their very distinct local character they are probably broadly representative of Roman style in painted portraits, which are otherwise entirely lost.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. In sum, the range of samples is confined to only about 200 years out of the about 900 years of Roman history,[13]and of provincial and decorative painting. Most of this wall painting was done using the secco (dry) method, but somefrescopaintings also existed in Roman times. There is evidence from mosaics and a few inscriptions that some Roman paintings were adaptations or copies of earlier Greek works. However, adding to the confusion is the fact that inscriptions may be recording the names of immigrant Greek artists from Roman times, not from Ancient Greek originals that were copied. The Romans entirely lacked a tradition of figurative vase-painting comparable to that of the Ancient Greeks, which the Etruscans had emulated.Landscape and vistas

Boscotrecase,Pompeii. Third styleThe main innovation of Roman painting compared to Greek art was the development of landscapes, in particular incorporating techniques of perspective, though true mathematical perspective developed 1,515 years later. Surface textures, shading, and coloration are well applied but scale and spatial depth was still not rendered accurately. Some landscapes were pure scenes of nature, particularly gardens with flowers and trees, while others were architectural vistas depicting urban buildings. Other landscapes show episodes from mythology, the most famous demonstrating scenes from theOdysseyThe art of the ancient East would have known the landscape only in terms of civil or military scenes.This theory, defended byFranz Wickhoff, is debatable. It is possible to see evidence of Greek knowledge of landscape portrayal in Plato'sCritias(107b108b):... 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.Portraits

Mummy portrait of a woman with a ringlet hairstyle.Royal Museum of Scotland.Pliny complained of the declining state of Roman portrait art, "The painting of portraits which used to transmit through the ages the accurate likenesses of people, has entirely gone out Indolence has destroyed the arts. In Greece and Rome, wall painting was not considered as high art. The most prestigious form of art besides sculpture waspanel painting, i.e.temperaorencaustic paintingon wooden panels. Unfortunately, since wood is a perishable material, only a very few examples of such paintings have survived, namely theSeveran Tondofrom c. 200 AD, a very routine official portrait from some provincial government office, and the well-knownFayum mummy portraits, all from Roman Egypt, and almost certainly not of the highest contemporary quality. The portraits were attached to burial mummies at the face, from which almost all have now been detached. They usually depict a single person, showing the head, or head and upper chest, viewed frontally. The background is always monochrome, sometimes with decorative elements In terms of artistic tradition, the images clearly derive more from Greco-Roman traditions than Egyptian ones. They are remarkably realistic, though variable in artistic quality, and may indicate the similar art which was widespread elsewhere but did not survive. A few portraits painted on glass and medals from the later empire have survived, as have coin portraits, some of which are considered very realistic as well.\Gold glass

Gold glass, or gold sandwich glass, was a technique for fixing a layer ofgold leafwith a design between two fused layers of glass, developed inHellenistic glassand revived in the 3rd century. There are a very fewer larger designs, including a very fine group of portraits from the 3rd century with added paint, but the great majority of the around 500 survivals are roundels that are the cut-off bottoms of wine cups or glasses used to mark and decorate graves in theCatacombs of Romeby pressing them into the mortar. The great majority are 4th century, extending into the 5th century. Most are Christian, but many pagan and a few Jewish, and had probably originally been given as gifts on marriage, or festive occasions such as New Year. Theiriconographyhas been much studied, although artistically they are relatively unsophisticated. Their subjects are similar to the catacomb paintings, but with a difference balance including more portraiture of the deceased (usually, it is presumed). The progression to an increased number of images of saints can be seen in them. The same technique began to be used for goldtesseraefor mosaics in the mid-1st century in Rome, and by the 5th century these had become the standard background for religious mosaics.The earlier group are "among the most vivid portraits to survive from Early Christian times. They stare out at us with an extraordinary stern and melancholy intensity",and represent the best surviving indications of what high quality Roman portraiture could achieve in paint. The Gennadios medallion in theMetropolitan Museum of Artin New York, is a fine example of an Alexandrian portrait on blue glass, using a rather more complex technique and naturalistic style than most Late Roman examples, including painting onto the gold to create shading, and with the Greek inscription showing localdialectfeatures. He had perhaps been given or commissioned the piece to celebrate victory in a musical competition. One of the most famous Alexandrian-style portrait medallions, with an inscription in Egyptian Greek, was later mounted in anEarly Medievalcrux gemmatainBrescia, in the mistaken belief that it showed the pious empress andGothicqueenGalla Placidaand her children;in fact the knot in the central figure's dress may mark a devotee ofIsis. This is one of a group of 14 pieces dating to the 3rd century AD, all individualized secular portraits of high quality.It is thought that the tiny detail of pieces such as these can only have been achieved usinglenses.The later glasses from the catacombs have a level of portraiture that is rudimentary, with features, hairstyles and clothes all following stereotypical styles. Genre scenesRoman genre scenes generally depict Romans at leisure and include gambling, music and sexual encounters.Some scenes depict gods and goddesses at leisure. Triumphal paintings

