Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Roman Verism

Romans acquired several aspects of the Greeks and Etruscans among others. The Romans also changed the stories and names of the Greek Gods and made them their own. Even though most of the thoughts Romans had were not their own, they still had a love for art and history. Preserving their way of life and keeping records of things that had happened were important to them. While the Greeks gave their people a “god like” look and giving them immortality in sculptures and paintings, the Romans gave their people more of a realistic feel to portray how they really looked in life from their wrinkles and lines to the clothes that they wore. Since some of the portraits were used in funeral rites they wanted the portraits to look just like the person they were of. The Romans were thinkers, not doers, and believed in thinking before doing so they would not have to work harder at something. Since the Roman’s economy was based on merchants selling items, much like it is today, there were a lot of common people. Portraits and paintings display these people in all their glory in a more realistic feel.

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