Parts:Whole

The Romans were one of the largest empires in the world who "focused on the city as its basic constituent element." (Roth 247) The source of the entire Roman empire was the founding of one city, Rome, and this is what they kept closest to their hearts, and valued "a sense of the importance of matters at hand, a propensity for austerity conservatism, and a deep respect for duty and tradition." (Roth 249) Ever expanding, the Romans were ever on the lookout for enemy attacks from outside barbarians, and "military encampments in turn became the basis of countless town plans throughout the empire." (Roth 253) Built around the major cross roadway, the cities developed on a grid pattern structure, unlike the Greeks whose cities tended to be more organic. In drawing we sketched our T.A.s to have a source as well as a series of scale figures to look to when drawing people in our vignettes. We are also being assigned perspective drawings of the building we took thumbnails on, and found different artist perspective sources to make our own unique drawings.
Pantheon

The Romans picked and choosed what they liked about the cultures that they conquered, but were determined to make it their own. Out of all the civilizations they encountered across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, "two in particular were instrumental in shaping the arts of the Romans--the Etruscans and the Greeks." (Blakemore 45) The Romans looked to these prototypes to develop their own archetypes such because "the focus on urban life and civic activities required the development of new building types in Roman architecture, buildings that enclosed space for the use of the public." (Roth 255) They built the Colosseum, which was a new amphitheater built without using the surrounding environment, and used the greek columns not for post and lintel construction but merely as surface decoration, the Romans preferred to institute the arch. But the Pantheon can best sum up the archetype of Roman Architecture. Its hybrid corinthian columns, the only decorative side facing the street, the use of concrete to create these vast, magnificent dome. Unlike the Greeks the Romans weren't striving for architectural perfection, "the emphasis increasingly was on experimentation and on pushing stone and concrete to their structural and plastic limits." (Roth 271) Concrete was the number one choice and it was used in almost all their buildings, although often veneered in other materials.

Colosseum Orders

There were five orders of columns throughout time: Tuscan, Dorian, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The columns go from simple to more complicated. The Tuscan was an Etruscan prototype, while the Corinthian and Composite are a later hybrid of the previous orders. The Romans also mixed orders, something the Greeks would never do. The Colosseum has Doric on the first floor, Ionic on the second, and Corinthian on the third to show a "passage of time."

The Greeks and Romans were heavily influenced by the things that surround them. The atmosphere of Greek architecture "can be described as sculptural masses set in balanced contrast to the landscape, Roman architecture...is an architecture of space, enclosed internal space and outdoor space, on a grand scale" (Roth 247) Each city had a forum, a large open space surrounded by important buildings. These buildings always had the side facing the street much more highly decorated then the other three. The Romans built these opulent buildings for the public to distract them from the politics that were going on, for they held services open to everyone such as baths, combat matches, and theatre. The entourage of the city was of "free bread and circuses." Away from the city, the atmosphere was much different. Instead of things being out in the open, most villas were based around a courtyard, which would hide chores and servants to give the appearance that things went on effortlessly in their home. Due to this level of privacy, "the orientation of the domus was inward; few windows were incorporated on the first floor." (Blakemore 49) In our drawing classes we are now encompassing the entourage of the building we are assigned in our thumbnails to capture a moment, which was expanded on from learning to draw people moving naturally in their surroundings..


Because more time was spent inside, "the Romans gave far more attention to the interior than did the Greeks, whose architectural focus was the exterior, viewed as sculpture...concrete was also responsible for the alteration of interior spaces." (Blakemore 51) The inside of your home showed how much money and power you had, your hierarchy was determined by the level of extravagance in your home. Lavished in detail and expensive materials, "while the Greeks were concerned with refining types where form and proportion were of major import, the Romans focused on ostentatious display, often through extravagant ornamentation." (Blakemore 46) In drafting line weight is really important, the hierarchy of darkness shows what is closest and what is further away. Our thumbnails are a low rung in our series of drawings, we start with these small vague sketches and move up to large, detailed perspectives of our buildings.

SUMMARY

The Greeks and Etruscans had perfected their prototypes of temples, amphitheaters, etc, into model archetypes. When the Romans came in and conquered these civilizations, they used these sources to mold what they saw the best of both worlds into their own unique hybrids. These hybrids focused on ornamentation, often mixing the greek orders and the entourage of amazing buildings were used to distract the public and show Roman power and hierarchy.