Ancient Sculpture Research Articles

Образы классической древности в художественном собрании графов Разумовских во второй половине XVIII — первой трети XIX века

Mid-18th century was characterized by the activity of highly educated commissioners who built their town palaces and country estates in European style, and filled them with paintings, sculptures, and drawings. Count Kirill G. Razumovsky’s (1728–1803) collection was considered to be one of the best in the late 18th century. Paintings with mythological scenes accounted for a considerable part of the art gallery in his palace on the bank of the Moika River in Saint Petersburg. In 1765–1767 Razumovsky travelled around Europe, including Italy, where he had an opportunity to get acquainted with the monuments of ancient Rome and also to replenish his collection. Razumovsky acquired a work from the famous Roman painter Batoni named “Hercules at the crossroads”. Besides, he ordered his portrait where he would be pictured against the background of renowned ancient sculptures “Laocoon with his sons”, “Apollo of the Belvedere”, “Arianne” and “Antinous”. The greater part of the works with mythological scenes were painted by Italian artists — A. Caracci, P. Liberi, P. Pagani, G. Cignaroli, A. Markenzini, etc. Landscapes showing ancient architecture, painted by G. P. Panini, A. Ioli, Ch.-L. Clerisseau, and Allemand, the collector referred to as pieces of great importance. Obviously, Razumovsky’s subsequent commissions must have been influenced by Italian masterpieces — this can be traced in his palaces built after the projects of J.-B. Vallin de la Mothe, G. Quarenghi, Ch. Cameron and other architects of the period.

Figures stripped to bones, just signs and symbols - solitude, discomfort, incommunicability.

Figures stripped to bones, just signs and symbols - solitude, discomfort, incommunicability.

Poder, humanismo y religiosidad en tiempos del Patriarca Juan de Ribera en Valencia. Su colección de escultura clásica

The aim of the article is to divulge the ancient sculpture collection owned by Juan de Ribera, Archbishop of Valencia, influenced by his humanist training at the House of Pilate in Seville and his relationship with his father Per Afan de Ribera, Duke of Alcala and Viceroy of Naples. Unpublished documentation regarding sculptures purchased in Naples is attached and it is contrasted with the inventoried pieces at their palaces after his death in 1611, where there were up to two series of busts of emperors. In addition, aesthetic evolution of Juan de Ribera, from humanistic principles to the influence of Trent and texts of Cardinal Palleoti on the vision of sacred images, can be observed.

FTIR spectroscopy of woods: A new approach to study the weathering of the carving face of a sculpture

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), a useful method to study woods, has been applied in order to measure an eventual gradient of water absorbed (more precisely, hydroxyl groups, OH) between the surface and the inner part of an ancient and a modern wooden sculptures. The methodology adopted has consisted in comparing FTIR bands within two spectral ranges, one corresponding to the OH content in the wood (around 3400cm−1) and the other to the lignin molecules (aromatic CC, around 1610cm−1). The ratio between the intensities of the peaks leads to a self-normalization of the measurements which avoids the effects of some experimental parameters (such as sample preparation).The results obtained show that there is a significant and progressive penetration of OH groups from the surface to the inside part of the ancient sculpture (more OH on the surface than inside the wood, due to the aging of the surface and the creation of sites which are able to fix OH groups). In contrary, for the modern one, we measure an increase of OH contents from the surface to the inner part of the sculpture.

Provenance Studies of the Marble of Ancient Sculptures in the Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence

The provenance of the marbles used for the five ancient sculptures on display in the Tribune of the Uffizi—the Venere Medici, the Apollo Medici, the Satiro danzante, the Arrotino and the Lottatori—has been determined using a well‐established multi‐method approach that includes isotopic, petrographic and EPR data. The Arrotino was found to be made of Docimium marble from the Phrygian quarries of Iscehisar, whereas Parian lychnites was used for the other four sculptures. Restorations, including the restoration of the Satiro ascribed to Michelangelo or his school, primarily used Pentelicon marble. The Lottatori, however, underwent multiple restorations that used a lychnites analytically different from the original stock, as well as Docimium, Carrara and Göktepe marbles. The right arm of the winner, which was considered to be a later addition, turned out to be made using the original marble—lychnites marble. The marble data provide support for the chronology of the sculptures and give insight into the complex sequence of restorations that they underwent.

