Floor | Roman Art
Greco–Roman Art Gallery
As you will have surely noticed in the previous rooms of our Virtual Museum, Roman art is inconceivable without the example of—and the comparison with—Greek culture. Often it is difficult even to decide whether a certain work of art belongs more to Greek or to Roman art. This is not surprising: not only did the Romans import countless Greek works of art in the second and first centuries BCE, but they also brought with them to Italy from their wars and forays into the Greek world many Greek sculptors, craftsmen, and architects, who then continued to work for Roman clients.
In this room we show you works which make particularly clear reference to Greek models and were created either in Rome itself or at least for Roman clients. Often, they are Roman copies of famous Greek originals—almost all masterpieces of Greek art are known to us only through Roman copies. It is difficult to decide how exactly they reproduce the Greek originals, and whether, in adapting them to Roman taste, the copyists changed them in small details or perhaps to a greater extent.
