TheParthenonMarbles as icons of nationalism in nineteenth‐centuryBritain

Abstract

AbstractTheories of nationalism place native culture at the core of national self‐fashioning. What explains a state's adoption of foreign objects to sustain national identity? In this paper,Iargue that the incorporation of theParthenonMarbles intoBritish public life is an early example of supranational nationalism. The nineteenth‐century ‘art race’ was a competitive field in whichEuropean nation‐states vied for prestige. Of the thousands of art trophies that were brought toBritain fromMediterranean andNorthAfrican countries, theParthenonMarbles were uniquely iconicised. Using data from period newspapers and official documents,Iassert that this was because they were assiduously presented asprenational byBritish authorities. In this way, they belonged simultaneously to no nation, to every nation, and toBritain. The case demonstrates the emergence of a particular form of national distinctiveness that transcended the smallness of particularity and rose to the level of universal civilisation.