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Trajanic art is the artistic production of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan from 98 to 117. In this period, Roman art further developed the innovations of the Flavian era, coming to definitively detach itself from Hellenistic influence.[citation needed]
Under Trajan, the Roman Empire reached its maximum expansion. This meant a new condition of well-being for Roman society, which, both in Rome and in the provinces, allowed the emergence of a vast middle class, capable of expressing its needs and its own taste in the artistic field.
At that time, the Roman state still had a widely shared semblance of a "presidential republic"; to justify the state of affairs at the time of Trajan, everything was focused on the observance of the laws and on consensus, cemented by solid financial security and on broad economic and commercial development.
Sculpture
Imperial portraits
Trajan receives homage from a Dacian chieftain, plaster cast from Trajan's ColumnThe "decennial" portrait of Trajan, c. 108
A new type of imperial portrait was created on the tenth anniversary of Trajan's rule, the so-called "portrait of the decennial". Seemingly devoid of emotion, this is a typical example of the realism of Roman private portraits: a simple and objective image with firm and calm features, however highlighting the authority and dignity of the subject. A merging is seen between two previously separate types of portraiture; the official, honorary, portrait, and the private, often funerary, portrait.
This attitude towards the figure of the emperor is seen in his depictions on Trajan's Column. Among the many small images, that of Trajan's conversation with one of his commanders (perhaps Lucius Licinius Sura) during the Second Dacian War stands out. With great formal simplicity, the emperor is depicted nonchalant while explaining a plan to the general, fixing him in the eyes and relaxing the palms of hands in front of him, according to an intense relationship of trust and respect between him and the subordinate, of an intelligent and virile conversation, devoid of any rhetoric or courtesy.
The reliefs of Trajan's Column produced in this period are considered not only masterpieces of Roman civilization, but of ancient art in general.[1]
Reliefs on the Trajan's Column
The spiral-shaped column covered with reliefs was an absolute novelty in ancient art and became the most avant-garde arrival point of the Roman historical relief. The artist of the column frieze had in fact fully assimilated Hellenistic (and classical) art, further developing it in the wake of the Roman historical narrative, with motifs taken from the immediacy of life.[2]
Trajan's Dacian Wars (from 101 to 102 and from 105 to 107) are narrated in the historical relief, for about two hundred continuous meters without repetition.[3] The expressive style is also new, with a very low relief, so as not to alter the architectural line of the column. It is often highlighted by a contour furrow and rich, expressive variations to effectively render the effect of the different materials (fabrics, hides, trees, armor, melts, rocks, etc.). The artist most likely had to copy a drawn model on the large marble cylinders already in place.
Certainly the relief was made even more expressive by the polychromy and the metal inserts used for the weapons. The reading of the scenes was facilitated by its location in a courtyard between the two loggias of the libraries in Trajan's Forum.
The value to the scenes on the Column is not limited to their technical aspect. The figures in Roman historical reliefs, from the painting in the Esquiline Necropolis to the reliefs of Ara Pacis, are technically impressive, but lack a certain human element that makes them relatable and compassionate. Trajan's Column, on the other hand, is full of narrative values, which make the sacrifice scenes and battles feel full of action and glory. Tragic scenes, such as mass suicides or the deportation of entire families, are represented with drama and pity. The sense of human respect for the beaten enemy is a legacy of Greek culture, which will be found up to the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius about the Sarmatians.
The production of marble sarcophagi adorned with mythological reliefs began in this era. The sarcophagi could be decorated on four or, more often, on three sides, depending on whether they were leaning against a wall (traditionally an Italian placement) or placed in the center of a sepulcher (as was traditional in Asia Minor).
Other sculptures
Trajan oversaw the installation of many sculptures. This is evident as the coins of the time depict Trajan's Forum rich in statues and reliefs.
In the Arch of Constantine, there is a long frieze from the Trajan era broken into four sections, but originally almost certainly part of a single relief. It is full of vibrant high-relief figures and is closely connected with the art of the Column. The Arch of Trajan at Benevento (from 114) depicts citizens benefiting from the subsidies of the Institutio Alimentaria, a provision taken in 103 by Trajan to provide relief for the needy children of Rome.
