In this assignment I will examine; what is realist art; a brief history of realist art, the materials used, their strengths and limitations. I will examine specific examples throughout Roman art and the common traits in them that show a progression and maintenance of the veristic values ​​and socio-cultural connotations of these. I will examine the arguments as to why realism came into being: was it a political mechanism or simply a product of the ideology of the time? To explore this possibility I will examine the changes in the art form from the Republican era to the Imperial era to examine whether this was indeed a reflection of social dynamics, through this medium I will also examine whether the changes were a decline or an evolution of style which adapts to the new social dynamic. Verism is defined in the Collins dictionary as extreme realism in art or literature, Paul Zanker also describes it as physiognomic, meaning it is a style used to portray human characteristics from facial features. Strong also describes verism as "a slice of life – a sculpted biography", although he then says that it is a truthful representation which would suggest that it shows only what is visible rather than the characteristics of the individual, although Strong is supported in this argument from Tanner who states that verism is a type of cartographic realism suggesting that it faithfully tracks the characteristics of the subject. Verism is known mainly from the 1st century BC in Republican Rome, although Tanner argues that it should be dated to the 2nd century BC although there appears to be little evidence there to support this. Most statues found in Rome dating back to before the 1st century BC were made of bronze and although they were real...... half of paper ......ft with. I have examined specific examples throughout Roman art and the common traits in them that show a progression and maintenance of the veristic values ​​and socio-cultural connotations of these. I examined the arguments as to why realism arose and whether it was a political mechanism or simply a product of the ideology of the time. To explore this possibility I examined the changes in the art form from the Republican to the Imperial era and demonstrated that this was most likely an evolution of realism to reflect changes in socio-cultural dynamics rather than a decline of the style .Works CitedStrong, D., Roman Art, (1976) Chaucer PressTanner, J., Portraits, Power and Patronage in the Late Roman Republic, Journal of Roman Studies 90, pp.18-50Zanker, P., The power of images in the age of Augustus, (1988) University of Michigan