Roman fresco fromBoscoreale, 4330 BC,Metropolitan Museum of ArtFrom the 3rd century BC, a specific genre known asTriumphal Paintingsappeared, 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.Josephusdescribes the painting executed on the occasion ofVespasianandTitus'ssack of Jerusalem:There was also wrought gold and ivory fastened about them all; and many resemblances of the war, and those in several ways, and variety of contrivances, affording a most lively portraiture of itself. For there was to be seen a happy country laid waste, and entire squadrons of enemies slain; while some of them ran away, and some were carried into captivity; with walls of great altitude and magnitude overthrown and ruined by machines; with the strongest fortifications taken, and the walls of most populous cities upon the tops of hills seized on, and an army pouring itself within the walls; as also every place full of slaughter, and supplications of the enemies, when they were no longer able to lift up their hands in way of opposition. Fire also sent upon temples was here represented, and houses overthrown, and falling upon their owners: rivers also, after they came out of a large and melancholy desert, ran down, not into a land cultivated, nor as drink for men, or for cattle, but through a land still on fire upon every side; for the Jews related that such a thing they had undergone during this war. Now the workmanship of these representations was so magnificent and lively in the construction of the things, that it exhibited what had been done to such as did not see it, as if they had been there really present. On the top of every one of these pageants was placed the commander of the city that was taken, and the manner wherein he was taken. These paintings have disappeared, but they likely influenced the composition of the historical reliefs carved on militarysarcophagi, theArch of Titus, andTrajan's Column. This evidence underscores the significance of landscape painting, which sometimes tended towards being perspective plans.Ranuccioalso describes the oldest painting to be found in Rome, in a tomb on theEsquiline Hill:It describes a historical scene, on a clear background, painted in four superimposed sections. Several people are identified, such Marcus Fannius and Marcus Fabius. These are larger than the other figures... In the second zone, to the left, is a city encircled withcrenellatedwalls, in front of which is a large warrior equipped with an oval buckler and a feathered helmet; near him is a man in a short tunic, armed with a spear around these two are smaller soldiers in short tunics, armed with spears...In the lower zone a battle is taking place, where a warrior with oval buckler and a feathered helmet is shown larger than the others, whose weapons allow to assume that these are probably Samnites.This episode is difficult to pinpoint. One of Ranuccio's hypotheses is that it refers to a victory of the consulFabius Maximus Rullianusduring the second war againstSamnitesin 326 BC. The presentation of the figures with sizes proportional to their importance is typically Roman, and finds itself in plebeian reliefs. This painting is in the infancy of triumphal painting, and would have been accomplished by the beginning of the 3rd century BC to decorate the tomb.

