Interpreting Ancient Rome

The Roman Forum and Ancient Roman architecture has been a source of a lot of artistic inspiration.  It was particularly popular around the 18th century, in the capriccio, or "architectural fantasy" school but it was also popular in the 16th and following centuries in the Baroque, Rococo, and other styles, and in 19th style Realism.

I've arranged them in chronological order, so it is interesting to see the developments and continuities in depictions of Ancient Rome over a three century period.  For instance, all of the paintings have people in them.  Some people are in the clothing typical of the era in which the painting was made, others are in classical attire (togas and things).  Some people are clearly wealthier people who are taking an educated interest in the ruins, perhaps thinking about the ideal state.  Some are just as clearly peasants who are performing their daily, menial chores under the shadows of a great civilization.  In most of them, the mood seems idyllic and pastoral.  A few of them, however, seem rather ominous.  The people involved seem to be recalling violences of the past, perhaps.

I think art interpretation is a very interesting (if somewhat subjective) discipline.  I am sure that lots of artists, for instance, included people in their paintings (or etchings) in order to show scale.  But it also seems likely that those artists were interpreting not only contemporary artistic forms but also the discussions of the times.  Knowing the overarching interests of the people in the era can open up a whole new world of ideas.  People weren't just painting the Roman Ruins because they were beautiful.  They also saw the Roman Republic as an ideal government, longed to return to the simplicity and purity of Roman philosophers, and recalled a golden age of universal peace and the triumph of arts and letters.  The fact that this was a highly sanitized, gilded version of life in the Roman Empire doesn't change the fact that people recalled it in this way in art, in poetry, in philosophy, and in history.

Landscape with Roman Ruins, by Paul Bril, ca. 1580

Capriccio with Ruins of the Roman Forum, by Claude Lorrai, ca. 1634

Campo Vaccino (Forum Romanum), by Claude Lorrai, ca. 1636

Cappriccio of Classical Ruins, by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1730

Architectural Capriccio, by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1730

Roman Capriccio, by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1735

Colosseum and Arch of Constantine (Rome), by Bernardo Bellotto, ca. 1742

A Capriccio of the Roman Forum, by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1741

Rome: Ruins of the Forum, Looking towards the Capitol, by Canaletto, ca. 1742 

View of the Colosseum by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1747

A View of the Roman Forum, by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1747

Ancient Roman Ruins, by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1750

Roman Ruins and Sculpture, by Giovanni Paolo Panini, ca. 1755 

Washerwomen in the Ruins of the Colosseum, by Hubert Robert, ca. 1760

Colosseum, Rome, by Hubert Robert, ca. 1790

 (All of these paintings are Wikipaintings which is really quite fun to look through.)