The Underwater Heritage of the Riace Bronzes: Ethics, Provenance and the Art Market in Ancient Rome and Today

Abstract

The art market as we know it developed during the Hellenistic period (third to first centuries BCE) with the looting of classical Greek sculptures and paintings by the invading Roman armies. The most renowned works were appropriated by the generalissimos for their luxury villas, whilst the rejects were converted into liquid assets by selling them to the world’s rich at the first ever art auctions. Art collecting and connoisseurship were born, and with a diminishing supply of available Greek originals, copies became a major substitute market. Replications of original bronze sculptures were created in cheaper marble, whilst interior decorators enriched walls with frescoed versions of renowned ‘old master’ Greek easel paintings.