Victorian Visual Culture

As someone who has wrung out a lot of brain cells by studying the Roman Empire, I cannot help but draw comparisons between Roman society and whatever else my thoughts are currently occupied by. These comparisons cover everything from politics to art to what I ate for lunch — and, apparently, even the Victorian era. 

The Victorians, too, could not seem to stop thinking about the Roman Empire. As a whole, Victorian society was hugely influenced by the past and the cultivation of history — especially the aspects of history to which it could relate. Thus, it is quite fitting that a powerful empire run by men beholden to tradition, religion, and duty would appeal to these history-loving Brits. The Romans consequently had a noticeable influence on the values and culture of the Victorian era.

The Victorians tended to view history as the sum of past societies’ achievements that contemporary society could learn from. According to Quentin Broughall’s “Assuming the purple: the rehabilitation of ancient Rome in Victorian culture, 1837-1901,” they also tended to see historical figures as “distant contemporaries” who had confronted and often mastered the same issues that they were facing. Because classical civilizations and languages were such a large part of the education of Britain’s elites during the nineteenth century, it makes sense that the Victorians were drawn to emulate the same values that the Romans held.

Unfortunately, the Victorian method of processing history involved a lot of trimming and even the blatant overlooking of facts at times. When using the past as a model for the present, Victorians tended to choose “golden ages” of history to concentrate on. They often tailored, suppressed, and domesticated historical facts to suit their contemporary purposes. For example, one certainly would not see the Victorians outwardly accepting homosexuality in the way that the Romans did. By removing these difficult components, the Victorians created a classical world that was unchanging, stable, and perfectly fitted to their own agendas. This tailoring of history effectively creates an apparently ideal model of an era that Victorians could bind to their own. As English culture was imperialized, the Romans’ past successes offered solace and stability while the present day held ambiguity and doubt.

As the Roman Empire slowly turned over from republicanism to imperialism under its first emperor, Augustus, traditional values sprang to the surface of Roman identity. Pietas (a sense of piety and duty to the empire, social hierarchies, the household, and the gods) became an important measure of success. Romans, especially Roman women, were expected to prioritize their familial responsibilities over most else. Additionally, Romans were pressured to adhere to social norms and be faithful to the gods. The Victorians’ conservative society echoed these values, whether or not they were directly drawn from the Roman way of life. British citizens, especially women, needed to prioritize their duties to their households, spouses, and children. Keeping up appearances and carefully following social norms was also seen as essential. We can see these values clearly depicted in Victorian advertisements. These pieces of visual culture emphasize the importance of contributing to the home, pleasing one’s spouse, responsibly raising children, and following social expectations such as dressing, living, and acting in what is deemed to be a decorous manner. 

The Augustan-era value of otium is also represented in Victorian society. After Augustus took sole power in Rome and the members of the wealthy ruling class no longer needed to engage in the political sphere to the same extent that they had before, they were instead compelled to fill their days with leisurely self-realization activities such as reading and writing, contemplation, and other artistically valuable and enlightening pursuits. The ability to engage in this self-realization was seen as a privilege denoting elite status. In Victorian society, this belief system was echoed. Progress and status were often demarcated by the reduction of toil, which we can see is lauded in Victorian advertisements for products meant to diminish household labor. Like the Romans, Victorians sought leisure for the twofold purpose of self-betterment and status.

Though, of course, many societies across time have held similar values about leisure, duty, piety, and family, it is evident that the Victorians looked to the Romans as a cultural model in many ways. Like many of us in modern society, the Victorians feared the mysteries of the future and embraced the past as a certain and stable source of knowledge. Historical comparativism served as a useful lens through which Victorians could analyze and classify their own society. As a result, it is no coincidence that both the Roman and British Empire have a strong focus on tradition, honor, order, and status.

Source: Broughall, Quentin J. Assuming the purple: the rehabilitation of ancient Rome in Victorian culture, 1837-1901. 2015. Maynooth U, PhD thesis. mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/6332/1/Assuming%20the%20Purple%20-%20Master.pdf. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.