LIVING WITH ART. Domestic decorative sculpture in Western Roman Empire: reconstructing display, sociocultural dynamics, and addressing productive and economic processes

Project Information

LIVART

Grant agreement ID: 101207732

DOI

10.3030/101207732

Project terminated on 30 September 2025

EC signature date 12 March 2025

Start date 1 May 2025

End date 30 April 2027

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 202 125,12

Coordinated by

RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LIVART (LIVING WITH ART. Domestic decorative sculpture in Western Roman Empire: reconstructing display, sociocultural dynamics, and addressing productive and economic processes)

Reporting period: 2025-05-01 to 2027-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project ‘LIVART – Living with Art’ explores the role of decorative sculpture in domestic contexts of the Western Roman Empire. While monumental sculpture in public spaces has long been studied, much less attention has been paid to the artistic expressions found inside Roman homes—both urban domus and rural villae. These artworks were not merely ornaments; they served to express cultural identity, status, and personal beliefs within private life.

By focusing on domestic sculpture, LIVART addresses key questions about the everyday experience of art in Antiquity, the social dynamics of Roman households, and the complex relationships between aesthetics, power, and private space. The project draws on a multidisciplinary approach, integrating methods from archaeology, art history, material science, and digital humanities. It combines visual and iconographic analysis with archaeometric techniques (for marble provenance studies), 3D documentation, and contextual research to better understand how these objects were produced, displayed, and perceived.

The project also contributes to wider debates in heritage studies and social history, offering new insights into how material culture shaped daily life in the Roman world. Its findings will inform museum practices, public engagement, and cultural policy by shedding light on a relatively understudied yet significant aspect of ancient art. Ultimately, LIVART aims to bridge academic research with public interest, promoting a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of ancient domestic environments and the people who lived in them.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project has focused on the systematic documentation and analysis of Roman decorative sculpture through the development of a comprehensive database that includes examples from various museum and archaeological collections. This database serves as the central research tool for the project, allowing the integration of archaeological, typological, and archaeometric data in order to identify production patterns, materials, and contexts of use.

The construction of the database has been supported by extensive bibliographic research, aimed at collecting, verifying, and harmonising scattered information from excavation reports, museum catalogues, and specialized studies. This effort has significantly improved the accessibility and consistency of data concerning decorative sculpture from domestic contexts in the western Roman provinces.

Preliminary results have been presented in academic conferences and seminars, leading to a clearer definition of the research methodology and to the identification of key case studies for in-depth analysis. In addition, autoptic studies of selected sculptures have been conducted through direct fieldwork in several European collections. These first-hand examinations have been essential to verify previous documentation, assess surface treatments and tool marks, and gather samples for ongoing marble provenance analyses.

Overall, the activities carried out during the project have established a solid foundation for the comprehensive study of Roman decorative sculpture, bridging the gap between archaeological observation and archaeometric investigation.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has advanced the study of Roman decorative sculpture beyond the state of the art by systematically integrating archaeological, archaeometric, and contextual analyses within a single research framework. The creation of a comprehensive database compiling decorative sculptures from domestic contexts across the western Roman provinces provides, for the first time, a unified platform for the comparative analysis of materials, typologies, and provenances.

The project has laid the foundations for refining the criteria used to distinguish between local and imported productions, thereby improving our understanding of the mechanisms of artistic diffusion and workshop practices. This multidisciplinary approach enables the reconstruction of patterns of domestic decoration and consumption, offering new insights into the social and cultural meanings of sculpture in Roman private spaces.

Future progress will benefit from the continued expansion of the database, the completion of isotopic and petrographic analyses, and the further integration of open-access dissemination tools to enhance data visibility and reuse. These steps will consolidate the project’s impact within both the academic community and the heritage sector, supporting the development of more transparent, reproducible, and internationally accessible research on Roman sculpture.

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