Reinventing Roman Verism: An Inside Story
Introduction
The artistic representation of verism has long been considered perhaps one of the truly indigenous artistic representations of roman art. Nonetheless, such practice has ignited heated discussion among scholars as to whether such art form is truly roman according to different theories. It would necessitate investigation into various art forms from the Greeks, the Etruscan as well as the Egyptians to determine whether or not it originated from the Romans. Because of the fact that this seemingly “original” form of roman art might not be of original as one might think, evidence such as Romans’ relations with Greek artists for art making as well as the Egyptians’ portraits of the deceased, from which the verism might inherit. Numerous interpretations of verism exist, such as David Jackson’s definition of verism as “a form of ultra-physical realism which avoids or rejects idealizing tendencies in preference for the prosaic, and which tends to make a virtue of rendering detail and tangibility: warts, moles, creases, and wrinkles appear as though facial texture was the artist's sole …show more content…
If that is the case, other physical forms of an individual aside from wrinkled faces should also be considered as a form of verism. Since it is not the case, implies that our understanding of ‘verism’ should not be focused on the idea of a true likeness, rather on the representation of a certain Roman type. As a matter of fact, verism should not be considered as a representation of true likeness of an individual, it should be considered a new symbolism of a characterization of a certain type. To support my thesis, I would like to divulge into various art forms from the Greek, Etruscan and Egyptian in which realistic representation already
Introduction
The artistic representation of verism has long been considered perhaps one of the truly indigenous artistic representations of roman art. Nonetheless, such practice has ignited heated discussion among scholars as to whether such art form is truly roman according to different theories. It would necessitate investigation into various art forms from the Greeks, the Etruscan as well as the Egyptians to determine whether or not it originated from the Romans. Because of the fact that this seemingly “original” form of roman art might not be of original as one might think, evidence such as Romans’ relations with Greek artists for art making as well as the Egyptians’ portraits of the deceased, from which the verism might inherit. Numerous interpretations of verism exist, such as David Jackson’s definition of verism as “a form of ultra-physical realism which avoids or rejects idealizing tendencies in preference for the prosaic, and which tends to make a virtue of rendering detail and tangibility: warts, moles, creases, and wrinkles appear as though facial texture was the artist's sole …show more content…
If that is the case, other physical forms of an individual aside from wrinkled faces should also be considered as a form of verism. Since it is not the case, implies that our understanding of ‘verism’ should not be focused on the idea of a true likeness, rather on the representation of a certain Roman type. As a matter of fact, verism should not be considered as a representation of true likeness of an individual, it should be considered a new symbolism of a characterization of a certain type. To support my thesis, I would like to divulge into various art forms from the Greek, Etruscan and Egyptian in which realistic representation already