Marble Statue Research Articles

Roman White Marbles in Northern Marche Region (Italy): An Archaeometric Provenance Study

Archaeometric investigations were conducted on Roman marble statues, engraved slabs, and memorial bases discovered in various archaeological sites located in the present Marche Region (Italy), including Fanum Fortunae, Pisaurum, and Potentia. These artefacts are currently housed in the Archaeologic Museum of Fano, the Archaeologic Museum of Pesaro, and the Archaeologic Museum of Porto Recanati (Macerata). Spanning from the Republican age to the Severan dynasty and up until the middle of the fourth century AD, these archaeological artefacts attest to the existence of numerous urbanized Roman colonies adorned with monuments and marble decorations. Mineralogical and petrographic examinations, along with C-O stable isotopic and chemical analyses (MgO and Sr), were carried out to both characterize the marble features and determine their provenance. This research aimed to delineate the specific use and distribution of these marbles across different chronological periods. The results indicated that Proconnesian marble was mainly used in the engraved slabs from Fanum Fortunae, with one exception in which Pentelic marble was identified. The sculptures from Fanum Fortunae and Potentia were carved from white marbles, including Lunense and Parian marbles (Parian-1 and Parian-2 types), with limited use of Pentelic and Thasian marbles, notably the Thasian-3 variety. Memorial bases from Pisaurum were identified to be made from Parian, Proconnesian, and Thasianmarbles. The archaeometric provenance of the different marbles was correlated with the archaeological dating of the artefacts to establish a chronological framework describing their use over time. This work provides an opportunity to appreciate Roman artifacts crafted from precious white marbles, which are housed in various museums throughout the Marche Region. The archaeometric investigation offers a significant contribution to the dissemination of knowledge and serves as a valuable tool for the enhancement of this archaeological and cultural heritage, potentially informing policies aimed at promoting geotourism.

Investigating the Internal Deterioration of the Auriga Statue of Mozia Island, Sicily, through Ultrasonic and Ground-Penetrating Radar Studies

The Greek marble statue of the Auriga of Mozia Island, in Sicily, is the most important artwork displayed at the Whitaker Foundation Archaeological Museum. It underwent geophysical investigations twice, in 2012 and 2021, to assess the marble’s degradation. The 2012 investigation prepared the statue for transfer to the Paul Getty Museum in New York and repositioning on an anti-seismic pedestal. The 2021 investigation evaluated potential new damage before another transfer. Both investigations utilized 3D ultrasonic tomography (UST) to detect degraded marble areas and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to identify internal discontinuities, such as fractures or lesions, and locate metal pins that were previously inserted to reassemble the statue and its pedestal. Results from the UST indicate an average marble velocity of approximately 4700 m/s, suggesting good mechanical strength, with some areas showing lower velocities (~3000 m/s) within the material’s variability range. The GPR profiles demonstrated internal signal homogeneity, excluding internal fracture surfaces or lesions, and confirmed the presence of metallic pins. This study highlights the effectiveness of integrating UST and GPR for non-invasive diagnostics of marble sculptures, providing detailed insights into the marble’s condition and identifying hidden defects or damage.

AN UNNOTICED COPY OF PRAXITELES’ EROS AT PARION FROM SALAMIS ON CYPRUS

The marble statue of Eros at Parion, a work by Praxiteles, is known thanks to Pliny 36.22. This Latin writer reports that a Rhodian man, Alketas, physically loved the statue. This image is reproduced on coins of this town from the reign of Antonine Pius until that of Aemilian, that is from around AD 140 to 253. This article provides a new catalogue of these coin types and a description of the Eros figure represented on coins. Statues derived from this masterpiece have been recognized, but they are variations rather than copies because they do not coincide entirely with the image of Eros represented on coins. This study provides also an updated catalogue of these variations, disposed in a chronological order, from the late classical times to the Antonine period, that is from around 340 BC to around AD 160. However, a marble statue entirely in keeping with the figure on coins does exist at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. It originates from the gymnasium of Salamis in Cyprus. The statue dates to Hadrianic times, a period when Praxitelean statues were often copied. This copy allows us to appreciate Praxiteles’ treatment of the surfaces of this important creation for the first time.The torso reveals a good balance between the body’s structure and sense of skin, suggesting that the original statue was pertinent to the Praxitelean production of the early maturity of the sculptor (around 350 BC) because the prevalence of a velvety epidermis upon bones and muscles characterizes the late production of this Athenian sculptor.