The Forms and Meanings of Living Creatures in Ancient Buddhist Sculpture

The Forms and Meanings of Living Creatures in Ancient Buddhist Sculpture

Hammers, Axes, Bulls, and Blood: Some Practical Aspects of Roman Animal Sacrifice

AbstractAnimal sacrifice was a central component of ancient Roman religion, but scholars have tended to focus on the symbolic aspects of these rituals, while glossing over the practical challenges involved in killing large, potentially unruly creatures, such as bulls. The traditional explanation is that the animal was struck on the head with a hammer or an axe to stun it, then had its throat cut. Precisely how axes, hammers, and knives were employed remains unexplained. This article draws upon ancient sculpture, comparative historical sources, and animal physiology to argue that the standard interpretation is incomplete, and, in its place, offers a detailed analysis of exactly how the killing and bleeding of bovines was accomplished and the distinct purposes of hammers and axes within these rituals.

Variable temperature and moisture conditions in Yungang Grottoes, China, and their impacts on ancient sculptures

Deterioration of grottoes induced by the negative impacts of the variable temperature and moisture conditions has been an important issue in the conservation of heritage sites in China. In this case study, the spatial distributions and varying patterns of moisture and temperature in the caves of Yungang Grottoes, China, were investigated. The relative air humidity was approximately 100 % in the deep zone of the unsaturated surrounding rocks of the grottoes where the temperature remained almost steady at around 9.4 °C. However, the indoor air temperature, relative humidity, and rock surface temperature in the caves varied significantly because of the active exchange of the air with the outside atmosphere. The condensation water appeared on cave walls in the summer when the dew point in the air was higher than the rock surface temperature. Preliminary assessments with a special collection device indicated that the thickness of the transient condensation water could reach 0.03–0.10 mm on the back wall of a cave. The occurrence of this condensation water is expected to worsen salt deterioration of the sculptures in the grottoes. As revealed by long-term observations, a wooden building in front of a cave can weaken the indoor air temperature fluctuation and reduce the condensation water, and consequently, prevent the negative effects of the microclimate for the sculptures.

Displaying the Ideals of Antiquity: The Petrified Gaze by Johannes Siapkas and Lena Sjögren

390 PHOENIX make up the subject of the book, but also for understanding the importance of the myths displayed so prominently in so many ancient Roman homes and tombs. By approaching the interpretation of the reliefs on the sarcophagi through the eyes of the beholder, Zanker makes it impossible ever again to discuss these images solely as decoration or as a window to the afterlife. The new volume, from the series Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture and Representation, is beautifully produced and illustrated with photos, many in color, of the sarcophagi. Despite its expense, it is a necessary addition to every library collection of books on Roman art. The College of New Jersey Lee Ann Riccardi Displaying the Ideals of Antiquity: The Petrified Gaze. By Johannes Siapkas and Lena SjÈ ogren. New York and London: Routledge. 2014. Pp. xii, 242. Museum exhibits of ancient artefacts are one of the most common ways people, whether members of the public or specialists, encounter the physical remains of antiquity . However, current displays in museums are rarely considered when discussing the development of the discipline of classical art history and archaeology. This book breaks new ground by including museum exhibits as an important element in the historiography of ancient sculpture. The book is organized into four sections. Part I introduces the aims of the book: to examine how academic debates about ancient sculpture, first begun in eighteenthand nineteenth-century scholarship and reformulated in current research, are reflected in contemporary museum displays and the popular perception of ancient art. Part II, “Discursive Settings,” begins with a historiographical consideration of the early development of the closely intertwined disciplines of classical archaeology (Chapter One) and art history (Chapter Two). An excellent overview of several centuries of studies in ancient sculpture follows (Chapter Three), highlighting influential issues in scholarship ranging from Winkelmann’s1 foundational work in the eighteenth century to that of key twentyfirst -century scholars. Chapter Four concludes this section by focusing on the re-use and re-evaluation of these historic ideas in current scholarship through an examination of individual cases: the Parthenon sculptures, archaic korai, and the contextualization of Roman art. While the overview of sculptural studies is handled with assurance, combining key developments with sweeping fashions influenced by contemporary social, political, and scholarly issues, the treatment of current scholarship is less comprehensive. One important omission is the influence of the modern afterlife and collection history of ancient sculpture on the discipline.2 The omission is curious, since this approach closely relates to both the early development of the discipline and to the museum displays that form the focus of Part III. 1 J. J. Winkelmann, Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (Dresden 1764). 2 For example, V. Coltman, Classical Sculpture and the Culture of Collecting in Britain since 1760 (Oxford 2009; included in the bibliography); I. Bignamini and C. Hornsby, Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth-Century Rome (New Haven 2010); and C. Bilsel, Antiquity on Display: Regimes of the Authentic in Berlin’s Pergamon Museum (Oxford 2012). BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 391 This final section, Part III, entitled “Museological Frictions,” examines current permanent displays of ancient sculpture in several international museums and considers how they reflect the debates explored in the published scholarship. After a brief introduction to museum concerns, there is an overview of the evolution of museums and of displays of antiquities (Chapter Five, “Genealogies”). This progresses from the earliest stages of private collections of curiosities to the public museums of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and includes discussion of the use of plaster casts. It is contextualized within the development of the disciplines of art history and classical archaeology already introduced in the opening chapters. The next three chapters use individual examples of museum display as illustrations of the three broad approaches to the study of ancient sculpture already identified. Chapter Six, “Masterpieces,” examines how the concerns of Meisterforschungen and Kopienkritik are carried into exhibits by giving key sculptures preferential treatment (through position, lighting, etc.) as expressions of artistic genius, while divorcing them from other narratives about ancient sculpture. The chapter concludes by considering the popularization of ancient sculpture, exemplified by the Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace, which have...

