2nd century CE bust of Jupiter rediscovered at Fountains Abbey (UK)

A fragmented bust of Jupiter, estimated to be about 2,000 years old, has been rediscovered at Fountains Abbey in the UK among the remains of the estate of the Earl of Arundel.  Unfortunately, little is known about the piece like many works collected by wealthy patrons of the 17th century.  It was given to the Earl as a gift in the 1660s. It was among the antiquities in his collection dispersed about 100 years later.  It ended up in a temple in Fountains Abbey until it was stored away so the temple could be rennovated.  It may have been damaged at that time.

English Heritage is cleaning it up and visitors can request to see it by calling the archaeology store at Helmsley after April 21, 2010. 

[Image courtesy of English Heritage]



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Bust of Caracalla goes on the auction block

A bust of Lucius Septimius Bassianus, better known as Caracalla, a nickname thought to be derived from a hooded Gallic cloak that he regularly wore, is slated to be auctioned at Bonhams Antiquities in London on October 28, 2009. The sculpture with its characteristic frown is expected to bring up to ₤250,000.

[Image: Bust of Caracalla. Photo courtesy of Bonhams]

The Roman marble bust of the Emperor Caracalla depicts him turning sharply to his left, his face contorted in a characteristic forbidding frown, his creased forehead with curving eyebrows drawn together, the eyes deep-set with articulated pupils. The nose is broad with a short moustache above his downturned mouth, his strong chin cleft and covered with a short curling beard, his hair composed of tight curls with drilling, the thick sideburns joining his beard. He wears a paludamentum draped around his shoulders.

This bust is of the 'Sole-Ruler' type, dating to the period after he murdered his brother and co-emperor Geta. Other examples of this type are in the Museo Capitolino Montemartini, (inv. 2310), the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Vatican Museum and the British Museum. A head in the Acropolis Museum, Athens has some of the closest stylistic similarities. - Culturekiosque Art and Archaeology News

Caracalla's, features reflect his mixed Punic/Berber and Syrian descent, being the son of Roman emperor, Septemius Severus who hailed from Leptis Magna in Libya. I think his face also reflects the savagery that marked his reign from 198 (co-ruling with his father) to 217 CE. In addition to assassinating his brother, Geta, the family of his former father-in-law Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, his wife Fulvia Plautilla and her brother, he slaughtered over 20,000 hapless citizens of Alexandria when rumors reached him that the people there had been mocking his claim that he killed his brother in self defense.

Caracalla was equally brutal and duplicitous in his foreign affairs. In 216 CE, he triggered a war with Parthia after accepting a marriage proposal then slaughtering the guests who arrived for the wedding celebration.

He made only two relatively positive contributions to the people of the Rome and the empire. In 212 CE, he issued the Constitutio Antoninian that granted citizenship to all free men in the Roman Empire. Before this time, only inhabitants of Italia or their descendants living in provinces along with a small number of nobles and client kings held full citizenship. Caracalla issued this edict to increase the number of people subject to more Roman taxes to replenish his imperial coffers. He may have also used the legal device to increase the number of men who could serve as legionaries rather than mere auxiliaries in the Roman Army. Scholars point to this event as one of the reasons the professional Roman military became barbarized. Also, With Roman citizenship no longer an enticement for enlistment, this edict may have inadvertently led to the recruiting difficulties of the Roman army by the end of the 3rd century CE.

Between 212 and 216 CE, Caracalla constructed his second contribution, the Baths of Caracalla, a complex of buildings covering over 33 acres. Its remnants are now viewed by millions of tourists each year approaching Rome on the freeway from the Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino airport. It is also a stop on the Archaeology bus tour that picks up visitors at Termini Station.

The massive structure not only included the requisite cold, warm and hot bathing facilities that accomodated up to 16,000 bathers, but libraries, gymnasia, shops, and colossal statues including a sculpture representing the myth of Dirce.

[Image: Farnese bull sculpture group depicts the legend of Dirce who was tied to a wild bull as punishment for abusing the mother of Amphion and Zethus. Photographed at the Museo Archaeologico di Napoli, Naples, Italy by Mary Harrsch]

Dirce was the wife of Lycus, king of Thebes. Dirce's niece, Antiope, was seduced by the ever amorous Zeus, king of the gods, and impregnated. Antiope's father was furious with her so she fled to King Epopeus of Sicyon who took her for his wife. Her father, killed himself in disgrace but before he died he asked his brother, King Lycus to avenge him by punishing King Epopeus and Antiope. King Lycus marched on Sicyon and slew King Epopeus then gave the hapless Antiope to his wife Dirce to serve as her maid. Dirce hated her niece, probably for her beauty, since that is often considered a normal female rationale in Greek mythology and usually the reason women attracted Zeus, and treated her cruelly. Dirce had given birth to twin boys, Amphion and Zethus, after King Lycus captured her, and, who, like many offspring of Greek deities, were exposed but found and raised by a kindly shepherd.