Photographic reconstruction of the Great Frieze of Trajan: the first part, far left: Trajan entering Rome; second part: The prisoners are pressed by a cavalry charge led by the emperor himself and followed by signifers and cornicens; third part: Conquest of a Dacian village by the cavalry and the Roman infantry pushing the prisoners; fourth part, far right: The soldiers show the severed heads of the Dacians. The casts of the sections in their original order are found at the Museum of Roman Civilization.
Architecture
Trajan's Market
Trajan's Forum was the complex that grandly completed the urban planning of the Imperial Fora, to allow the capable administrative, commercial, judicial and political functioning of the capital of the empire. The construction opened up a large public spaces complete with the Basilica Ulpia. The Forum was cut into the Quirinal Hill, and Trajan's Market was constructed to exploit the available space in an articulated way, with several levels and a complex of offices and administrative spaces.
Noteworthy was the production of arches, such as the aforementioned arch of Benevento, one celebrating the opening of the Via Traiana in 114, and the Arch of Trajan of Ancona in 115.
Painting
In Rome and in the other Italian cities, the presence of paintings from this period is very scarce. The best examples of pictorial decorations found in the Empire that date back to the time of Trajan are found in Vienne, Magdalensberg, Aquileia, Carnuntum, Aquincum, Sabaria, and Scarbantia. This indicates that the provinces were flourishing during this time as well.
Provincial art
In the last years of Trajan's reign (114 - 116), the Philopappos Monument was erected in Athens on the top of the hill in front of the Acropolis. The architecture is inspired by Syrian, Commagene, and Lycian works, with Greek influenced moldings and a frieze that shows a relationship with the historical reliefs in Rome. This demonstrates the unity and mutual cultural exchange now active between Rome and the provinces, even the most advanced ones.
In Dacia, infrastructure was built during the military campaigns, among which remains Trajan's Bridge over the Danube. This is the longest masonry bridge ever built. A large memorial was also erected for the fallen in the wars and the celebration of the final victory. This was the Tropaeum Traiani in the Romanian town of Adamclisi. It is circular, according to the Roman funeral model. The reliefs on the metopes of the frieze and the battlements are particularly interesting because they demonstrate that local workers used iconographic models from Rome.
Benevento is a city and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 metres above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and the Sabato. In 2020, Benevento has 58,418 inhabitants. It is also the seat of a Catholic archbishop.
Trajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which depicts the wars between the Romans and Dacians. Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.
The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312. Situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, the arch spans the Via Triumphalis, the route taken by victorious military leaders when they entered the city in a triumphal procession. Dedicated in 315, it is the largest Roman triumphal arch, with overall dimensions of 21 m (69 ft) high, 25.9 m (85 ft) wide and 7.4 m (24 ft) deep. It has three bays, the central one being 11.5 m (38 ft) high and 6.5 m (21 ft) wide and the laterals 7.4 m (24 ft) by 3.4 m (11 ft) each. The arch is constructed of brick-faced concrete covered in marble.
The art of Ancient Rome, and the territories of its Republic and later Empire, includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be minor forms of Roman art, although they were not considered as such at the time. Sculpture was perhaps considered as the highest form of art by Romans, but figure painting was also highly regarded. A very large body of sculpture has survived from about the 1st century BC onward, though very little from before, but very little painting remains, and probably nothing that a contemporary would have considered to be of the highest quality.
Trajan's Forum was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in ancient Rome. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus oversaw its construction.
Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli was an Italian archaeologist and art historian.
The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". At one time, this imitation was taken by art historians as indicating a narrowness of the Roman artistic imagination, but, in the late 20th century, Roman art began to be reevaluated on its own terms: some impressions of the nature of Greek sculpture may in fact be based on Roman artistry.