Sculpture

Section ofTrajan's Column, CE 113, with scenes from theDacian WarsEarly Roman art was influenced by the art of Greece and that of the neighbouringEtruscans, themselves greatly influenced by their Greek trading partners. An Etruscan speciality was near life size tomb effigies interracotta, usually lying on top of asarcophaguslid propped up on one elbow in the pose of a diner in that period. As the expandingRoman Republicbegan to conquer Greek territory, at first in Southern Italy and then the entire Hellenistic world except for theParthianfar east, official andpatriciansculpture became largely an extension of the Hellenistic style, from which specifically Roman elements are hard to disentangle, especially as so much Greek sculpture survives only in copies of the Roman periodBy the 2nd century BCE, "most of the sculptors working at Rome" were Greek, often enslaved in conquests such as that ofCorinth(146 BCE), and sculptors continued to be mostly Greeks, often slaves, whose names are very rarely recorded. Vast numbers of Greek statues were imported to Rome, whether as booty or the result of extortion or commerce, and temples were often decorated with re-used Greek works. A native Italian style can be seen in the tomb monuments of prosperous middle-class Romans, which very often featured portrait busts, and portraitureis arguably the main strength of Roman sculpture. There are no survivals from the tradition of masks of ancestors that were worn in processions at the funerals of the great families and otherwise displayed in the home, but many of the busts that survive must represent ancestral figures, perhaps from the large family tombs like theTomb of the Scipiosor the later mausolea outside the city. The famous bronze head supposedly ofLucius Junius Brutusis very variously dated, but taken as a very rare survival of Italic style under the Republic, in the preferred medium of bronze.Similarly stern and forceful heads are seen in the coins of the consuls, and in the Imperial period coins as well as busts sent around the Empire to be placed in thebasilicasof provincial cities were the main visual form of imperial propaganda; evenLondiniumhad a near-colossal statue ofNero, though far smaller than the 30 metre highColossus of Neroin Rome, now lost. TheTomb of Eurysaces the Baker, a successfulfreedman(c. 50-20 BC) has afriezethat is an unusually large example of the "plebeian" style. Imperial portraiture was initially Hellenized and highly idealized, as in theBlacas Cameoand other portraits ofAugustus.

Arch of Constantine, 315:Hadrianlion-hunting (left) and sacrificing (right), above a section of the Constantinian frieze, showing the contrast of styles.The Romans did not generally attempt to compete with free-standing Greek works of heroic exploits from history or mythology, but from early on produced historical works inrelief, culminating in the greatRoman triumphal columnswith continuous narrative reliefs winding around them, of which those commemoratingTrajan(113 CE) andMarcus Aurelius(by 193) survive in Rome, where theAra Pacis("Altar of Peace", 13 BCE) represents the official Greco-Roman style at its most classical and refined. Among other major examples are the earlier re-used reliefs on theArch of Constantineand the base of theColumn of Antoninus Pius(161), Campana reliefswere cheaper pottery versions of marble reliefs and the taste for relief was from the imperial period expanded to the sarcophagus.All forms of luxury small sculpture continued to be patronized, and quality could be extremely high, as in the silverWarren Cup, glassLycurgus Cup, and large cameos like theGemma Augustea,Gonzaga Cameoand the "Great Cameo of France".For a much wider section of the population, moulded relief decoration ofpottery vesselsand small figurines were produced in great quantity and often considerable quality. After moving through a late 2nd century "baroque" phase,in the 3rd century, Roman art largely abandoned, or simply became unable to produce, sculpture in the classical tradition, a change whose causes remain much discussed. Even the most important imperial monuments now showed stumpy, large-eyed figures in a harsh frontal style, in simple compositions emphasizing power at the expense of grace. The contrast is famously illustrated in theArch of Constantineof 315 in Rome, which combines sections in the new style withroundelsin the earlier full Greco-Roman style taken from elsewhere, and theFour Tetrarchs(c. 305) from the new capital ofConstantinople, now inVenice.Ernst Kitzingerfound in both monuments the same "stubby proportions, angular movements, an ordering of parts through symmetry and the hallmark of the style wherever it appears consists of an emphatic hardness, heaviness and angularity in short, an almost complete rejection of the classical tradition".This revolution in style shortly preceded the period in whichChristianitywas adopted by the Roman state and the great majority of the people, leading to the end of large religious sculpture, with large statues now only used for emperors, as in the famous fragments of a colossalacrolithicstatue of Constantine, and the 4th or 5th centuryColossus of Barletta. However rich Christians continued to commission reliefs for sarcophagi, as in theSarcophagus of Junius Bassus, and very small sculpture, especially in ivory, was continued by Christians, building on the style of theconsular diptych.Narrative reliefsWhile Greek sculptors traditionally illustrated military exploits through the use of mythological allegory, the Romans used a more documentary style. Roman reliefs of battle scenes, like those on theColumn of Trajan, were created for the glorification of Roman might, but also provide first-hand representation of military costumes and military equipment. Trajan's column records the variousDacian warsconducted byTrajanin what is modern dayRomania. It is the foremost example of Roman historical relief and one of the great artistic treasures of the ancient world. This unprecedented achievement, over 650 foot of spiraling length, presents not just realistically rendered individuals (over 2,500 of them), but landscapes, animals, ships, and other elements in a continuous visual history in effect an ancient precursor of a documentary movie. It survived destruction when it was adapted as a base for Christian sculpture.During the Christian era after 300 AD, the decoration of door panels and sarcophagi continued but full-sized sculpture died out and did not appear to be an important element in early churches.Minor arts

