Provincial Art

In this chapter we give an idea of the characteristics and peculiarities of so-called ‘provincial art’ in Roman Germany. We shall focus in particular on images, but also occasionally on objects, recovered in the provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, Gallia Belgica, and Raetia. The emphasis will be less on the artistic value of the images and objects and much more on their capacity to convey information. Communication by means of images created a wide-ranging and diverse theatre of exchange; these images were often rigidly codified, or—for example when images were reproduced in series—mass-produced and hence standardized to project and propagate a specific vision. The use and attributes of the images are at the core of our considerations; we aim to provide an understanding of the language employed, of the images’ function as a medium of communication, and of the processes that underlay their production.