Louvre art exhibit portrays daily life in Roman Empire

By Heather Warlick

Published: June 27, 2008

The "Roman Art from the Louvre” exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art features many large, impressive statues, busts and other marble works of ancient artists that pay homage to the gods and goddesses of antiquity.

But Romans weren't all gods and goddesses. Average citizens, freedmen and slaves made up most of the Roman Empire's population, and relics of their daily lives are an important part of the "Roman Art from the Louvre” exhibit.

A large display of kitchen and dinnerware exemplifies the hierarchical society of the first- through fourth-century Roman Empire. From simple, unembellished clay pots to ornate bronze and silver serving dishes, the differences between the wealthiest and the poorest denizens of Roman society are clear.

"The ceramics, they tried to copy and have the same shapes and decorations as the metallic vessels because this kind of material was cheaper,” said Cecile Giroire, curator in charge of the Roman Collection at the Louvre in Paris. With her co-curator, Daniel Roger, she is in Oklahoma City for the exhibit's introduction.

The exhibit will reside at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art until Oct. 12 and includes 184 pieces of ancient Roman art and wares collected from various donations. The pieces come from various areas of Italy, and many were originally found in tombs, where earthly pieces of history like amphoras, lamps and jewelry were magnificently preserved.

"We don't have the precise location of the discovery because at the Louvre especially, the collections are very, very old and built in the 1900s or before, so we lost the information about the precise providence,” Giroire said through a thick French accent. "Found especially in tombs, we can find materials very well preserved, not broken.”

Many of the relics were found in the remains of the ancient Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were buried in volcanic ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

A few of the interesting items included in the Roman art exhibit are olive oil-burning lamps that commonly lit the homes of ancient Romans. The same differences in materials used to create pottery and dinnerware are evident in the lamps. An important piece in the collection is an elaborate bronze lamp perched atop a fine bronze stand that speaks of its wealthy owners in stark comparison to its simple, handheld ceramic counterparts that are embellished with whimsical pastoral scenes from middle-class homes.

Many of the common items such as lamps and dinnerware on display were products of somewhat large factories in Italy and North Africa.

These mass-produced items point to ancient Romans enjoying a global trade market through which they imported items from far-off lands and exported their own wares and oils.

Goods came from as far as China, silks came from across the Silk Road through Afghanistan, and Roman merchants' coins were found as far away as Vietnam.

And local merchants bought and sold these items on a free market trade system that allowed common Romans to find nearly all the food, housewares, clothing and other household items they needed in one central marketplace.

Shopping was a form of social engagement for ancient Romans, but more important to the children was their leisure time, which they spent enjoying the splendor of nature while playing sports, exercising, racing, wrestling, boxing and playing other games such as leap frog and board games.

And the adults took much pleasure paying homage to the gods, participating in festivals, lounging at the local bath houses and drinking wine. In Vino Veritas, or "In Wine, (there is) Truth,” were words to live by in the era.

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