TheBlacas CameoofAugustus, from his last years or soon afterThe Romans inherited a tradition of art in a wide range of the so-called "minor arts" ordecorative art. Most of these flourished most impressively at the luxury level, but large numbers ofterracottafigurines, both religious and secular, continued to be produced cheaply, as well as some largerCampana reliefsin terracotta.Roman art did not use vase-painting in the way of the ancient Greeks, but vessels inAncient Roman potterywere often stylishly decorated in moulded relief.Producers of the millions of smalloil lampssold seem to have relied on attractive decoration to beat competitors and every subject of Roman art except landscape and portraiture is found on them in miniature.[Luxury arts included fancyRoman glassin a great range of techniques, many smaller types of which were probably affordable to a good proportion of the Roman public. This was certainly not the case for the most extravagant types of glass, such as thecage cupsordiatreta, of which theLycurgus Cupin theBritish Museumis a near-unique figurative example in glass that changes colour when seen with light passing through it. The AugustanPortland Vaseis the masterpiece of Romancameo glass,[50]and imitated the style of the largeengraved gems(Blacas Cameo,Gemma Augustea,Great Cameo of France) and otherhardstone carvingsthat were also most popular around this time.Mosaicwas a minor art, though often on a very large scale, until the very end of the period, when late-4th-century Christians began to use it for large religious images on walls in their new large churches; in earlier Roman art mosaic was mainly used for floors, curved ceilings, and inside and outside walls that were going to get wet. The famous copy of a Hellenistic painting in theAlexander Mosaicin Naples was originally placed in a floor inPompeii; this is much higher quality work than most Roman mosaic, though very fine panels, often ofstill lifesubjects in small ormicromosaictesseraehave also survived. The Romans distinguished between normalopus tessellatumwithtesseraemostly over 4mm across, which was laid down on site, and fineropus vermiculatumfor small panels, which is thought to have been produced offsite in a workshop, and brought to the site as a finished panel. The latter was a Hellenistic genre which is found in Italy between about 100 BC and 100 AD. Most signed mosaics have Greek names, suggesting the artists remained mostly Greek, though probably often slaves trained up in workshops. The late 2nd century BCNile mosaic of Palestrinais a very large example of the popular genre ofNilotic landscape, while the 4th centuryGladiator Mosaicin Rome shows several large figures in combat.Metalwork was highly developed, and clearly an essential part of the homes of the rich, who dined off silver, while often drinking from glass, and had elaborate cast fittings on their furniture, jewellery, and small figurines. A number of importanthoardsfound in the last 200 years, mostly from the more violent edges of the late empire, have given us a much clearer idea of Roman silver plate. TheMildenhall TreasureandHoxne Hoardare both fromEast Angliain England.

Coins and medals

Hadrian, with "RESTITVTORI ACHAIAE" on the reverse, celebrating his spending inAchaia(Greece), and showing the quality of ordinary bronze coins that were used by the mass population, hence the wear on higher areas.FewRoman coinsreach the artistic peaks of the best Greek coins, but they survive in vast numbers and their iconography and inscriptions form a crucial source for the study of Roman history, and the development of imperial iconography, as well as containing many fine examples of portraiture. They penetrated to the rural population of the whole Empire and beyond, with barbarians on the fringes of the Empiire making their own copies. In the Empire medallions in precious metals began to be produced in small editions as imperial gifts, which are similar to coins, though larger and usually finer in execution. Images in coins initially followed Greek styles, with gods and symbols, but in the death throes of the Republic firstPompeyand thenJulius Caesarappeared on coins, and portraits of the emperor or members of his family became standard on imperial coinage. The inscriptions were used for propaganda, and in the later Empire the army joined the emperor as the beneficiary.

ArchitecturMain article:Roman architecture

Aqueduct of Segovia.

