Verism is a style of art in which paintings and sculptures look as realistic as possible, warts and all. It also refers to realistic works of literature.
Art experts mainly use the term verism for a specific style of ancient Roman art. Artists who created portraits and sculptured busts and statues during this time would keep the imperfections in their subjects' faces, including wrinkles, balding heads, and scars. As an artistic style, verism contrasts with idealism, a later style in which sculptors were more likely to represent their subjects as being younger or more handsome than in reality. Verism is from the Italian verismo and the Latin root verus, "true."