The Column of Marcus Aurelius is a Roman victory column in Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy. It is a Doric column featuring a spiral relief: it was built in honour of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and modeled on Trajan's Column. The Imperial Monument is dedicated to the former emperor of Rome and his war effort in the Barbarian wars of his reign as Caesar of Rome from 161-180 AD. Though there aren’t many direct sources from the time of reign of Marcus Aurelius, the monument itself can tell us a great deal about the Romans in the creation of the monument and the scenes from it. The column of Marcus Aurelius is a depiction of Roman life during the reign of Marcus Aurelius; the monument not only tells us the reason it was built but the importance this emperor had on society and the respect he had earned. Based on common understanding of Roman life and the belief that citizens felt a duty toward public service, the benevolence of Marcus Aurelius was such that this monument was erected in his memory and preserved for its grandeur and representation. The monument contains a frieze, which depicts the Northern Germanic campaigns of Marcus Aurelius’ and his war with the Barbarians. The Romans called these wars North of the Danube, Bellum Germanicum or bellum Marcomannicum. Though the monument is more likely a monument for military achievement, it’s also considered a funerary monument, since the planning and erection of the monument happened around the same time as the death of Marcus Aurelius. The monument was said to either begin at the end of the wars in 176AD and he died in 180AD, the monument finished construction in 193AD.
The Arch of Trajan is an ancient Roman triumphal arch in Benevento, southern Italy. It was erected in honour of the Emperor Trajan across the Via Appia, at the point where it enters the city.
The sarcophagus with hunting scenes, known as Mattei I, is an ancient Roman sarcophagus of the 3rd century, displayed at the palazzo Mattei in Rome. It is 1.31m high.
The Portonaccio sarcophagus is a 2nd-century ancient Roman sarcophagus found in the Portonaccio section of Rome and now held at the Museo Nazionale Romano. Dating to around 180 AD, the sarcophagus was likely used to bury a Roman general killed in the 172–175 AD German-Sarmatic campaign of Marcus Aurelius during the Marcomannic Wars. It is an example of private sculpture of art in the age of Commodus, with visible influences from the design of the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
The Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus or "Great" Ludovisi sarcophagus is an ancient Roman sarcophagus dating to around AD 250–260, found in 1621 in the Vigna Bernusconi, a tomb near the Porta Tiburtina. It is also known as the Via Tiburtina Sarcophagus, though other sarcophagi have been found there. It is known for its densely populated, anti-classical composition of "writhing and highly emotive" Romans and Goths, and is an example of the battle scenes favored in Roman art during the Crisis of the Third Century. Discovered in 1621 and named for its first modern owner, Ludovico Ludovisi, the sarcophagus is now displayed at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome, part of the National Museum of Rome as of 1901.
Roman portraiture was one of the most significant periods in the development of portrait art. The surviving portraits of individuals are almost entirely sculptures, covering a period of almost five centuries. Roman portraiture is characterised by unusual realism and the desire to convey images of nature in the high quality style often seen in ancient Roman art. Some busts even seem to show clinical signs. Several images and statues made in marble and bronze have survived in small numbers. Roman funerary art includes many portraits such as married couple funerary reliefs, which were most often made for wealthy freedmen rather than the patrician elite.
Severan art is art production by the Roman Empire under the Severan dynasty, usually taken as running from 193 to 235, through the emperors Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Heliogabalus and Alexander Severus. Official Roman art of the military anarchy which followed, ending in 253 with Gallienus, has no character of its own and so can be seen as a continuation of Severan art, and so that art can be seen as running for the whole first half of the 3rd century.
Forum of Nerva is an ancient structure in Rome, Italy, chronologically the next to the last of the Imperial fora built.
The Arch of Septimius Severus is a triumphal arch in the ruined Roman city of Leptis Magna, in present-day Libya. It was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, who was born in the city. The arch was in ruins but was pieced back together by archaeologists after its discovery in 1928.
The Funerary Monument of Lusius Storax is a temple tomb of the early Roman Imperial period, preserved in the Archaeological Museum La Civitella in Chieti. The monument consists of two reliefs, a frieze and a pediment, which are dated between AD 30 and 50 on epigraphic and stylistic grounds. The tomb's occupant, Gaius Lusius Storax, was a freedman who became a sevir Augustalis of Teate following the administrative reforms of Augustus.
Roman Republican art is the artistic production that took place in Roman territory during the period of the Republic, conventionally from 509 BC to 27 BC.
Augustan and Julio-Claudian art is the artistic production that took place in the Roman Empire under the reign of Augustus and the Julio-Claudian dynasty, lasting from 44 BC to 69 AD. At that time Roman art developed towards a serene "neoclassicism", which reflected the political aims of Augustus and the Pax Romana, aimed at building a solid and idealized image of the empire.
Flavian art is the artistic production of the Roman Empire during the Flavian dynasty from 69 to 96 AD.
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