Chinese art: A survey of collections and research materials in the United States

During the 20th century a range of museums in the United States were engaged in acquiring Chinese art objects, developing major collections of painting and calligraphy, ancient bronze, Buddhist sculpture, ceramics and other decorative arts. Research materials on Chinese art have been collected by art libraries in major museums and the East Asian libraries of the main research universities. The author surveys significant Chinese art collections in museums and research libraries in the United States today.

Carolyn E. Tate. Review of "Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Maya Painting and Sculpture" by Andrea Stone and Marc Zender.

Carolyn E. Tate. Review of "Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Maya Painting and Sculpture" by Andrea Stone and Marc Zender.

Ország Lili Itáliai Vázlatfüzetei

Abstract Lili Ország visited Italy five times between 1968 and 1972. During her travels she prepared numerous sketches and drawings, which are now held at the Archives of the Hungarian National Gallery. The six sketchbooks filled during her trips to Italy are dominated by registration of the Pompeii, Herculaneum and Naples experiences, nevertheless there are pages drawn full in Rome as well. So far art history literature has only briefly touched upon these sketchbooks. The present essay, through examples of those pages where the subject of sketches has been clearly identified, intends to analyse methods of picture construction and composition in the art of Lili Ország, and also to underline the importance of Italian, especially Pompeian experience in her works. Preponderant majority of sketches — drawn with pencil, ball-point pen or marker as aide memoires — delineate painted walls of Pompeii, yet antique sculptures, some mosaics, and as an exception to the rule a few panel paintings and papyrus scrolls also come up in the sketchbooks. Latter also serve as specific examples for borrowing motifs. Figural scenes among Pompeian frescoes hardly fascinated Lili Ország, it was rather the system of decorative wall-panes, their colours, the changing rythm of patches (that is the third Pompeian style), and also illusionistic architectural spaces (the second style) that made her trace them religiously. In her sketches she paid attention to exact representation of proportions and composition, the expressiveness of her outlines is exceptional. She registered colours in detail, using denominations that evoque material consistence. She precisely traced all injuries of walls, including abrasion, cracks or patches of mortar. She felt only those motifs (be human figures or objects) worth of treasuring for later use, that had an air of bizarre or peculiar. She loved pictures and sculptures with mystical influences, she was interested in instruments that could reach the desirable effect (worn down green walls, fragmented stuccoes). The majority of sculptures drawn can be characterized by abundant drapery hiding the forms of human body. Representation of human figures in general can be marked by the lack of sensual visualisation, faces are scarcely ever individualised. Expressive power of figures, their emotions, states of mind are transmitted by postures and gestures. While she had already lit on the basic elements of her paintings well before her Italian travels, the Pompeian experience was key to further development of her composing methods. This impulse unequivocally contributed to the creation of the Labyrinth-series. The division of the wall surface into smaller units, the lapsing system of picture panes, the rythm of coulorful, often pale patches served as essential sources of inspiration.

Ingres's Shadows

By the 1850s, the morbid associations of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's art were given voice by supporters and detractors alike. The examination of Ingres's depictions of ancient sculpture for the publication the Musée français (1803–12), however, unfixes the seductive connections between an ingriste sculptural metaphor and the specter of a deadening classical past. The distinctive forms of Ingres's drawings are here understood in relation to philosophical considerations of sensory experience and to evaluations of the special aesthetic experience of sculpture. This vantage point reveals the possibilities ancient sculpture held out for Ingres and emphasizes the distinctly modern terms of its allure.