Mechanisms of Aesthetics: On the Perception of Materials and Their Properties.

The visual perception of material surface qualities holds immense importance in our daily lives, serving as the foundation for various environmental interpretations and behavioural adaptations. These encompass critical safety aspects, like assessing floor safety or food freshness, to appreciating intricate sculptural illusions, such as delicately draped fabric in marble statues. Particularly for products with high aesthetic value, perceived properties play a significant role in subjectively attributing material worth. Given the vast array of material surfaces and the pivotal role of lighting in the overall visual perception process, this presents a major challenge for lighting planners and designers. Currently, the achievement of aesthetic effects in architectural spaces heavily relies on the opinions and experiences of professionals, as there are no specific guidelines for combining materials with different lighting concepts. Hence, decoding the connection between physical properties and their subjective interpretations becomes crucial in facilitating the objective planning of materials. In this study, more than 600 materials were systematically examined to explore the interaction between perceived material properties and the resulting aesthetic effects. The resulting perception model establishes a direct link between objectively assigned and subjectively perceived material properties. These findings hold promise in contributing to both a more accurate evaluation and prediction of material appearances in the long term.

Innovation of a Master Wonder-worker in the Character of Simon Peter

Simon Peter undergoes a considerable development from his first introduction in the Gospel of Mark to later narratives, where he gains remarkable miraculous abilities. In Mark, he witnesses Jesus performing numerous miracles without himself being named as the performer of a single one, but in Matthew’s Gospel Peter walks on water (Matt 14:22–33), in Acts he heals two paralytics and raises a woman from the dead (Acts 3:1–10; 9:32–42), and in the fourth-century Latin Acts of Peter, also known as Actus Vercellenses, he makes a dog speak (Acts Pet. 9.9–15), miraculously restores a shattered marble statue (11.8–23) and revives several people from the dead (27.1–11; 28.63–66). This article examines how Peter’s various miracles contribute to their respective stories, analyses how they reflect the needs of their respective authors, and discusses what they tell us about the use of genre in the narrative tradition about the apostle Peter and his miracles.

The impact of stone position and location on the microbiome of a marble statue

Microbial proliferation and biodeterioration constitutes a serious threat towards the preservation of stone monuments and relics. Geometry and exposure have been recently pinpointed as important factors determining the microbiome organization in stone monuments. In this work, the impacts of position and location on the microbial communities and their predicted metabolical and ecological profiles on a marble statue were studied. We sampled various epilithic stone biofilms from the Brotero statue (Coimbra’s UNESCO World Heritage site) and studied them by Next-generation Sequencing of the V3/V4 and the ITS2 regions, and bioinformatic analyses. We verified that statue location/heights have a more relevant impact than position/sides on the microbiome, and that Fungal and Chlorophyta communities showed a more diverse and less stable structural organization than Bacteria. Thus, while sub-aerial biofilms were mainly colonized by selective groups of extremophilic microorganisms, our results highlight that this specificity is more pronounced in prokaryotes. Bacterial metabolic functional distribution patterns were found to be distinct and adapted according to statue heights, while fungi displayed a strong domination of various types of saprotrophs. In addition to various “degraders” present in all samples, lower statue areas displayed strong connections with nitrogen fixators, while high and middle zones displayed stronger correlations with nitrogen and sulfur cycle bacteria. Moreover, biodeterioration at these sites can be promoted by biodeteriogenic cyanobacteria, bacteria linked to biogeochemical cycles, microcolonial Fungi and Chlorophyta able to thrive under hostile environments. In addition, mutualistic and competitive relationships between taxonomic groups were detected, that will require additional focus on future studies.

Temporal Shifts in Singapore

Singapore’s relationship with colonialism has long been fraught with resentment while simultaneously being unable to detach itself from its identity as a former British colony. Colonial officer Sir Stamford Raffles is regarded as a national icon, after whom the Raffles Hospital, Raffles Institution and business district Raffles Place are named after. Along the Singapore River is a white marble statue of Raffles, with the plaque reading “On this historic site, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles first landed in Singapore on 28th January 1819, and with genius and perception changed the destiny of Singapore from an obscure fishing village to a great seaport and modern metropolis.” Yet, there have been efforts to counter Western influence in Singapore, to justify illiberal or anti-democratic policies or simply to cultivate a synthetic national identity amongst a majority immigrant population with no primordial connection to the land. It is then necessary to investigate the origins of this strange relationship with the British: a desire to either defend the colonists or to declare Western values as wholly irreconcilable to ours, and therefore need to be rejected.

