Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Approaching Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: Ancient and Modern Perspectives
- CHAPTER 1 Creating the Past: The Origins of Classicism in Hellenistic Sculpture
- CHAPTER 2 From Greece to Rome: Retrospective Sculpture in the Early Empire
- CHAPTER 3 From Metropolis to Empire: Retrospective Sculpture in the High Empire
- CHAPTER 4 From Roman to Christian: Retrospection and Transformation in Late Antique Art
- Conclusion: An Ancient Renaissance? Classicism in Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture
- Notes
- Work Cited
- Index
CHAPTER 2 - From Greece to Rome: Retrospective Sculpture in the Early Empire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Approaching Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: Ancient and Modern Perspectives
- CHAPTER 1 Creating the Past: The Origins of Classicism in Hellenistic Sculpture
- CHAPTER 2 From Greece to Rome: Retrospective Sculpture in the Early Empire
- CHAPTER 3 From Metropolis to Empire: Retrospective Sculpture in the High Empire
- CHAPTER 4 From Roman to Christian: Retrospection and Transformation in Late Antique Art
- Conclusion: An Ancient Renaissance? Classicism in Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture
- Notes
- Work Cited
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION: REPRESENTING THE PRINCIPATE – THE EVOLUTION OF ROMAN ART FROM AUGUSTUS TO DOMITIAN
The last chapter examined the origins of classicism – that is, the use of Classical Greek styles and visual formats for expressive purposes – within the Hellenistic era. It analyzed some of the numerous and diverse contexts in which retrospective sculptures appeared, focusing on sites associated with the traditional Greek polis but incorporating as well Hellenistic courts and panhellenic sanctuaries. My overarching aim was to illustrate the influential nature of past artistic traditions in a period characterized by radical change. At the same time, I used close readings of particular works of art, inspired by the Aphrodite of Acrocorinth, to show how these later Hellenistic images reinterpreted their model in terms of style, iconography, context, and meaning; this analysis helped to demonstrate the flexible and creative character of Hellenistic retrospective sculpture.
This chapter will examine the question of how artistic translation worked in the Early Roman Empire: how a Classical Greek image, carefully fashioned for a particular context, could be transmitted to Rome for new patrons and purposes, and could, at length, take on a canonical form very different from that of the original. To do so, I will survey an array of artworks from c. 50 B.C. to A.D. 100. The focus is on monumental “one-off” sculptures – a fragmentary group from the Forum Augustum, the Victoria of Brescia, and so on – within their archaeological contexts, seen against the background of more modest mass-produced works.
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- Hellenistic and Roman Ideal SculptureThe Allure of the Classical, pp. 45 - 80Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008