Empire without End: Antiquities Collections in Renaissance Rome, c. 1350–1527

'Empire without End' traces the history of antiquities collecting in early modern Rome from the fourteenth century to the Sack of Rome in 1527. It considers the question of how antique images in this era went from pagan idols to be smashed or re-used as building materials to ‘works of art’ displayed in collections, paying particular attention to the role of collecting in the invention of fictive genealogies, the paragone between sculpture and poetry, and the reception of antique sculpture by academic sodalities. The book includes a catalogue that maps out the history of the most important sculpture collections of this period.

Inversion comique ou critique satirique ? La vue du Capitole de Hieronymus Cock (1562)

Hieronymus Cock’s view of the Capitoline Hill, published in his 1562 series on Roman ruins, has long been considered a useful document by historians of art and architecture for the key historical and topographical information it contains on one of Rome’s most celebrated sites during the Renaissance. Beyond its documentary nature, which, as will appear, was essentially rhetorical, the view also offers much information as to how a mid-sixteenth-century Flemish artist might perceive Rome’s illustrious topography and celebrated ancient statuary. In other words, Cock’s engraving enables us to put into practice what may be called an “archaeology of the gaze.” Through previously unnoticed details, Cock invents a comical—verging on the satirical—vision of the antique sculptures proudly displayed on the famous piazza. Such an ironical reversal of Italian classical dignity is typical of the attitude of some contemporary Flemish artists, such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, who was then close to Cock, and exposes the ambivalent position of some Northern European artists towards the classical tradition and Italian art theory. Finally, the analysis of other engravings of ruins by Hieronymus Cock where two emblematic characters—the draftsman and the kakker (the one who defecates)—appear side by side, sheds light on the origin and possible significance of these comical and subversive details.

Remarks of a Jagiellonian University Professor Concerning the Statues of Venus Seen in the Year 1845 in Italian Museums

Michał Wiszniewski (1794-1865), professor of the Jagiellonian University, philosopher, psychologist, historian and historian of literature, visited Italy in 1845. Apart from academic activities, he was also for some time involved in politics, which resulted in his emigration to Italy in 1848, during the turbulent period of this year’s Revolutions. He died in Nice, which in 1860 was incorporated to France, and earlier had belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia. He was buried in the capuchin church on the mount Cimies near Nice. During his stay in Italy in 1845 he visited monuments and museums, and made very detailed notes. Among others he wrote the first and also only Polish description of the rooms and collections of the Museo Borbonico (nowadays the Museo Archeologico Nazionale) in Naples. He devoted whole sections to the ancient sculptures of Aphrodite-Venus. He compared various statues of Venus: the Capitoline Venus, the Medici Venus and the crouching Venus by Doidalsas. One of the numerous Roman copies of this work is kept in the museum in Naples, together with the statue of Venus Kallipygos, discovered in Rome in the 16th century. The same museum possesses also the so-called Venus of Capua, discovered c. 1750 and reconstructed with certain degree of liberty in 1820 by the sculptor Augusto Brunelli, disciple of Antonio Canova. Brunelli supplemented the arms, parts of the nose and garments; moreover, he added the figure of Eros, which by now had been removed, but can be seen on the 19th century drawings. Wiszniewski saw and described the statue in this shape. During his stay in Sicily, in the museum of Syracuse he admired the statue of Venus discovered in 1804 by the archaeologist Saverio Landolino, and named after him. It is still one of the most important objects of this museum. His short impressions are the only Polish texts that describe the Greek sculptures representing Aphrodite, even if they are less well known than the Venus of Milo from Paris.

