This book provides an enquiry into the distinguishing traits of Greek and Roman figural imagery. A detailed analysis of a wide range of material conveys an understanding of the figural imagery of classical antiquity as a whole, counterbalancing studies conducted on single genres.
Through in-depth studies of six major production categories―Greek painted pottery, Roman decorated walls, Greek gravestones, Roman sarcophagi, Greek and Roman official sculpture, and Greek and Roman coins―the reader gains insights into the making of classical figural imagery. The images are explored within their contextual frameworks, paying attention to both functional purposes and pictorial traditions. Image–viewer relations offer a perspective that is maintained across the chapters. The bottom-up approach and the many genres of imagery discussed provide the basis for an extensive synthesis.
Lavishly illustrated with over 100 images, Excursions into Greek and Roman Imagery provides a valuable resource for students of classical antiquity and history of art. The book also offers classical scholars, museum curators and others interested in classical art a fresh approach to the figural imagery of antiquity.
Author(s): Eva Rystedt
Series: Classical Foundations
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 290
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of tables and figures
Preface. The aim and scope of the book
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Introduction. Some general observations on Greek and Roman imagery and its study
The social and functional frame
Demand and supply
Lifeworld and myth providing subject matter for themes and motifs, the physical world supplying a model for the pictorial work
Relations to other cultural products. Image study in the historical development of the study of antiquity
Working on Greek and Roman images: some basics
End note: a Roman wall-painting in review
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 2 Greek painting. Tableware from Athens
Production and usage, ceramic setting of the imagery, spheres of subject matter, workshop tradition vis-à-vis individual performance: introduction
Constructing the image
Themes and motifs
Combining images on the single vessel
Visual means of definition and characterization
Communicative purport, visual effectiveness
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 3 Roman painting. Interior walls at Pompeii
Architectural setting, painterly skills and houseowners’ ambitions: introduction
Decoration, design, imagery
Subject matter and pictorial processing
Pictorial planning. Programmes. Room function and reception of imagery
Words along with images
Extending the world by visual suggestion. Allusion and illusion
Gaze, visuality, mentality, visual culture
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 4 Greek sculpture. Gravestones at Smyrna
Greek gravestones: introduction with a preamble to the Smyrnaean set
The dead on the stage of the living. Role models defined by family/household and city. The biting serpent as a symbol of death
The central concept
Image, name, monument; person, family, city
Verse and image
Honour and memory
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 5 Roman sculpture. Sarcophagi with mythological motifs
Sepulchral background, production/commission and the mythological imagery and its reading: introduction
Myth and sculpture
Myth and idea
Myth and human life
Myth and portrait. Image and viewer, monument and memory
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 6 Greek and Roman sculpture in the public sphere: A temple building in Athens and a funerary monument in Rome
Singular images for official statements: introduction
The Parthenon: the east pediment, the birth of Athena and the overall sculptural decoration of the Parthenon
The story vis-à-vis its actors. Gods and Athenians acting in mutuality
The monument to Antoninus Pius and the motif of Roman apotheosis. Celestial and terrestrial powers in conjunction
Further representations of apotheosis. Varying designs, consistent iconography
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 7 Greek and Roman coins
Coins as official carriers of multiple and widely diffused images: introduction
Designs uniting image and text: a short historical overview
Symbolic imagery. Emblem and message
The Graeco-Roman/Western coin tradition in light of the Islamic and the Chinese ones
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 8 Synthesis with conclusions
Premise: a single visual culture
Reality as a model
Figural, corporeal, abundant
Discourse and message. Onlookers and viewers
Social and historical determinants. The image–viewer–lifeworld rapport. Deep-seated cultural priorities. A summing up
Comments on scholarly literature
Notes
Bibliography
Appendix: List of recurrent words or terms
Index
Index of museum collections
General index