Roman theatre inMridaIt was in the area of architecture that Roman art produced its greatest innovations. Because the Roman Empire extended over so great of an area and included so many urbanized areas, Roman engineers developed methods for city building on a grand scale, including the use ofconcrete. Massive buildings like thePantheonand theColosseumcould never have been constructed with previous materials and methods. Though concrete had been invented a thousand years earlier in the Near East, the Romans extended its use from fortifications to their most impressive buildings and monuments, capitalizing on the materials strength and low costThe concrete core was covered with a plaster, brick, stone, or marble veneer, and decorative polychrome and gold-gilded sculpture was often added to produce a dazzling effect of power and wealth.Because of these methods, Roman architecture is legendary for the durability of its construction; with many buildings still standing, and some still in use, mostly buildings converted to churches during the Christian era. Many ruins, however, have been stripped of their marble veneer and are left with their concrete core exposed, thus appearing somewhat reduced in size and grandeur from their original appearance, such as with the Basilica of Constantine.During the Republican era, Roman architecture combined Greek and Etruscan elements, and produced innovations such as the round temple and the curved arch.As Roman power grew in the early empire, the first emperors inaugurated wholesale leveling of slums to build grand palaces on the Palatine Hill and nearby areas, which required advances in engineering methods and large scale design. Roman buildings were then built in the commercial, political, and social grouping known as a forum, that of Julius Caesar being the first and several added later, with the Forum Romanum being the most famous. The greatest arena in the Roman world, theColosseum, was completed around 80 AD. at the far end of that forum. It held over 50,000 spectators, had retractable fabric coverings for shade, and could stage massive spectacles including huge gladiatorial contests and mock naval battles. This masterpiece of Roman architecture epitomizes Roman engineering efficiency and incorporates all three architectural orders Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.Less celebrated but just as important if not more so for most Roman citizens, was the five-storyinsulaor city block, the Roman equivalent of an apartment building, which housed tens of thousands of Romans.It was during the reign of Trajan (98117 AD.) and Hadrian (117138 AD.) that the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent and that Rome itself was at the peak of its artistic glory achieved through massive building programs of monuments, meeting houses, gardens, aqueducts, baths, palaces, pavilions, sarcophagi, and temples.The Roman use of thearch, the use ofconcretebuilding methods, the use of thedomeall permitted construction of vaulted ceilings and enabled the building of these public spaces and complexes, including the palaces,public bathsandbasilicasof the "Golden Age" of the empire. Outstanding examples of dome construction include thePantheon, theBaths of Diocletian, and theBaths of Caracalla. The Pantheon (dedicated to all the planetary gods) is the best preserved temple of ancient times with an intact ceiling featuring an open "eye" in the center. The height of the ceiling exactly equals the interior diameter of the building, creating an enclosure that could contain giant sphere.These grand buildings later served as inspirational models for architects of the Italian Renaissance, such asBrunelleschi. By the age of Constantine (306-337 AD), the last great building programs in Rome took place, including the erection of theArch of Constantinebuilt near theColosseum, which recycled some stone work from the forum nearby, to produce an eclectic mix of styles.Roman aqueducts, also based on the arch, were commonplace in the empire and essential transporters of water to large urban areas. Their standing masonry remains are especially impressive, such as thePont du Gard(featuring three tiers of arches) and theaqueduct of Segovia, serving as mute testimony to their quality of their design and construction.

GREEKSculpture and Painting19th centuryThe School of MunichMain articles:Munich SchoolandGreek academic art of the 19th century

istoria(Allegory of History) byNikolaos Gyzis(1892).