New Evidence about the Polychromy of Early Imperial Cycle from the Augusteum of Rusellae (Tuscany)

This study is concerned with recent analyses of seven marble statues from the imperial cycle of the Augusteum of Rusellae, in the south of Tuscany, Italy. The sculptures represent the deified couple Augustus and Livia, Livilla, Claudius, an anonymous young girl and a headless cuirassed emperor (maybe Domitian). In addition, a fragment of a leg, from another cuirassed statue, was also considered. All of them are preserved in the city of Grosseto, in the Maremma Archaeology and Art Museum. Still preserved traces of polychromy and gilding were investigated both in situ, using non-invasive portable techniques, and in laboratory, taking two micro-samples. The non-invasive approach was based on multi-band imaging techniques (Vis, UVL and VIL) integrated with analyses (XRF, reflectance spectroscopy). A portable optical microscopy was also used for documenting the analysed areas. Two micro-samples from the gilding decoration of the headless cuirassed statue were also analysed using EDS-SEM. Comparing the results from the analytical survey, important information about the use of ochres and Egyptian blue on the cuirassed headless Emperor statue has been highlighted with the presence of gilding in the cuirasses and in the mantle, enriching the knowledge of this important imperial cycle, in addition to contributing to the archaeological point of view.

Le Misanthrope by Molière, and: Le Malade Imaginaire by Molière, and: Le Tartuffe ou L’hypocrite by Molière, and: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Molière, and: L’avare by Molière (review)

Reviewed by: Le Misanthrope by Molière, and: Le Malade Imaginaire by Molière, and: Le Tartuffe ou L’hypocrite by Molière, and: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Molière, and: L’avare by Molière Nancy C. Jones LE MISANTHROPE. By Molière. Directed by Clément Hervieu-Léger. Comédie-Française, Paris. March 12, 2022. LE MALADE IMAGINAIRE. By Molière. Directed by Claude Stratz. Comédie-Française, Paris. March 14, 2022. LE TARTUFFE OU L’HYPOCRITE. By Molière. Directed by Ivo van Hove. Comédie-Française at Epidaurus Festival, Athens. June 18, 2022. LE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME. By Molière. Directed by Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq. Comédie-Française, Paris. June 23, 2022. L’AVARE. By Molière. Directed by Lilo Baur. Comédie-Française, Paris. June 25, 2022. LES FOURBERRIES DE SCAPIN. By Molière. Directed by Denis Podalydès. Comédie-Française, Paris. June 26, 2022. The Comédie-Française celebrated Molière’s 400th birthday in 2022 with a season devoted solely to his plays. Acquiring a “Carte Molière” allowed for early purchase of tickets to the Ivo van Hove Tartuffe and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme starring Christian Hecq, which both sold out within minutes of their public offering. I attended those and four other Molière classics between March and June 2022 during this extraordinary theatrical event. A year of classic comedy and a roomful of laughter was the ideal theatrical medicine: a perfectly timed and vital response to the incessant tragedies and hardships of the world today. The Comédie-Française sits on Paris’s rive droite just steps from the Musée du Louvre. One enters via the Place Colette through a foyer with a marble statue of Molière bearing witness. The main floor lobby houses a glass enclosed leather chair: the infamous set piece from Le Malade Imaginaire that Molière performed in before his tragic death. This theatrical relic sits in a place of honor, paying hauntological homage to the great playwright whose spirit inhabits the institution. Le Misanthrope, a play that Molière wrote while licking his artistic wounds in 1664 after Tartuffe was banned, reveals his struggles with depression and frustration amid the repressive and hypocritical atmosphere of court society. Eric Ruf designed the mise en scène for the 2022 Misanthrope as an expansive yet run down courtyard of a Hôtel Particulier undergoing renovation. As the curtain rose on this world in flux, a flurry of activity brought the stage to life: a maid entered to raise the elaborate glass chandelier; muslin-covered chairs littering the stage were arranged in new configurations; enormous, shuttered windows were opened; an upright piano tucked against the wall was partially uncovered. Each visual choice was a palimpsestic marriage of old and new. Caroline de Vivaise’s contemporary costumes echoed the somber palette, with men in perfectly tailored suits, juxtaposed with the bright red jewel tone of Célèmine’s exquisitely cut dress and heels. This visual blend of the past with the present is a trademark of the Comédie-Française and highlights their commitment to giving new life to canonical texts. The acting in The Misanthrope had power, resonance, and assurance. Loïc Corbery’s passionate and dejected Alceste at one point played a soulful tune on the abandoned piano, reflecting his brooding attempt to modify an imperfect society through his relentless honesty. Adeline d’Hermy as Célèmine juggled the weight of multiple suitors’ attention and Molière’s criticism of social pretense with feline allure and polished refinement. Director Clément Hervieu-Léger (who also played Acaste, the egotistical, velvet-clad marquis, as Molière himself did) created striking tableaux that used the totality of the massive stage, simultaneously elaborating on a society trapped by the hypocrisy of its social [End Page 104] rules and conventions. There is no happy marriage at the end of this play as Alceste is abandoned by Célèmine and seeks “un edroit écarté” where he can be a man of honor. The production ended with each character slowly exiting the stage in...

