At the time of Roman’s occupation of almost 2 million square miles of land, there was a plethora of different cultures to influence Roman Art. However, there wasn’t much time for Roman citizens to focus on anything remotely related to art, as they were too engrossed in the military or trading services.
The first art forms started to appear around 200 B.C. There were many different forms of art to create a general form of Roman art. The Romans made paintings, mosaics, sculptures, and architecture. Unfortunately, many thought Roman art was derivative, although it wasn’t entirely.
There may be some truth in the fact that most Roman sculptures were strongly influenced by the Greeks. But, there was a special difference between the two. The Romans believed that replicas of art were equally as valuable as the originals, so the Romans would create valuable copies of the sculptures, add a few minor tweaks, and it became a copy.
Another difference between Roman art and Greek art was that Roman art was more realistic, while Greek art was more idealized. They liked to decorate buildings that were deemed important by hanging paintings, and in rare occasions, Roman’s famous Mosaics. The private buildings were lavished with these impressive masterpieces, and were mostly placed as an honor of key figures in Rome.
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