Georgios Jakobides,Children's Concert.Modern Greek art began to be developed around the time ofRomanticism. Greek artists absorbed many elements from their European colleagues, resulting in the culmination of the distinctive style of Greek Romantic art, inspired by revolutionary ideals as well as the country's geography and history. After centuries of Ottoman rule, few opportunities for an education in the arts existed in the newly independent Greece, so studying abroad was imperative for artists.Munich, as an important international center for the arts at that time, was the place where the majority of the Greek artists of the 19th century chose to study. Later on, they would return to Greece and pass on their knowledge. Some of them remained in Munich, the so-calledAthens on theIsar. Both academic and personal bonds developed between early Greek painters and Munich artistry giving birth to the Greek "Munich School" of painting.Nikolaos Gysiswas an important teacher and artist at theMunich Academyand he soon became a leading figure among Greek artists. Academism, realism, genre painting, upper middle classportraiture,still lifeandlandscape painting, often representingimpressionistfeatures, will be replaced in the end of the 19th century bySymbolism,Jugendstil,Art Nouveau, which are mainly traced in the work of Nikolaos Gysis,Aristeasand others.Early 20th centurymodernismis also represented by significant Greek artists in Munich. Many of these Munich School artists chose subjects such as everyday Greek life, local customs, and living conditions. Several important painters emerged at this time.Theodoros Vryzakisspecialized in historical painting and especially inspired by the 1821Greek War of Independence.Nikiphoros Lytrasconcentrated on realistic depictions of Greek life.Georgios Jakobidesdevoted his attention to infants and children and he would laterbecome the first Director of the newNational Gallery of Athens.Georgios Roiloswas another leading painter of the period closely associated with the Munich School, especially in his early career.Konstantinos Volanakiswas inspired mostly by the Greek sea.[3]Other artists associated with theSchool of MunichwereSymeon Sabbides,Yannoulis Chalepas,Leonidas Drosis, as well as quite a few modernist artists who studied in Munich, which includedTheofrastos Triantafyllidis,Jorgos Busianis, and alsoGiorgio de Chirico.[2]Notable sculptors of the newGreek KingdomwereLeonidas Drosis(his major work was the extensive neo-classical architectural ornament at theAcademy of Athens,Lazaros Sochos,Georgios Vitalis,Dimitrios Filippotis,Ioannis Kossos,Yannoulis Chalepas,Georgios BonanosandLazaros Fytalis.PotteryMain article:Pottery of ancient GreeceThe Ancient Greeks made pottery for everyday use, not for display; the trophies won at games, such as thePanathenaic Amphorae(wine decanters), are the exception. Most surviving pottery consists of drinking vessels such asamphorae,kraters(bowls for mixing wine and water),hydria(water jars), libation bowls, jugs and cups. Painted funeral urns have also been found. Miniatures were also produced in large numbers, mainly for use as offerings at temples. In the Hellenistic period a wider range of pottery was produced, but most of it is of little artistic importance.At the end of the Geometric phase, the Orientalizing phase of vase painting saw the abstract geometric designs replaced by the more rounded, realistic forms of Eastern motifs, such as the lotus, palmette, lion, and sphinx. Ornaments increased in amount and intricacy.In earlier periods even quite small Greek cities produced pottery for their own locale. These varied widely in style and standards. Distinctive pottery that ranks as art was produced on some of theAegeanislands, inCrete, and in the wealthy Greek colonies ofsouthern Italy and Sicily. By the later Archaic and early Classical period, however, the two great commercial powers,CorinthandAthens, came to dominate. Their pottery was exported all over the Greek world, driving out the local varieties. Pots from Corinth and Athens are found as far afield asSpainandUkraine, and are so common inItalythat they were first collected in the 18th-century as "Etruscan vases". Many of these pots are mass-produced products of low quality. In fact, by the 5th century BC, pottery had become an industry and pottery painting ceased to be an important art form.The history of Ancient Greek pottery is divided stylistically into five periods:Monumental sculptureThose who practiced the visual arts, including sculpture, were held in low regard in ancient Greece, viewed as mere manual laborers.Plutarch(Life of Pericles, II) said "we admire the work of art but despise the maker of it"; this was a common view in the ancient world. Ancient Greek art today is often categorised in three epochs: "Archaic", "Classical" and "Hellenistic".Materials, formsAncient Greek sculptures were mostly made of two types of material. Stone, especiallymarbleor other high-quality limestones was used most frequently and carved by hand with metal tools. Stone sculptures could be free-standing fully carved in the round (statues), or only partially carvedreliefsstill attached to a background plaque, for example in architecturalfriezesor gravestelai.Bronze statues were of higher status, but have survived in far smaller numbers, due to the reusability of metals. They were usually made in thelost waxtechnique.Chryselephantine, or gold-and-ivory, statues often adorned temples and were regarded as the highest form of sculpture, but virtually none have survived.

