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I may be wrong, but I was always under such impression that the form of art in Roman Empire has changed, since around the time of Diocletian's reign, to a more stylized, stronger, but less vivid type, exemplified by something like this:
The history book I have read seemed to gloss over the subject of why Roman art declined.
It could be that the Third Century Crisis killed off most of the artists, or a despotic Dominate required a less realistic art form than the more personalized Principate.
Can it be saved?
And I always wonder what would be the effect of a superior and more real form of art, if there is any at all.
Let's say this form of art survived in the Eastern Roman Empire, could it have generated a sense of inferiority to the visitors from western Europe? What would happen to the Renaissance?