One day, Antiope escaped her cruel mistress and found her way to the cave where her sons lived. When she explained who she was and what had happened to her, Amphion and Zethus rose up and slew King Lycus and tied Dirce to the horns of a wild bull. After her gruesome death, Dirce was cast into a spring on Mount Cithaeron or, as some versions relate, she was transformed into a spring by the god Dionysos because of her devoted worship of him.

Unfortunately, this myth was supposedly recreated in the Roman arena during Christian persecutions, although Christian persecutions did not occur during Caracalla's reign, with the exception of limited activities in North Africa.

[Image: Christian Dirce by Henryk Siemiradzki (1843–1902), Warsaw National Museum. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

The Dirce sculpture is now known as the Farnese Bull after it was excavated from the Baths of Caracalla in 1546 by a team funded by Pope Paul III who was looking for artwork to place in his new residence, the Farnese Palace. It eventually wound up in the Museo Archaeologico di Napoli in Naples where it can be seen today.

When I think of the Baths of Caracalla, I also envision the pleasant scene of beautiful Roman women lounging before the luxurious pools as depicted by one of my favorite artists, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Actually, the women's clothing is a little more Victorian than it should be and the scene depicts men bathing alongside women that was not accurate either but you get a definite sense of the size and sumptuousness of the halls and how much bathing was viewed as a shared social experience in the Roman world.

[Image: The Baths of Caracalla by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1899, Oil on canvas, courtesy of The Art Renewal Center]

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Polynomial Texture Mapping Continues on Herculaneum Amazon

I first read about polynomial texture mapping (PTM) a year or so ago in an article about its use in the study of potsherds. I'm pleased to see that it is now being used to study surface detail of recovered sculptures. I like the way you can move the light source around with a PTM file (via javascript) to reveal a different aspect of three dimensional objects. I often photograph artifacts in museum settings and have found that available light imagery (flash is usually forbidden in museum settings) seems much more dramatic and insightful than artificially lighted studies of an object. A PTM file enables you to not only study the surface details, like the beautifully painted eyes in this sculpture of an Amazon warrior recovered from Herculaneum, but lets you view the art from various perspectives as it would have been viewed in its ancient context illuminated with only natural light sources. If the position of the recovered sculpture is recorded you can even duplicate the direction of lighting at various times of the day and truly experience the art as it was by ancient peoples.

Cutting-edge imaging techniques are being used in the digital restoration of a 2000-year old Roman statue.

The delicately painted statue, which was discovered in the ancient ruins of Herculaneum in 2006 and believed to depict an Amazon Warrior, is now the subject of a joint restoration project by the University of Southampton, the University of Warwick, and the Herculaneum Conservation Project.

Highly sophisticated digital imaging is vital for the recording, subsequent analysis and restoration of cultural heritage material. Experts in archaeological computing led by Dr Graeme Earl of the Archaeological Computing Research Group in the School of Humanities, used a novel form of photography – Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM), developed by HP Labs - to provide a detailed record of the texture and colour of the painted surfaces.

A specially-designed rig, camera structure, and associated custom software was developed in the School of Electronics and Computer Science by Dr Kirk Martinez and the team in the Mechanical Workshop to enable very fast acquisition of PTM data, with variable sample sizes. The rig uses a lightweight tripod running on battery power, making it adaptable enough to use on archaeological sites. The whole kit is highly portable and can be carried in a suitcase. 'It was fascinating to pull together various elements from my imaging research projects in order to solve all the issues for the new rig design,' said Kirk Martinez.

The head of the Amazon Warrior was discovered in 2006 in the ancient ruins of Herculaneum, a town close to Pompeii, which was buried in the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The delicate painting of the statue’s features and its fine state of preservation meant that it was regarded as a landmark discovery by archaeologists, providing clues to the decoration of Roman statues that had previously been only guessed at. - More: University of South Hampton

The PTM viewer enables a virtual light source to be moved across the virtual scene. The viewer can also vary lighting intensity, add additional virtual lights, derive surface models and to carry out image processing tasks such as edge detection. Try it out for yourself!

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Beautiful Sphinx part of antiquities lot up for bid at Sotheby's Dec 10

I noticed there is an upcoming antiquities auction at Sotheby's slated for December 10. Although the news article I read enthused about a sculpture of an Egyptian priest, I found this beautiful Roman Imperial period bronze sphinx listed in the collection catalogue. I've seen a number of sphinx sculptures and statues from Greece and Rome at different museums but I don't think I've seen any as delicately detailed as this one. Although other sphinxes I have seen may have a female appearing face, this one even reveals the upper part of a female torso as well - sort of a blending of the huntress Artemis (the Roman Diana) with her prey.