Late Archaic terracotta statue of Zeus and Ganymede,Archaeological Museum of OlympiaTerracotta was occasionally employed, for large statuary. Few examples of this survived, at least partially due to the fragility of such statues. The best known exception to this is a statue ofZeuscarryingGanymedefound atOlympia, executed around 470 BC. In this case, the terracotta is painted.Archaic

Kleobis and Biton,kouroiof the Archaic period, c. 580BC, held at theDelphi Archaeological MuseumInspired by the monumental stone sculpture ofEgyptandMesopotamia, during the Archaic period the Greeks began again to carve in stone. Free-standing figures share the solidity and frontal stance characteristic of Eastern models, but their forms are more dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture, as for example theLady of Auxerreand Torso of Hera (Early Archaic period, c. 660-580 BC, both in the Louvre, Paris). After about 575 BC, figures, such as these, both male and female, wore the so-called archaic smile. This expression, which has no specific appropriateness to the person or situation depicted, may have been a device to give the figures a distinctive human characteristic.Three types of figures prevailedthe standing nude youth (kouros), the standing draped girl (kore), and the seated woman. All emphasize and generalize the essential features of the human figure and show an increasingly accurate comprehension of human anatomy. The youths were either sepulchral or votive statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), an early work; theStrangford ApollofromAnafi(British Museum, London), a much later work; and the Anavyssos Kouros (National Archaeological Museum of Athens). More of the musculature and skeletal structure is visible in this statue than in earlier works. The standing, draped girls have a wide range of expression, as in the sculptures in theAcropolis Museum of Athens. Their drapery is carved and painted with the delicacy and meticulousness common in the details of sculpture of this period.The Greeks thus decided very early on that the human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavour. Seeing their gods as having human form, there was no distinction between the sacred and the secular in artthe human body was both secular and sacred. A malenudecould just as easily beApolloorHeraclesas that year's Olympic boxing champion. In the Archaic Period the most important sculptural form was thekouros(pluralkouroi), the standing male nude (See for exampleBiton and Kleobis). Thekore(pluralkorai), or standing clothed female figure, was also common, but since Greek society did not permit the public display of female nudity until the 4th century BC, the kore is considered to be of less importance in the development of sculpture.As with pottery, the Greeks did not produce sculpture merely for artistic display. Statues were commissioned either by aristocratic individuals or by the state, and used for public memorials, as offerings to temples,oraclesand sanctuaries (as is frequently shown by inscriptions on the statues), or as markers for graves. Statues in the Archaic period were not all intended to represent specific individuals. They were depictions of an idealbeauty, piety, honor or sacrifice. These were always depictions of young men, ranging in age from adolescence to early maturity, even when placed on the graves of (presumably) elderly citizens.Kouroiwere all stylistically similar. Graduations in the social stature of the person commissioning the statue were indicated by size rather than artistic innovations.Architecture

The restoredStoa of Attalos, AthensArchitecture (building executed to an aesthetically considered design) was extinct in Greece from the end of theMycenaeanperiod (about1200 BC) until the 7th century, when urban life and prosperity recovered to a point where public building could be undertaken. But since most Greek buildings in the Archaic and Early Classical periods were made of wood or mud-brick, nothing remains of them except a few ground-plans, and there are almost no written sources on early architecture or descriptions of buildings. Most of our knowledge of Greek architecture comes from the few surviving buildings of the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods (since Roman architecture heavily copied Greek), and from late written sources such asVitruvius(1st century AD). This means that there is a strong bias towards temples, the only buildings which survive in any number.The standard format of Greek public buildings is well known from surviving examples such as theParthenon, and even more so from Roman buildings built partly on the Greek model, such as thePantheonin Rome. The building was usually either a cube or a rectangle made fromlimestone, of which Greece has an abundance, and which was cut into large blocks and dressed. Marble was an expensive building material in Greece: high quality marble came only from Mt Pentelus inAtticaand from a few islands such asParos, and its transportation in large blocks was difficult. It was used mainly for sculptural decoration, not structurally, except in the very grandest buildings of the Classical period such as theParthenon.There were two main styles (or "orders") of Greek architecture, theDoricand theIonic. These names were used by the Greeks themselves, and reflected their belief that the styles descended from the Dorian and Ionian Greeks of the Dark Ages, but this is unlikely to be true. The Doric style was used in mainland Greece and spread from there to the Greek colonies inItaly. The Ionic style was used in the cities of Ionia (now the west coast ofTurkey) and some of the Aegean islands. The Doric style was more formal and austere, the Ionic more relaxed and decorative. The more ornateCorinthianstyle was a later development of the Ionic. These styles are best known through the three orders of column capitals, but there are differences in most points of design and decoration between the orders. See the separate article onClassical orders.Most of the best known surviving Greek buildings, such as theParthenonand theTemple of Hephaestusin Athens, are Doric. TheErechtheum, next to the Parthenon, however, is Ionic. The Ionic order became dominant in the Hellenistic period, since its more decorative style suited the aesthetic of the period better than the more restrained Doric. Some of the best surviving Hellenistic buildings, such as theLibrary of Celsus, can be seen inTurkey, at cities such asEphesusandPergamum. But in the greatest of Hellenistic cities,AlexandriainEgypt, almost nothing survives.

