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Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Classical and Near Eastern Faculty Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Research and Scholarship

1982 The tudS y of Ancient Brunilde S. Ridgway Bryn Mawr College, [email protected]

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Custom Citation Ridgway, Brunilde S. 1982. The tudyS of Ancient Sculpture. American Journal of Archaeology 86:155-157.

This is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/arch_pubs/99

For more information, please contact [email protected]. The of Ancient Sculpture BRUNILDE SISMONDO RIDGWAY

The wave of enormous public interest created last since the , but also summer by the of the two warriors providesan invaluablecatalogue of antiquarianinfor- recoveredfrom the sea off Riace (Calabria) has not mation on the major in Italian collections,ac- yet abated, and is not likely to do so for a long time. cording to their popularity in the past. Other major Had there been any doubt, this occurrence would catalogues of public and private are being have forcefully underscoredthe enduring importance published apace, either for the first time (e.g., R. Cal- of classical sculpture, especially when, as in this case, za et al., Antichitcadi Villa Doria-Pamphilj, 1977) or the of the finds can give rise to a flurry of attri- in revised and updated editions (e.g., B. Vierneisel- butions to the majorGreek mastersof the fifth century Schlorb, Klassische Skulpturen des 5. und 4. Jahrhun- B.C. derts v. Chr., for the ;A. Giuliano Ancient, and more specifically,Classical sculpture et al., Museo Nazionale Romano, Le Sculture, both has always played a major role in the study of the 1979). Leading archaeological periodicals-the JdI past. Renaissance scholars combineda lively interest and AA of the German ArchaeologicalInstitute, the in the literary sources with equal admiration for BCH of the French School in , the Deltion and sculptural finds, and this attitude prevailed un- ArchEph for Greece, and ASAtenefor the Italians (to changed for several centuries, virtually down to our name just a few)-devote a large portion of their is- own days. Arduous travel to and Greece was sues to articles on sculpture,and monographson var- complemented,since at least the 16th century, by the ious sculptural topics continue to appear with re- creationof cast collectionsin the majorEuropean mu- markablefrequency. seums or at the courts of the leading monarchs. In Yet for all this continuity,major changes have tak- time, the casts themselveswere supplementedfirst by en place in our approach to ancient sculpture. Aes- S. Reinach'sdrawings, then by large photographicre- thetic appreciationand stylistic analysis are still basic pertoires, such as the Denkmiiler griechischer und ro- componentsof our studies, but by no means-and no mischer Skulptur (Brunn-Bruckmann, 1888-1947) longer-the main ones. While chronologicalassess- or the Photographische Einzelaufnahmen antiker ment and artistic attribution set the main thrust of Skulpturen (Arndt-Amelung, 1893-1940)-a trend earlier publications,these aims are now concomitant which continues in renewed format with the series with a variety of others which tend to see sculptureas Antike Plastik (1962-). The turn of the 20th century an expressionof political, socio-economicand geogra- saw the launching of vast corpora,such as E. Conze, phic conditions. Apart from R. Bianchi-Bandinelli's Die attischen Grabreliefs (1890-1922), and sporadic approachto Roman portraitureand , stud- attemptsin this directionare still being made, witness ies such as L. Schneider's Zur sozialen Bedeutung der for instance, the volumes of Pfuhl-M6bius, Die ost- archaischen Korenstatuen (1975), or N. Himmel- griechischen Grabreliefs (1977-1979) and the Corpus mann's investigation into - practices Signorum Imperii Romani (1963-). and in (JdI 94 [1979] 127- Classical archaeologywas for a long time virtually 42) are worth noting as harbingersof new directions equated with the study of sculpture,which formedthe in sculpturalanalysis. core of college curricula in that discipline, as as Attributions to individual masters or to regional in History of Art. But also today sculpture tends to schools continue to be made on stylistic grounds, but receivethe lion's share in general handbookson Clas- these "subjective"criteria that, in the past, had led to a sical , as can be shown by Martin Robertson's proliferationof theories-virtually as many as there monumental History of (1975) or, perhaps were scholars who wrote on the same subject-and less obviously, even by W.R. Biers' The Archaeology therefore to a basic distrust of the method itself, are of Greece(1980). As for , the 1981 bookby now being supplemented,if not entirely replaced, by F. Haskell and N. Penny, and the Antique, not more "objective"criteria made possible by modern only explores the phenomenonof public response to technological achievements. Among these can be 156 BRUNILDESISMONDO RIDGWAY [AJA86 numbered,for instance,the inventionof the computer techniques, aided by photogrammetryand computer and of photogrammetry,as well as the special labora- analysis in the case of the former, to deal with their tory techniquesdeveloped for the space program,such diversematerial: the applicationof a canonof propor- as thermoluminescence,which was used to