Throughout history, art has been used to articulate the cultural values and the structure of the society of the various civilizations.
The Romans were very much realistic in their artistic works. Through art, they produced things like paintings, sculptures, pottery, mosaic work, and other forms of art.
These works of art were greatly influenced by the Greek and the Hellenistic world.
The relevance of Roman arts tended to differ from the value the Greeks attached to their arts and architecture.
Taking the example of sculptures one can be convinced that the main purpose of Roman art was to articulate physical skills and innovations for instance in engineering and other technical fields. On the other hand, Greek sculptures were mainly geared towards demonstrating the great influence the supernatural had towards their life for instance the gods who were curved on sculptures. They were interested in the perfection of their physical way of life.
The Romans constructed buildings for a different purpose from that of the Greeks. Apart from emphasizing the beauty part of such buildings, the Romans made these structures for different uses for instance the warm spring baths were used for recreation and leisure.
The Greeks made such constructions for a totally different value in the sense that they were used for worshipping their gods. Most of the Greek constructions which exist today are in the form of temples for worshipping. However, the Romans still built temples copied from the Greeks but this was found in places that formed dwellings and where people had social meetings for example market places.
It is also important to point out that the value behind the design of Greek arts was the desire to please the gods. This was evident from a critical look at the exterior of the buildings for instance the pediments and metopes. All the beauty was to be viewed from the exterior.
The roman buildings differed from this trend in that though they portrayed beauty from the outside the inside was also pretty with colored walls and paintings. The inside was also well lit to make visible all the decorations.
The Roman buildings were designed for the purpose of public gatherings for instance the basilica was constructed for people to be meeting.
Greek art was used to explore the value of visual perfection and its effect on the human state of mind. It was therefore used to reflect a refined thought of intellectualism.
Roman art on the contrary was used as a tool for propaganda that portrayed the mighty and authority in the society A good example of this is the artwork Bust of cicero.
In conclusion, the overall difference between Greek and Roman art is that the Greeks valued art because of the exploration of nature and revelation of philosophical thought while the Romans valued art because it was a means of displaying authority and protecting the mighty of the ruler in power. Therefore, it should not be taken that the Roman culture was entirely the same as the Greek.