Ancient Roman Oil Paintings

Most Roman painting shows the empire at its loudest. This collection spends as much time on the quiet parts: a soldier writing a letter home, a column resting at a milestone on a road that runs further than anyone can see, the training ground before the crowd arrives.

What is in this collection

Around a hundred paintings in three groups. The army is the largest: an aquilifer carrying the eagle before battle, a legion crossing a river on pontoon bridges, soldiers at rest, a gladiator school at training. Myth and the divine holds Neptune calming a storm for Roman sailors and the gods as Rome pictured them. Portraits and civil life covers figures such as Agrippina the Elder, along with the streets, roads and engineering that the empire actually ran on.

The palette is dry and earthy, closer to stone, leather and dust than to marble. Rome was not white, and these are not painted as though it were.

How each painting is made

Nothing here is printed. Each canvas is painted in oils after you order it, by an artist working from the reference on the page, which is why the lead time runs in weeks and no two are identical.

You set the dimensions rather than choosing from a fixed list. Three finishes are available: Simple for a clean, even surface, Texture for visible brushwork, and Museum for the heaviest impasto.

Choosing one for a room

Marching columns and river crossings want width: the length of the line is the subject, and a narrow canvas throws it away. Single figures, a standard bearer or a portrait bust, hold an upright format and work at close range in a study or a hallway.

These are muted paintings and they sit well on a dark wall as well as a pale one. Tell us the space and we will suggest a proportion.

A subject that is not here

A particular legion, a campaign, a building as it stood: tell us what you want and an artist will review it before anything is agreed. Shipping is free worldwide.