I do hope it ends up in a public museum, as opposed to being secreted away in some private collection, so there is at least a possibility of seeing it someday. The late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE Roman Imperial Period piece is expected to bring $8,000-$12,000.

If you've never been to Sotheby's website it's like an online museum in itself. You can browse the collections of upcoming auctions one item at a time. Each item has been photographed in very high resolution and can be examined with a zooming navigation tool to see all the fine details of a piece. Many items offer alternate views as well. They also offer a sold lot archive that is a lot of fun to explore. You can even purchase lot catalogues. The one for this particular lot of antiquities was listed at $48 - about what you would pay for an exhibit catalogue at a museum. If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

"Pompeii and the Roman Villa" exhibit opens October 18 in Washington D.C.

In the first century BC, the picturesque Bay of Naples became a
favorite retreat for vacationing emperors, senators, and other
prominent Romans. They built lavish seaside villas in the shadow of
Mount Vesuvius where they could indulge in absolute leisure, read and
write, exercise, enjoy their gardens and the views, and entertain
friends. The artists who flocked to the region to adorn the villas also
created paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts for the residents of
Pompeii and nearby towns. Pompeii and the Roman Villa
presents some 150 works of sculpture, painting, mosaic, and luxury
arts, including recent discoveries on view in the U.S. for the first
time and celebrated finds from earlier excavations. Exquisite objects
from the richly decorated villas reveal the breadth and richness of
cultural and artistic life, as well as the influence of classical
Greece on Roman art and culture in this region. The exhibition also
focuses on the impact that the 18th-century excavations and rediscovery
of Pompeii and Herculaneum had on the art and culture of the modern
world.

Organization

Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples is
organized by Museum of Art, with the cooperation of the
Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici della Campania
and the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association
with the Los Angeles County Napoli e
Pompei.

Schedule

National Gallery of Art, October 19, 2008–March 22, 2009;
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, May 3–October 4, 2009

For those of you that cannot attend either of the venues, a DVD about the exhibit will be released October 28, 2008 from MicrocinemaDVD with a list price of $19.95.

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Brightly Painted Ancient Sculpture Featured at Getty Villa

A polychromy restoration of the Roman emperor
Augustus in his Prima Porta pose.  Image courtesy of
The Digital Sculpture Project.

I particularly enjoyed reading about this upcoming exhibit at the Getty Villa and looking at the picture of a brightly colored Augustus in his Prima Porta pose in preparation for my visit there in two weeks.

"For nearly two centuries, some scholars have been arguing that white-on-white and green-on-green were not the true tints of antiquity. The Parthenon in Athens and the Forum in Rome might have been almost gaudy. But such ideas have never trickled down, or even sideways: In Hollywood today, but also in many experts’ talk, the ancient world comes off as monochrome. In Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, when Russell Crowe strides down the streets of ancient Rome, circa A.D. 180, he’s backed up by the proper complement of bronzes and marbles. All of them are green or white.

But, a flood of recent exhibitions has set out to put their color back. Over the past five years, audiences in Amsterdam, Athens, Basel, Boston, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Munich, and Rome have been treated to a bright new image of Greek and Roman art.

One of the greatest statues of Augustus, first emperor of Rome, has come down to us in marble. His carved armor and rippling robe meld into the symphony of cream on cream we all expect. At the Getty Villa in Malibu, Calif., a reconstruction of the piece, retouched with colors based on tints that still cling here and there to the original, has the great Augustus togaed in a cherry red that matches his lips. His tunic’s touched with blue. What he’s lost in elegance he’s regained in verve.

The head of the Roman emperor known as Caligula
 colored as it would have been in antiquity  Image
courtesy of The Digital Sculpture Project.

A carved portrait of Caligula, the mad Roman emperor who died in the year 41, looks blank-eyed and remote in the marble that’s survived. His reconstruction, computer-carved into another block of marble and then painted, now has nice pink cheeks, red lips and brown eyes and hair. The insane leader who declared himself a god now comes across as the Roman next door.


“Oh Praxiteles, which are your greatest marbles?” a fan once asked that famous sculptor, who pioneered the art of female nudes in Athens around 350 B.C. The artist — or so the story went in ancient times — answered that he preferred those works whose stone had been colored over by Nicias, a leader in the art of realistic panel painting. So much for the ancients’ taste for sculpture’s white perfection.

“For the Greeks, it was all about mimesis,” says Getty curator Kenneth Lapatin, using the Greek word for realistic imitation. Beauty depended on it.

“If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect / The way you would wipe color off a statue,” says Helen of Troy, in lines written by Euripides in 412 B.C. For Greeks of that era, not only were sculptures assumed to be painted but also if you stripped their paint you stripped their good looks, too." 

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