painting, Roman

painting, Roman
In late republican times Roman collectors avidly acquired Greek ‘old master’ pictures (see art, ancient attitudes to), and contemporary painters provided new works for the market; Greek artists such as Metrodorus of Athens in the 2nd cent. bc and Iaia of Cyzicus in the 1st cent. bc were brought to, or migrated to, Rome to meet the demand. Pictures commemorating military campaigns were carried in triumphs (see triumph). But the advent of the empire saw a gradual shift of interest from portable panels to wall-paintings, a trend lamented by Pliny the Elder (Naturalis historia 35. 118).

Wall-painting on plaster is attested in tombs at Rome from an early date (a well-known fragment from the Esquiline shows historical episodes from the Samnite wars; and became increasingly normal in private houses. At Pompeii and [The entire page is 756 words long]

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