Review: Zsuzsanna Turcsán-Tóth, Alapvetés az Artemis Ephesia-szobrok ikonográfiai elemzéséhez (Notes on the iconographic analysis of the Artemis Ephesia statues), Martin Opitz: Budapest, 2023, p. ...368. ISBN: 978-615-6388-07-0
Even in the delicate phase of the first post-war years – in a phase which represented a turning point in the art system after the collapse of the system supported by the fascist regime – the presence ...of women artists in the Roman art scene appears considerable. But who were they? And how did the art critics respond to their work? Was it any difference in the reception of the artworks of abstract and figurative women artists? Focusing on the art criticism of that time, we can recognise both the topoi and new narratives adopted to talk about their artworks, and some prejudices on femininity. It will be equally interesting to stress the discrepancies between the consideration that involved their work in the years under review and their subsequent critical fortune. The cases of Antonietta Raphaël, Pasquarosa, and Nwarth Zarian exemplify the various degrees of appreciation – ranging from long-term recognition to more or less long oblivion, sometimes interrupted by recent rediscoveries – experienced by women artists. Concerning the period between 1944 and 1955, this paper aims to offer some new elements to consider the hard path undertaken in this decade, even by the few women artists still celebrated today for their artistic value, such as Carla Accardi and Bice Lazzari. At the same time, it will give the opportunity to have a more complex view of the Roman art scene, bringing back attention to the frequently omitted presence of women artists and their valuable contributions.
This paper aims to expand our understanding of the processes involved in the production of the artificial pigment Egyptian blue through the scientific examination of pigments found in the first ...century BCE workshop of the Greek island of Kos. There, 136 Egyptian blue pellets were brought to light, including successfully produced pellets, as well as partially successful and unsuccessful products. This study is based on the examination of eighteen samples obtained from pellets of various textures and tones of blue, including light and dark blue pigments, coarse and fine-grained materials, and one unsuccessful pellet of dark green/grey colour. The samples were examined by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and micro-Raman spectroscopy. These complementary microanalytical techniques provide localised information about the chemical and mineralogical composition of this multicomponent material, at a single-grain level. The results shed light on the firing procedure and indicate possible sources for raw materials (beach sand, copper alloys), as well as demonstrating the use of a low-alkali starting mixture. Moreover, two different process for the production of light blue pigments were identified: (a) decreased firing time and (b) grinding of the initially produced pellet and mixing with cobalt-containing material.
This paper examines a specific historical context of the virtual reality (VR), commonly associated with contemporary society, in order to consider its lineage. It sets up an argument that identifies ...archaeological examples, which worked with subjective perceptions of space, as predecessors to the digital technologies familiar in the 21
st
century context. While the paper acknowledges the use of VR representation throughout history and around the world, the focus will be on key Roman villas, specifically on their frescos, and the importance of these immersion spaces in Roman society for reasons that approach both the social and introspective. As technology is not a term merely beholden to the digital, encompassing major revolutionary human advancements such as language or agriculture, the paper examines the historical technologies, i.e. the representational techniques, that produced virtual realities and immersive environments of the past. It uses the Ancient Roman context to illustrate the relationship between representation, subject(s), and society, which can be examined from a historical context and further applied to the contemporary.
The famous Riot Fresco from Pompeii (c. A.D. 62-79) depicts the infamous A.D. 59 rumble between rival Pompeians and Nucerians in and around the formers’ Amphitheater. The quality of this fresco’s ...figures, its provenance from a simply decorated house, and mixing of perspectives have led to its study as an example of popular art, with varying scholarly attempts to distill from it non-elite tastes and characterize its patron. Through all this, we can easily lose sight of the Riot Fresco as a cityscape, an urban vista in which buildings are tied together as a whole. In this article I use the Riot Fresco as my entry point to study the ways Roman frescoists depicted cities. I consider three questions: (1) what elements do Roman painters include in cityscapes? (2) How do they relate cityscapes to human figures and landscape surroundings? (3) Is the Riot Fresco unique among Roman painted cities of its day? I first analyze the Riot Fresco as a cityscape, paying special attention to its use of southeastern Pompeii’s monuments and parks to structure groups of rioting figures. I then survey cityscapes from contemporary Neronian and Vespasianic frescoes. These contextualize the Riot Fresco’s aerial view of a real city at a particular moment within a family of paintings that depicts cities variously as backdrops, background ornaments, and timeless architectural prospects seen from the side or from above. They hail from well-appointed townhomes and grand urban estates, permitting a study of cityscapes that cuts across social status. The article concludes with a discussion of possible reasons why Roman artists painted cities as they did, and what these different depictions may reveal about the attitudes patrons such as the Riot Fresco’s commissioner held towards their urban surroundings.
Jerry Toner defines "popular culture" as "the culture of the non-elite" that was "the unofficial and subordinate culture of Roman society." (Toner 1) Magic, superstition, and religion were ...interchangeable in Roman antiquity. Domestic religious practices have often been discussed in terms of “popular religion,” religious aspects of "popular culture," but Romans of all classes participated in the domestic cult. Boundaries, both physical (the threshold/ limen, door/ ianua, or even the intersection of streets and property lines) and metaphysical, (the pomerium of the city of Rome) presented weakened points in the lines of defense that could be strengthened with "magic" or more "popular" religious practices. Thus, shrines were erected at crossroads (compita), wind chimes in the form of a phallus (tintinnabula) were hung to avert the evil eye, and other forms of supernatural assistance, including “bird deposits” buried under villas in the Pyrenees region (Bowes 216), were used as magical protection. Romans, too, had a number of deities whom they could appeal to whose powers comprised boundaries including the Lares Compitales (gods of the crossroads) and Janus. This paper focuses on mosaics from two buildings in Thysdrus (modern El Jem in Tunisia): the January panel (emblema) from The Mosaic of the Months from the House of the Months, (late second-early third century CE) in the Sousse Museum and the Owl Mosaic (late third century CE), a threshold mosaic from the Baths of the Owl in the El Jem Archaeological Museum, to consider the connections between boundaries, "popular religion," and “magic” in a North African town that became wealthy due to its olive oil industry and renowned for the games in its amphitheatre, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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