Imortalidade e culto imperial: arte plástica sob Otávio Augusto (original) (raw)

Toward a new interpretation of Roman art

Toward a new interpretation of Roman art, 2022

In this essay I investigate the most important approaches to visual arts in the Roman world. Thus the theory that visual arts were dead, the opinion that 'modern' works are better than ancient ones, the importance of artists until the late Antonine period, the process which led to an anonymous art are issues which are discussed in these twelve lectures.

Toward a new interpretation of Roman Art BODY

Toward a new interpretation of Roman Art, 2022

this book is a collection of lections delivered in the Lomonosov University, Moscow, on Roman themes. The conversion of the lections to chapters has been helped very much by Nadezda Nalimova and her assistants

The Julius Terentius Fresco and the Roman Imperial Cult in Mediterraneo Antico 10 (2007), 115-127

the first paintings that Henry Breasted discovered in Dura-Europos in , in the Temple of Bel or Temple of the Palmyrene gods, was the depiction of the sacrifice of Julius Terentius. Julius Terentius was tribune of the th Palmyrene cohort, and the painting-that represents him and his men in an act of worship-sheds light on the religious behaviour of a group of soldiers, a group largely comprising people whose roots lay outside Dura-Europos. 1 The identity of the three figures on the pedestals depicted as the objects of this worship has, however, been the subject of debate from the painting's first publication in until the present day. Opinions differ as to whether the three statues represent deified Roman emperors or Palmyrene deities. 2 For a long time, the hypothesis that they were Palmyrene gods had the best credentials. 3 Doubts arose with Thomas Pékary's study of Roman imperial statues that was published in . 4 Pékary's hypothesis that the three are statues of the emperors Gordian III, Balbinus and Pupienus, who co-ruled for several months during the spring and early summer of , convinced quite a few scholars, notably specialists in Roman military history. 5 Experts in the art and religion of Syria remained sceptical, however. 6

« Stories One Might Tell of Roman Art : Reading Trajan’s Column and the Tiberius Cup », dans Jas Elsner (éd.), Art and Text in Roman Culture, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996, 8-31.

ImroouclÎon JAS ELSNER [1] PART ONE M onuments as 'leXiS' and l e)(15 as m onumentS [71 SlOrÎ es o ne might tell orHom~n art : rcading Trajan 's 19 J columnandtheTiberiuscup VALÉRlf: Il UHT ! In\'entingimperium: lex.sand thepropaganda [pl ofmonurnentsinAuguslanl\ome JAS ELSNER PA RT TWO ArlagaÎ nStlhelCXI [jl) Even bel 1er Ihan the realthing: il tale of IWO ci lies r17] DON FOWlEk 4 V/figura poesis: writing art and th e ar! of wriling f7! J inAuguslanpoetry ANOR"\\' LAlllD Hepresentingmetamorphosis AL I SON S II AR R OCK (10 31 PART T IIHEE Art and the text of cu ltu re: identity, mcaning and imerprcI31ion [1} 1) 6 Stalues, mirroTs, god s: comroll ing images in Apuleius [1 HI YUN LE E TOO 7 The empire of adul ls : the representalion o f çhildren on [1531 Trajan'sarch alBenevemum SARA H CUR RIE 8 The IOrlurer's appremice: Parrhasius and Ihe lim its of art [ 1811 IIELEN MORALES 9 III comm~moro liolltm mortuonl.m: te='lt and imagealong [11 0J ,hc 'strcctsoflombs' MI CHAEL KOORTBOjlAN 10 Foolnolc: reprcscnlalion in Ihe Vil/oo! tilt AtysttrÙS [13sl JOHN H ENDERSON Nom (177] DttoilJofiliuslftltiollS 13781 1 Tl'lIjan',colum n,bron1.emodel in Ille Facuh)' of CIa"ics, Cambridge.

"Exhibition Review: Augusto, Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome.” Sculpture Journal 23.3 (2014): 403-04

Like the last exhibition in Rome to Augustus, in 1937-38, the Augusto exhibition at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale celebrated an event: his death, the 2,000th anniversary of which was on 19 August 2014. The exhibition was one of numerous cultural events, conferences and exhibitions on the first Roman emperor (http:// augustus2014.com/2014-events/). This exhibition (also shown in Paris with the title 'Moi, Auguste, Empereur de Rome') impressively drew objects from the Vatican Museums and other museums throughout Italy and abroad including the Louvre, British Museum, Kunsthistorisches in Vienna and Ny Carlsberg in Copenhagen. Despite the extraordinary loan of key objects, the design and layout of the show in Rome missed an opportunity to highlight new interpretive modes of display, especially for ancient Roman sculpture and material culture. However, the exhibition provided an ideal opportunity for scholars to study the objects closely and make comparisons. The lighting, for the most part, was well adjusted for viewing the varying surface qualities of the marbles: from powdery, weathered (or acid-bathed) surfaces to those that were highly polished or painted. The first section of the exhibition presented portraiture, from colossal and full-length statues to heads and gems. The second section included sculptures related to cult images, polychrome terracotta panels from public buildings, fragments found in the Forum of Augustus, silverware, including pieces from the Louvre's Boscoreale treasure, red ware and their press-moulds, the so-called Grimani Reliefs brought together for the first time, and the Medinaceli/Actium Reliefs. Media and typology determined the placement of objects (all portrait heads together, all gems together, all silver together, etc.). A chance was thus missed to juxtapose diverse three-dimensional objects to evoke the interaction between the various arts of the Augustan world. In terms of display, one of the most successful rooms was dedicated to portrait heads. Nothing frustrates scholars of Roman portraiture more than not being able to see these in profile and from the back. The room opened with the fragmentary bronze equestrian statue of Augustus from Athens, exhibited in Italy for the first time. Then, chronologically related portraits were set together at varying angles and installed on curved island bases in the centre of the room. The movement of visitors activated the portraits: as heads appeared to turn previously obscured profiles came into view, as if looking through a crowd. The placement allowed visitors to move around the portraits, providing a stunning panorama of the most important visages from the time of Augustus: the emperor himself, Livia, and his extended family. Agrippa's portrait from the Louvre stood out in its rugged vigour when viewed across from the soft rendering of Pompey from Venice. The striking differences in quality, expression and facial details in the various portraits of Octavian/ Augustus were also showcased. The highlight of the exhibition was the room dedicated to the Augustus of Prima Porta, the Naples Doryphoros and the Augustus as Pontifex Maximus, on view together for the first time. The confrontation between Augustus' portraits in the two statues highlighted the properties of Greek marble to convey the powerful gaze of the first emperor, whose portrait-type embodied the contradictory qualities of youthful vitality and experience. Besides the opportunity to compare the Prima Porta statue with the Doryphoros, which were placed side by side, the display also allowed visitors to see the backs