HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN IDEAL SCULPTURE

In this book, Rachel Kousser draws on contemporary reception theory to present a new approach to Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculpture. She analyzes the Romans’ preference for retrospective, classicizing statuary based on Greek models as opposed to the innovative creations prized by modern scholars. Using a case study of a particular sculptural type, a forceful yet erotic image of Venus, Kousser argues that the Romans self-consciously employed such sculptures to represent their ties to the past in a rapidly evolving world. Kousser presents Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculpture as an example of a highly effective artistic tradition that was, by modern standards, extraordinarily conservative. At the same time, the Romans’ flexible and opportunistic use of past forms also had important implications for the future; it constituted the origins of classicism in Western art.

Rachel Meredith Kousser is assistant professor of ancient art at Brooklyn College and member of the doctoral faculty at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has received fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, the Römish-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, the PSC-CUNY Research Foundation, and the American Numismatic Society. She has contributed several articles to the American Journal of Archaeology.

HELLENISTIC AND
ROMAN IDEAL SCULPTURE

THE ALLURE OF THE CLASSICAL

RACHEL MEREDITH KOUSSER

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi

Cambridge University Press
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© Rachel Meredith Kousser 2008

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First published 2008

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Kousser, Rachel Meredith, 1972–
Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculpture : the allure of the classical / by Rachel Meredith Kousser.
p.   cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-87782-4 (hardcover)
1. Sculpture, Hellenistic. 2. Sculpture, Roman. 3. Classicism in art. 4. Art – Philosophy. I. Title.
NB94.K69   2007
733–dc22      2007045445

ISBN 978-0-521-87782-4 hardback

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the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or
third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication
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Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge here the many institutions and individuals who have helped to make this book possible. Beginning with institutions, many thanks go to the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, where this project had its inception, and to Columbia University, Franklin and Marshall College, and Brooklyn College, which supported it to its conclusion; my colleagues and students at all these places have taught me a great deal. In addition to these institutions, grants from the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Berlin, the PSC-CUNY Research Fund, the Tow Faculty Fellowship Fund, the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, the Mellon Foundation, and the American Numismatic Society have also provided critical assistance. And I would like to thank the libraries of the American Academy in Rome, the Deutsches Archäologisches Institute in Rome, and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

Because of this project’s broad chronological and geographical span, I have had the pleasure of visiting and discussing my research with scholars at many museums in Europe and America. Their time and assistance have been invaluable. Thanks are due to Dr. Maria Theresa Nota at the Museo Barracco; Dr. Kristina Herrmann Fiore at the Museo Borghese; Dr. Lucrezia Ungaro at the Museo dei Fori Imperiali; Dr. Nicoletta Pagliardi at the Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme; Dr. Paolo Liverani at the Musei Vaticani; Dr. Giuseppe Chiarucci at the Museo Civico di Albano; Dr. Franca Muselli Scotti at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia; Dr. Francesca Morandini at the Musei Civici d’Arte e Storia di Brescia; Dr. Angela Marinazzo at the Museo Provinciale di Brindisi; Dr. Litta Medri at the Palazzo Pitti; Dr. Stefano di Caro of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici delle province di Napoli e Caserta; Dr. Antonio Giannetti at the Museo Civico Archeologico di Ripatransone; Dr. Wolfgang Schmidt of the Saalburg-Museum; Dr. Angela Nestler-Zapp of the Römerhalle, Bad Kreuznach; Dr. Peter Fasold of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte-Archäologisches Museum, Frankfurt; Dr. Katerina Horst of the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe; Dr. Peter Noelke of the Museumsdienst Köln; Dr. Richard Petrovsky of the Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer; Dr. Martin Kemkes of the Württembergerisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart; Dr. Heiner Protzmann at the Skulpturensammlung, Dresden; Dr. Sabine Faust at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier; Dr. Gertrud Platz at the Antikensammlung, Berlin; Dr. Leo Heftner at the Römermuseum, Obernburg; Dr. Michael Klein at the Landesmuseum Mainz; Dr. Ernst Künzl at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz; Dr. Alain Pasquier at the Louvre; Professor Guy Sanders, director of the Corinth Excavations; Marshall Price at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; and Dr. Christopher Lightfoot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Because acquiring photos is one of the most difficult, expensive, and time-intensive aspects of publication, I would like to thank, in addition to those already mentioned, the following institutions and individuals for facilitating this for me: Dr. Moritz Woelk at the Skulpturensammlung, Dresden; Dr. Elena Stolyarik at the American Numismatic Society; Dr. Maria Luisa Nava of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici delle province di Napoli e Caserta; Professor Andrew Stewart; Dr. Hans Joachim Schalles of the Regionalmuseum Xanten; Dr. Peter de Staebler of the Aphrodisias Archive, New York University; Dr. Louis Swinkels of the Museum Het Valkof, Nijmegen; Dr. Orhan Atvur; Ms. Joanna Ball of the Trinity College Library, Cambridge; Professor Lea Stirling; Dr. Francesco Buranelli of the Musei Vaticani; Dr. Anna Mura Sommella of the Musei Capitolini, Rome; Dr. Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst of the Corinth Excavations; Katherine Welch; David Cornell; and M. Dominique Moulis of the Service Culture Ville de Narbonne.

Appropriately for a book about reception, I have learned a great deal from the responses of audiences to my ideas and would here like to thank the following institutions and organizations where I have given lectures: the Archaeological Institute of America, the College Art Association, the Institute of Fine Arts, the University of Washington, the Archäologisches Institut der Universität zu Köln, Tulane University, Columbia University, and Harvard University. Earlier versions of some of the ideas presented in Chapters 1, 2, and 3 have appeared in the articles “Creating the Past: The Vénus de Milo and the Hellenistic Reception of Classical Greece” and “Mythological Group Portraits in Antonine Rome: The Performance of Myth” in the American Journal of Archaeology and are reprinted here with permission of AJA editor-in-chief Naomi Norman. An earlier version of part of Chapter 3 appeared as “The Desirability of Roman Victory: Victoria on Imperial and Provincial Monuments” in the volume Representing War in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and has been reprinted with permission of the Press.

My work has also benefitted from discussion with other scholars. I would particularly like to thank Paul Zanker, Tonio Hölscher, Oliver Stoll, Annalis Leibundgut-Maye, Ursula Höckmann, Adolf Borbein, Volker Michael Strocka, Natalie Kampen, Richard Brilliant, Clemente Marconi, Joanna Smith, Francesco de Angelis, David Freedberg, Larissa Bonfante, Michael Koortbojian, Bert Smith, Sheila Dillon, Eve D’Ambra, Gunther Köpcke, Christopher Ratté, and James McCredie for their comments. Thanks are also due to editor Beatrice Rehl of Cambridge University Press and the Press’s two anonymous reviewers for their comments, which have improved the manuscript; any errors remain my own.

Finally, this book could not have been completed without the inspiration and support of my advisers, Evelyn Harrison and Katherine Welch, who have furnished the best possible models for scholarship and teaching; I hope that I will someday give my students what they gave me. Last but not least, I would like to thank and dedicate my work to my parents, Morgan and Sally Kousser, and to my husband, Erik Fischer Velez, for more help than I could ever acknowledge here.