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
Conclusion: An Ancient Renaissance? Classicism in Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture
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
NEITHER COPIES NOR ORIGINALS: HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN IDEAL SCULPTURES RECONSIDERED
Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculptures – expertly crafted, prominently displayed, and far from uniform – were central to ancient material culture. Previous scholars have described the sculptures as copies of lost Greek monuments, or alternatively as “Roman originals” with few ties to the Hellenic past. Building on recent scholarship concerning the Roman transformation of Greek sculpture, I have shown how in ancient society these images were pervasive, varied, and creative in relation to their Greek models. At the same time, they were meaningful to viewers precisely because of their familiar character and their evocation of a revered Hellenic tradition. This more nuanced analysis represents a challenge to previous interpretations of the sculptures as, on the one hand, straightforwardly derivative or, on the other, “original” and comprehensible in purely Roman terms.
My method of approach – tracking the evolution of a major sculptural type – offers an approach to classicism in Roman culture that differs from earlier scholarship in three important ways. First, it provides a succinct, clearly defined “test case” for assessing the validity of previous hypotheses concerning the derivative or, alternatively, original character of Roman ideal sculpture. Second, it offers a more comprehensive perspective than those that focus on bodies of material defined by style, context, or genre.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hellenistic and Roman Ideal SculptureThe Allure of the Classical, pp. 136 - 152Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008