vindicate tions to archaic Greek sculpture, and the distribution the antiquity of the bronze horse in the Metropolitan of archaicakroterial types respectively.Goldberg's re- in New York. As this AJA issue appears, a search, in this respect, is akin to recent studies that Congresson the Parthenonsculptures is taking place have postulated geographical preferencesfor certain in the Museum: it was sparkedby the complete styles or forms of architecturalsculpture. This type of collection there of casts of all blocks and fragments investigationaims at isolating not simply local trends connectedwith the Athenian building-but casts in but especially -currents and contacts among light-weight styrofoamwhich allows easy shifting of Greek and non-Greek states. A similar geographical the bulky pieces and thereforea trial-and-errormeth- clustering based on typology is outlined by Pedley in od in the reconstructionof the lost compositions. his gatheringof korai exhibiting specificsartorial and Anthropologicalmodels devised for other artifacts cosmeticfeatures, which the author assumes originat- or are now being applied to the study of clas- ed in the island of . sical sculpture, and new questions are being asked of Sturgeon'spublication of a female statuette in Co- the material. Emotionalism in defending original rinth uses the traditional of stylistic from copy, creation from adaptation or imitation, is analysis, but the conclusiondiffers, in that she sees the considerablydiminishing if not disappearingentirely. figure as a product of a classicizing master who re- The methodologyemployed by J.B. Ward-Perkinsto created earlier accordingto the taste of his determinethe routes of marble trade has been applied own, much later, time. is again employed by by him now to sarcophagi, despite resistance from , in her attempt to defend the authenticity of a "thetraditionalists" to whom the notionof considering of Philip the Arab that has recently been a sarcophagusas an objectof trade whose artisticeval- challenged. Style enables C.C. Vermeule to attribute uation may be affected by the type of marble from to a Julio-Claudian the head of a boy in a pri- which it was made is "positivelyrepugnant" (MAAR vate collection, but the peregrinationsof the piece in 36 [1980] 325-38). This same methodology,with the reaching this country allow for an excursus into anti- help of a computer, could usefully be applied to plot quarianism and collecting practices. in- out distribution of Roman copies and their trade terest is also present in Waywell's accountof an altar routes, thus helping to identify centers of production that was consideredlost, after a period of fame and and sourcesof inspiration. popularity during the Renaissance,but has now been Finally, the discoveryof the spectacularepic groups rediscoveredby the author in an English collection. in the grotto of Sperlonga (Terracina, Italy) in 1957 Two contributors,Voutiras and Tiverios, are con- has alerted us to the possibility that statuary in Hel- cernedwith ,the formerin the case of vo- lenistic style could be created,or at least supplement- tive reliefs which lead to the study of a religious so- ed, in Roman Imperial times. Great strides are there- ciety connectedwith the Attic deme of Ikaria and the fore being made in separating Greek from Roman cult of ; the latter in dealing with the East me- creations, classical style from classicizing:a research topes of the .Finally, Warden'sanalysis of movementspearheaded by scholarslike P. Zanker, R. a group of bronze wrestlers from Poggio Civitate Wtinscheand W. Trillmich, to name only a few. (Italy) defines Etruscan schools and touches upon The contributions collected in this issue of AJA Etruscanathletics; Greek input still plays a consider- were not editoriallyselected to representold and mod- able role in Etruscanstudies, but moderntrends stress ern trends,but they neverthelessprovide a fair sampl- Etruscan and independence rather than ing of present approaches to the field. For instance, subordinationto Greek art. That Etruscanforms may the article by Watrous, trying to define the political have in turn exercised considerable influence on message of the Siphnian Treasury at , Greek art is being increasinglyconsidered. follows in the footstepsof John Boardman'spioneer- In recent years several of my students had ex- ing attempts to connect Peisistratos with Herakles pressed to me doubts about embarkingon a speciali- and the archaic poros from the Athenian zation in sculpture since, in their opinion, everything Akropolis. Guralnick and Goldberg use statistical had already been said or tried with reference to the 1982] THE STUDY OF ANCIENTSCULPTURE 157 known monuments. My view of the situation is dia- evaluating each culture per se and in appreciatingits metrically opposite: I believe that many new answers specificbrand of art, will definitelyhelp us to put new can be obtained,if we ask new questions, and some of and stimulatingwine in old sculpturalbottles. these novel are formulatedat queries just being pres- DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL AND NEAR ent, while others may occur in the . Scientific EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY aids, a greater understandingof and interest in tech- BRYN MAWR COLLEGE niques, and especially increased openmindednessin BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA 19010