When Etruria was conquered, Etruscan art, already modified by the introduction of Greek art, lost its individuality, and it was not until more than ten centuries had elapsed that the various arts for which Italy was famous were again to be seen in their native places, brought to life by the men who were the forerunners of the Renaissance. In order to trace these different artists, to observe the course of events, and to understand how those ancient times are connected with our modern age athwart the first centuries of the Christian era and those of the Middle Ages, down to about 1200, we must go from Tuscany to Rome, in turn the political centre of the Republic, the residence of the emperors, and the seat of the Papal power. A brief summary of the principal personages make the transition clear, and show the affiliations of the great artists who brought about the Renaissance.

Many reasons militated against the creation of a national school at Rome, for the national genius of the Romans did not impel them to the cultivation of art, and, caring more for war, politics, and legislation, they even passed laws forbidding the representation of the human figure. For a period of a hundred and fifty years religion was altogether spiritual, but King Numa, who had legislated in this matter, accorded his protection to the foreign colony of Greek and Etruscan artists ; and corporations of goldsmiths, and of workers in bronze, terra-cotta, etc., were formed. The elder Tarquin, wishing to erect a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, infringed the laws of Numa, and intrusted the execution of the statue to Vulcanizes, an artist of Veii. Then followed five centuries of stagnation, in the course of which it would be difficult to mention the name of a single Roman sculptor as gifted as Mamurius Vetturius, whom Numa employed to make the eleven copies of the "Ancyle," or sacred shield, which fell from heaven during the pestilence.

It was the Roman conquests which favored the development of the arts of statuary and painting, the vanquished imposing their tastes upon the victors. The great Roman commanders, Marcellus, Quintus Fabius, Scipio Africanus, Titus Flaininius, Lucius Paulus, and Mummius, brought back to Rome the trophies taken in Sicily, Macedonia, and Campania, and when Corinth fell into the hands of the Romans they secured art treasures which served as models for their own artists.

The love of art gradually became more general, and each citizen was anxious to have in his house likenesses of himself, of his ancestors, and of his gods, and as the native painters and sculptors were neither numerous enough nor clever enough, artists enough Greece found ample employment. In course of time wealthy amateurs gave an additional stimulus to art by their liberal purchases of pictures, statues, and stone engravings ; and as the demand creates the supply, there also came into existence plenty of clever forgers who imitated the names of successful artists on the pedestal of a statue or in the corner of a fresco.

This was the epoch of Terentius Varro; of the refined Lucullus; of Verres, whom Cicero denounced in such scathing terms; of Agrippa, who in the course of one year provided Rome with a hundred fountains surrounded by statues ; and of milius Scaurus, who constructed a theatre for the celebration of public games which was ornamented with three thousand marble statues. Julius C sar was very fond of bronzes, marbles, and stone carvings; Mecaenas has lent his name to the patrons of art in all ages and in all countries ; Pompey was an indefatigable collector of stone carvings ; and the taste for these things became general throughout Italy.

The Rome of the Caesars did much for art, and the age of Augustus rivals that of Pericles. The monuments of that period, many of which still survive, bear the double impress of grandeur and elegance, and testify to the genius of their creators. There is a vast difference, however, between the Greeks and the Romans, for while the former represent the supreme type of beauty and give a stamp of distinction to all they touch, the latter, though their works are massive and imposing, lack grace in the details. When the heaviness which is characteristic of their style disappears, we may be sure that a Greek has had a hand in the work.

The whole of this period was a brilliant one, and traces of it are still visible not only in Rome itself, but throughout Italy, and even along the coast of the Adriatic and the banks of the Danube. Roman art, coming into existence with the first of the emperors, died with the last of them, while each successive ruler left upon it the impress of his own personal tastes. Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero blended Greek and Roman art by the importation of the great works of Olympia and the five hundred statues taken from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi ; and Titus employed Greek artists for the bas-reliefs of his triumphal arch.

The column of Trajan, erected to commemorate his victory over the Daci, affords an irrefutable proof of the genius of Roman artists, for the style of this monument is clear, concise, and free from any nebulous allegories. If this Roman school had lasted there can be no doubt that the genius of the people would have developed distinct national characteristics devoid of all foreign influences, which would have been transmitted down to our own day with no other changes save those brought about by historical circumstances ; but a nation which rules the world must inevitably be affected in some way by the peoples whom it has subjugated, and the genius of Rome bears the constant impress of the influence of the East.

The Emperor Hadrian, who was a passionate admirer of Greece and Egypt, and who brought to Rome a great number of Greek artists, prided himself upon being at once architect, sculptor, and painter, and was very jealous of all rivals. He was succeeded by Antoninus, who cared but little for art, and then came Marcus Aurelius, of whom there still exists an equestrian statue which is a very good specimen of the Roman school, though it was executed by an artist of Greek nationality.

Roman art, which had reached its zenith under Trajan, began to decline tinder Commodus, and it is interesting to follow this decadence in the column erected by the latter to Marcus Aurelius, which is a rude imitation of the Trajan Column, in the arch of Septimius Severus, and in that of Constantine, the sculptures of which date from the time of Trajan. Constantine consummated the ruin of Roman art, and when he transferred the capital of the Empire to Byzantium he took with him all the greatest artists of the day, their departure, as Winckelman observes, leaving what had until then been the capital of the world a very desert.