Art in Ancient Ife, Birthplace of the Yoruba

Artists the world over shape knowledge and material into works of unique historical importance. The artists of ancient Ife, ancestral home to the Yoruba and mythic birthplace of gods and humans, clearly were interested in creating works that could be read. Breaking the symbolic code that lies behind the unique meanings of Ife’s ancient sculptures, however, has vexed scholars working on this material for over a century. While much remains to be learned, thanks to a better understanding of the larger corpus of ancient Ife arts and the history of this important southwestern Nigerian center, key aspects of this code can now be discerned. In this article I explore how these arts both inform and are enriched by early Ife history and the leaders who shaped it.1 In addition to core questions of art iconography and symbolism, I also address the potent social, political, religious, and historical import of these works and what they reveal about Ife (Ile-Ife) as an early cosmopolitan center. My analysis moves away from the recent framing of ancient Ife art from the vantage of Yoruba cultural practices collected in Nigeria more broadly, and/or the indiscriminate use of regional and modern Yoruba proverbs, poems, or language idioms to inform this city’s unique 700-year-old sculptural oeuvre.2 Instead I focus on historical and other considerations in metropolitan Ife itself. This shift is an important one because Ife’s history, language, and art forms are notably different than those in the wider Yoruba region and later eras. My approach also differs from recent studies that either ahistorically superimpose contemporary cultural conventions on the reading of ancient works or unilinearly posit art development models concerning form or material differences that lack grounding in Ife archaeological evidence. My aim instead is to reengage these remarkable ancient works alongside diverse evidence on this center’s past and the time frame specific to when these sculptures were made. In this way I bring art and history into direct engagement with each other, enriching both within this process. One of the most important events in ancient Ife history with respect to both the early arts and later era religious and political traditions here was a devastating civil war pitting one group, the supporters of Obatala (referencing today at once a god, a pantheon, and the region’s autochthonous populations) against affiliates of Odudua (an opposing deity, pantheon, and newly arriving dynastic group). The Ikedu oral history text addressing Ife’s history (an annotated kings list transposed from the early Ife dialect; Akinjogbin n.d.) indicates that it was during the reign of Ife’s 46th king—what appears to be two rulers prior to the famous King Obalufon II (listed as Ekenwa in this early king list; Fig. 1)—that this violent civil war broke out. This conflict weakened the city enough so that there was little resistance when a military force under the conqueror Oranmiyan arrived in this historic city. The dispute likely was framed in part around issues of control of Ife’s rich manufacturing resources (glass beads, among these). Conceivably it was one of Ife’s feuding polities that invited this outsider force to come to Ife to help rectify the situation for their side. As Akinjogbin explains (1992:98), Oranmiyan and his cavalry, after gaining control of Ife “... stemmed the ... uprising by siding with the weaker ... of the disunited pre-Oduduwa groups .... [driving Obalufon II] into exile at Ilara3 and became the Ooni.” Eventually, the deposed King Obalufon II with the help of a large segment of Ife’s population was able to defeat this military leader and the latter’s supporters. In Ife today, Odudua is identified in ways that complement Oranmiyan. As Akintitan explains (p.c.):4 “It was Odudua who was the last to come to Ife, a man

Engaging ancient Maya sculpture at Piedras Negras, Guatemala

Engaging ancient Maya sculpture at Piedras Negras, Guatemala

The impact of restoration. The example of the dancing satyr in the Uffizi

The aim of this article is to show that reputed restorations may have an unexpected impact on the study of ancient sculpture. During the 17th–19th centuries, a number of restored antiques were held in exceptionally high regard. One of the consequences of their renown was the production of copies and adaptations in different scales and media. Such reproductions did not distinguish between the ancient and the restored parts of the work. Today these reproductions are centuries old, and in many cases their provenance has long since been forgotten. Therefore, such post-Antique sculptures are easily misinterpreted as ancient. Subsequently, they are at times used as evidence of ancient sculptural production. Needless to say, this may cause flawed notions of Classical sculpture. The complexity of this relationship, between the ancient and the restored, is here exemplified by tracing the impact that a restored motif—“Satyrs with cymbals”—has had on the study of an ancient sculpture type: the satyr attributed to “The invitation to the dance”.

Reconstructions of the East Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia – A Comparison of Drawings, Plaster Casts and Digital Models

The arrangement of the five central figures of the East pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia has been the subject of scholarly debates since the discovery of the fragments more than a century ago. In theory, there are four substantially different arrangements, all of which have already been selected by certain scholars for various aesthetic, technical and other considerations. The reconstructions were visualized most frequently in drawings or in plaster models (on a reduced scale or in the original size), which have partly survived in Dresden, but did not receive appropriate attention during the last decades. Most recently the team of a three-years research project lead by the author tried to approach the controversy in a new way, by producing a virtual 3D reonstruction of the group. Digital models of the statues were produced by scanning the original fragments and by reconstructing them virtually. The virtual model of the pediment surrounding the sculptures was prepared on the basis of the latest architectural studies and afterwards the reconstructed models were inserted into this frame, in order to test the technical feasibility and aesthetic effects the four possible arrangements. Finally, the plaster models of the same pieces of ancient sculpture made at the end of the 19th century were also digitized and in this way they could be compared with the digital reconstruction produced during the present project. This paper presents a brief history of research, the final results of the digital reconstruction project and offers a comparison with the earlier attempts achieved by other methods. The advantages of the digital models can be thus fully appreciated.