Florence and the Renaissance art works: the importance of the seismic safety

Florence is known all over the world for its history, monuments, Museums, and artworks. Unfortunately, such precious manufacts are not always adequately protected against natural hazards. Works of art, indeed, are very vulnerable to seismic effects, due to their irregular and slender shapes, and their fragile materials. All these reasons make them vulnerable to seismic events even when they do not achieve a destructive intensity. The current Technical Codes point out such vulnerability, despite providing guidelines not completely adequate to prevent the seismic damage. In this frame, a research activity has started within the Department of Architecture of Florence aimed at investigating the dynamic response of artworks to seismic events, including both simplified form-filling and more detailed Finite Element analyses. In this work, the seismic performance of the marble statue “Oceanus” by Giambologna has been as- sessed by adopting three different analytical models.

I’m Free Because I’m a Fugitive—I’m a Fugitive Because I’m Not Free

I’m Free Because I’m a Fugitive—I’m a Fugitive Because I’m Not Free

Kourion Urban Space Project: Preliminary Report of the 2018 Season

The 2018 season of the Kourion Urban Space Project (KUSP) continued the excavation of Building 4, a large structure situated just to the southwest of the Earthquake House on the Kourion promontory. Focusing on tracing the architecture of this building, this season revealed the northwest perimeter wall and identified two internal rooms: the courtyard and Room 35. Building 4 continues to yield high quality and imported artifacts including glass vessels and fragments of marble statuary along with imported marble and stone construction materials. These artifacts combined with the overall large size of this structure and construction materials suggest that this building served the elite class at Kourion, though it is still uncertain if it served a public or private purpose. This report was lodged with the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, in January 2022 and is published here with the authors’ affiliations as they were at the time of the excavation.

Will to the Original: Platonism in Henry James’ Roderick Hudson

Will to the Original: Platonism in Henry James’ <i>Roderick Hudson</i>

LA INFLUENCIA DE LAS COLONIAS DEL CARIBE SOBRE LA MODA FEMENINA EN EUROPA A FINALES DEL SIGLO XVIII Y PRINCIPIOS DEL XIX

Neoclassical fashion defined its diaphanous look by seeking to revive the style of the ancient Roman civilization, and the marble statues of ancient Greece; further influenced by the excavation of Pompeii in 1738 and its archeological developments in 1748. The attitudes towards voluminous and pompous fashions had changed, however the acceptance of the new modern and much more revealing silhouette did not occur without challenges. For neoclassical fashion to be accepted it needed a foundation to make it plausible, and it needed a pioneer to wear and deem it ‘appropriate’. This study builds a comprehensive analysis of some of the relationships France, England and other European countries built with their colonies in terms of textile manufacturing, imports and exports, and most importantly cultural appropriation. This study seeks to analyze how those colonies gave them new fashion perspectives, to develop the neoclassical fashions, we recognize from that period. In addition, this study will analyze the powerful influence of Josephine Bonaparte and other important female figures from neoclassical France, in perpetuating and expanding the use of these fabrics and styles; most importantly Josephine’s Caribbean background and her possible preference for lighter fabrics due to her birth on the island of Martinique, and how that influenced her sophisticated and cosmopolitan approach to fashion.

