Before and After Rome: The Incised Contours Technique in the Art of Gallia Narbonensis

Abstract

The art of ancient Gallia Narbonensis constitutes a coherent corpus thanks to a number of shared visual characteristics. Prominent among them is a carving technique that consisted of deeply incising the contours of figures in sculpted reliefs, a trend that was rare in Roman art elsewhere. This paper investigates the presence of incised contours in monuments erected between the late first century BC and the early decades of the first century AD at sites such as Orange, Carpentras, and Glanum. I argue that we can explain this peculiar feature by establishing continuities with pre-Roman monuments created in the region, which reveal a similar aesthetic solution. Relying on visual analysis and employing the lens of two postcolonial paradigms, creolization and hybridity, I offer a reconsideration of well-known provincial monuments, expanding our understanding of the role of visual culture as an essential marker of the colonial transformation of Gaul.