This may be considered the period at which the introduction of variously coloured tuarbles in statues became the fashion in Rome. The Roman po/y//thic sculpture differed in some respects from that practised by the Greeks. The Roman mode was to imitate the different stuffs of which real draperies were composed, as well as the ornamental dressings of the figures, with marbles (usually Oricnta alabasters, &c.) closely resembling them in colour. The Greeks occasionally used different materials, not often marbles, for this purpose ; but not with the intention of imitating the particular colour or texture of the object represented. The Romans carried this so far as to express, iu white and dark marble, the colours of the eyes in a statue, in black marble, of an Ethiopian. More than one example of this may be seen in the various collections of ancient statues. The reigns of Otho, Galba, and Vitellius were too short and too disturbed to give those emperors time or opportunity to encourage sculpture. Otho ordered a large sum, ninety millions of aesterces, to be appro priated for the completion of the Golden Palace of Nero. Busts of these emperors are extremely rare. There is one of Vitellius in the Museum of the Louvre, of very high merit; but most of the portraits of this prince have been considered modern.
Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian encouraged sculpture. Titus erected two statues, one of gold, the other equestrian, of ivory, in honour of Britannicus, the son of Claudius, who was poisoned by Nero. (Suet., ' Tit.,' 2.) Statues of Domitian are rare, iu consequence of the order issued by the senate, after the tyrant's death, that all statues of him should be destroyed.
But little now occurs in the history of sculpture worthy of notice till the time of Trojan. The taste and energy of this prince reani mated the arts both in Greece and Italy. Zeno of Aphrodisias was a sculptor of this time. The column of Trojan is an interesting monu ment of the art in the latter part of the 1st century after Christ. The reigns of Trojan, Hadrian, and the Antonines may justly be accounted the golden age of sculpture in Rome; though even then it is probable that the art was little practised by native artists. In Hadrian especially the arta found a munificent protector. He restored many of the ancient temples which were falling to decay ; he erected others in a style worthy of the best ages of the ,art ; and, among other public-spirited undertakings, completed the temple of the Olympian Zeus at Athens. Among the enrichments bestowed upon it was a statue of Zeus in gold and ivory, several other works placed there by Hadrian, and finally a colossal statue of the emperor himself. The scale of magnificence in which this prince indulged may be estimated from the remains of his celebrated villa near Tivoli, about eighteen miles from Rome. It was embellished with all the finest works that could be procured, whether the productions of ancient Greek artists or of those of bis own time. Some of the most interesting and valuable remains of antiquity have been discovered there ; and even at the present day every fresh exca vation that is made among these ruins restores to the world some object of interest. Some of the Egyptian superstitions having been introduced into Italy about this time, they were mixed up with the existing forms of worship, and the gods of the Nile were admitted among those of the Romans. The example of the capital was soon
followed by the smaller communities; and, as the new worship was extended over the whole empire, a great demand arose for statues, and other symbols of Egyptian deities and ceremonies. The imitations of Egyptian figures and subjects which are found in Italy, and which particularly abounded among the ruins of Hadrian's villa, may be assigned to this period.
The numerous specimens of sculpture of the time of Hadrian that are preserved in modern collections are evidence of the high state of the art. The statues and busts of himself, and of the emperors who immediately preceded and followed him, as well as the portraits of Antonlnus and Lucius Verna, exhibit qualities that would do honour to the best ages of Greek sculpture. There are two statues of Antinoua in the museum of the Capitol, one treated in the Greek style, entirely naked, and the other with Egyptian attributes, which are particularly worthy of notice for the simplicity and beauty united with grandeur that pervades them. They carry us back to the very finest period of the practice of the art.
Sculpture declined after the death of Hadrian. The difference observable, both in style and execution, in the two columns of Trajan and Antoninus, exhibit a marked chauge in the condition of art, even in the short period that elapsed between the execution of these works. Antoninua Pius was not, however, neglectful of art ; but the chief employment of that time seems to have been iu portraits and busts, a sure indication of indifference towards the higher class of design.
I lerodes Atticus claims a distinguished place in the list of promoters of the fine arts. He employed his immense wealth in embellishing Athens and other cities of Greece. Chryselephantine sculpture was still practised; for it is recorded that he caused a quadriga, with a group of Neptune and Amphitrite, made of gold and ivory, to be placed in a temple of Corinth. By the time of Septimius Sevcrus (about A.D. 200) the arts of design had rapidly declined. The schools for their cultivation, which had been established by Hadrian, were no longer kept up, and the effect of the neglect of pure design is visible in the monuments of this period. The sculpture on the arch of Sept. Severua, in the Forum of Rome, as well as that called the Arch of the Goldsmiths, also at Rome, offer undeniable evidence of the low eon• dition of taste, and the inferiority of practice in art. Considerable care was shown iu the littlenesses of execution ; but everything that indicated boldness of conception, breadth of treatment, and style, had vanished. With the exception of busts, some of which must be admitted to have great merit, the monuments which remain of the time of Caracalla, Geta, Alexander Severus, and their successors, only confirm the :lipid fall of sculpture. Alexander Severnu endeavoured to revive a taste for architecture, and even instituted schools for the Munition of students; but tho calamities that disturbed Italy during the contentions for the empire, left men little leisure fur elegant pursuits. The degraded state of sculpture in the 3rd century of our era is sufficiently declared by the quality of the bassi-rilievi on the arch of Constantine in Rome; all that were not taken from the arch erected in honour of Trajan's victory over the Decline, exhibit the utmost poverty of design, with feebleness of execution.