Marble Statue of Hercules from the Territory of Bassianae

Marble Statue of Hercules from the Territory of <i>Bassianae</i>

Early Hellenistic marble statue found in Alexandria, Egypt

On 4th of May 2009, in Shallalat Gardens of Alexandria, a marble statue was found, during the excavations held by H.R.I.A.C. (Hellenic Research Institute of Alexandrian Civilization). The statue represents a standing naked man in a form of classical contraposto, with one foot raised, possibly bent to a support. Head and body are in a very good condition, but the part of the legs under the knees is missing. The features of the statue, the attributes and the stylistic analysis are connected with the portraiture of Alexander the Great.

Carbonatogenic bacteria on the ‘Motya Charioteer’ sculpture

The ‘Motya Charioteer’ marble statue, a masterpiece of ancient Greek sculpting, was discovered in 1979 on the island of Motya, Sicily. A general assessment of the statue's conditions in 2008 revealed that the marble has lost its luster and started to show some microcracks. In 2019 and in 2020, microbiological surveys were conducted to assess the marble's biodeterioration through the identification of bacteria capable of metabolizing calcium carbonate and damaging the statue. Bacterial strains with calcium carbonate dissolution properties were isolated exclusively from the damaged areas of the statue; among 31 strains showing calcium carbonate metabolism (precipitation and/or dissolution), 23 were bacilli. While causation cannot be confirmed, these bacterial strains are certainly capable of dissolving marble leading to statue degradation. In two damaged areas of the statue, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, a common component of human skin flora was identified. This strain demonstrated a fast calcium carbonate dissolution property, which has not previously reported for this species. Finally, two strains (Lysinibacillus fusiformis and Metabacillus litoralis), showed carbonatogenic features perfectly suitable for a bioconsolidation intervention on the sculpture.

Insight on bacteria communities in outdoor bronze and marble artefacts in a changing environment

Epilithic bacteria play a fundamental role in the conservation of cultural heritage (CH) materials. On stones, bacterial communities cause both degradation and bioprotection actions. Bronze biocorrosion in non-burial conditions is rarely studied. Only few studies have examined the relationship between bacteria communities and the chemical composition of patinas (surface degradation layers). A better comprehension of bacterial communities growing on our CH is fundamental not only to understand the related decay mechanisms but also to foresee possible shifts in their composition due to climate change. The present study aims at (1) characterizing bacterial communities on bronze and marble statues; (2) evaluating the differences in bacterial communities' composition and abundance occurring between different patina types on different statues; and (3) providing indications about a representative bacterial community which can be used in laboratory tests to better understand their influence on artefact decay. Chemical and biological characterization of different patinas were carried out by sampling bronze and marble statues in Bologna and Ravenna (Italy), using EDS/Raman spectroscopy and MinION-based 16SrRNA sequencing.Significant statistical differences were found in bacterial composition between marble and bronze statues, and among marble patinas in different statues and in the same statue. Marble surfaces showed high microbial diversity and were characterized mainly by Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria and Deinococcus-Thermus. Bronze patinas showed low taxa diversity and were dominated by copper-resistant Proteobacteria. The copper biocidal effect is evident in greenish marble areas affected by the leaching of copper salts, where the bacterial community is absent. Here, Ca and Cu oxalates are present because of the biological reaction of living organisms to Cu ions, leading to metabolic product secretions, such as oxalic acid. Therefore, a better knowledge on the interaction between bacteria communities and patinas has been achieved.

Voyage of Ben Cao, Part II: Development of Chinese Medicinal Specimens in the British Museum

Voyage of Ben Cao, Part II: Development of Chinese Medicinal Specimens in the British Museum

Collaboration as a Solution to the Challenge of Re-instating the Statue of Scott After the Canterbury Earthquake, New Zealand

ABSTRACT The marble statue of Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott fell from its plinth in the 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, New Zealand. The statue, carved by his wife the sculptor Kathleen Scott, broke into two pieces. The subsequent conservation treatment to provide resilience against future earthquakes was not one that had been carried out previously on an historic statue. This paper discusses the treatment planning and treatment of the statue. It reflects on the people that inspired, created, commissioned and use the memorial, providing meaning and purpose for it. The paper considers how the conservation treatment was guided by these voices, and the voices of those who represent them today, in order to develop a treatment that is fit for purpose and reflects the spirit of the original site.