Coin designMain article:Greek coinsCoins were invented inLydiain the 7th century BC, but they were first extensively used by the Greeks, and the Greeks set the canon of coin design which has been followed ever since. Coin design today still recognisably follows patterns descended from Ancient Greece. The Greeks did not see coin design as a major art form, although some, especially outside Greece itself, among the Central Asian kingdoms and in Sicilian cities keen to promote themselves, were expensively designed by leading goldsmiths, but the durability and abundance of coins have made them one of the most important sources of knowledge about Greek aesthetics.Greek coinsare, incidentally, the only art form from the ancient Greek world which can still be bought and owned by private collectors of modest means.Greek designers began the practice of putting a profile portrait on theobverseof coins. This was initially a symbolic portrait of the patron god or goddess of the city issuing the coin:AthenaforAthens,ApolloatCorinth,DemeteratThebesand so on. Later, heads of heroes of Greek mythology were used, such asHeracleson the coins ofAlexander the Great. The first human portraits on coins were those of Persian satraps inAsia Minor. Greek cities in Italy such asSyracusebegan to put the heads of real people on coins in the 4th century BC, as did the Hellenistic successors of Alexander the Great inEgypt,Syriaand elsewhere. On the reverse of their coins the Greek cities often put a symbol of the city: an owl for Athens, a dolphin for Syracuse and so on. The placing of inscriptions on coins also began in Greek times. All these customs were later continued by the Romans.PaintingThere were several interconnected traditions of painting in ancient Greece. Due to their technical differences, they underwent somewhat differentiated developments. Not all painting techniques are equally well represented in the archaeological record.Panel painting

The most respected form of art, according to authors likePlinyorPausanias, were individual, mobile paintings on wooden boards, technically described aspanel paintings. The techniques used wereencaustic(wax) painting andtempera. Such paintings normally depicted figural scenes, includingportraitsandstill-lifes; we have descriptions of many compositions. They were collected and often displayed in public spaces. Pausanias describes such exhibitions atAthensandDelphi. We know the names of many famous painters, mainly of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, from literature (see expandable list to the right).Unfortunately, due to the perishable nature of the materials used and the major upheavals at the end of antiquity, not one of the famous works of Greek panel painting has survived, nor even any of the copies that doubtlessly existed, and which give us most of our knowledge of Greek sculpture. The most important surviving Greek examples are the fairly low-qualityPitsa panelsfrom c. 530 BC, and a large group of much later Graeco-Roman archaeological survivals from the dry conditions of Egypt, theFayum mummy portraits, together with the similarSeveran Tondo.Byzantineiconsare also derived from the encaustic panel painting tradition.Wall painting

Symposiumscene in theTomb of the DiveratPaestum, c. 480 BCThe tradition of wall painting in Greece goes back at least to theMinoanandMycenaeanBronze Age, with the lavish fresco decoration of sites likeKnossos,TirynsandMycenae. It is not clear, whether there is any continuity between these antecedents and later Greek wall paintings.Wall paintings are frequently described in Pausanias, and many appear to have been produced in the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Due to the lack of architecture surviving intact, not many are preserved. The most notable examples are a monumental Archaic 7th-century BC scene ofhoplitecombat from inside a temple at Kalapodi (nearThebes), and the elaborate frescoes from the 4th-century "Grave of Phillipp" and the "Tomb of Persephone" atVerginainMacedonia,[1]sometimes suggested to be closely linked to the high-quality panel paintings mentioned above.Greek wall painting tradition is also reflected in contemporary grave decorations in theGreek coloniesinItaly, e.g. the famousTomb of the DiveratPaestum. Some scholars suggest that the celebrated Roman frescoes at sites likePompeiiare the direct descendants of Greek tradition, and that some of them copy famous panel paintings.