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Greek Art
From Oxford to Portugal
and Back Again
Rui Morais
with a Foreword
Greek by
Art Delfim Leão
Tribute to Maria Helena Da Rocha-Pereira
From Oxford to Portugal
and Back Again
Greek Art
From Oxford to Portugal
and Back Again
Rui Morais
Archaeopress Archaeology
Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Gordon House
276 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7ED
www.archaeopress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted, in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the copyright owners.
This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com
Contents
List of Figures����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ii
1. Prolegomena ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
3. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio ����������������������������� 24
Bibliography���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 55
i
List of Figures
Figure 1: Ostraka with the portrait of Senenmut. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(Accession Number: 36.3.252).�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3
Figure 2: Ostraka that depicts a recurring group of hieroglyphs (ca. 1479–1458 BC). New York,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession Number: 23.3.4).������������������������������������������ 4
Figure 3: Egyptian wooden drawing board from the 18th Dynasty. London. British Museum.�� 5
Figure 4: Fragment of an animal on papyrus in a grid pattern, ca. 1479-1069 BC������������������������� 6
Figure 5: Painted wooden tablet from Pitsa depicting a sacrificial procession.
Athens, National Museum.����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9
Figure 6: Ceramic plaque with warriors. Athens. National Archaeological Museum (Accession
Number: 9018901).����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10
Figure 7: Terracotta funerary plaque. New York.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession Number: 54.11.5).�������������������������������������� 11
Figure 8: Terracotta funerary plaque. Antiquities market.������������������������������������������������������������� 12
Figure 9-10: Corinthian terracotta plaques (about 600-575) depicting workers in a Clay Pit and
potter’s workshop, from Penteskophia near Corinth.
Berlin, Pergamon Museum, and Paris, Louvre.����������������������������������������������������������������� 12
Figure 11-12: Two terracotta plaques from the 6th century BC Votive offerings in the sanctuary
of the Nymphe. Athens, Acropolis Museum.�������������������������������������������������������������������� 13
Figure 13: Terracotta plaque or metope with representation of a fully-armed hoplite. Late
Archaic period. Athens, Acropolis Museum.��������������������������������������������������������������������� 14
Figure 14 a-b: Attic red-figure kylix depicting a bronzesmith’s workshop, early 5th century BC
It is the name vase of the Attic vase painter known conventionally as the Foundry
Painter. Berlin, Staatliche Museen.������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15
Figure 15: Attic red-figure lekythos (ca 435–425 BC) from the Klügmann Painter with Musa
reading a volume scroll. Paris, Louvre (Accession Number: CA2220).������������������������������ 16
Figure 16: Tomb of Lefkadia with two-floor façade. Watercolour drawing.����������������������������������� 17
Figure 17 a-b: Marble. Roman copy of a bronze Greek original by Myron (ca. 470 BC) portraying
‘Athena and the satyr Marsyas’, according to John Boardman.������������������������������������� 18
Figure 18: Attic red-figured oinochoe by the Codrus Painter (ca. 450-425 BC). Berlin, Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung (Accession Number: F2418).��������������������������������� 19
Figure 19 a-c: Coin from the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, 40s or 50s of the 2nd
century to about 175. London, British Museum (Accession Number: 1929, 0515.181).� 19
Figure 20-21: Two neck-amphorae attributed to the Red-line Painter from the collections of
Gómez-Moreno (Spain) and Manuel de Lancastre (Portugal).��������������������������������������� 21
Figure 22-23: Two neck-amphorae attributed to the Red-line Painter. Rome, Museo Nazionale di
Villa Giulia.����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 23
Figure 24: Drawing on papyrus with Orpheus among animals. London, Victoria and Albert
Museum (Accession Number: 15-1946).�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 25
Figure 25: The Heracles Papyrus (Oxford, Sackler Library, Oxyrhynchus Pap. 2331), a fragment
of a 3rd-century Greek manuscript of a poem about the Labours of Heracles.���������� 26
Figure 26. Fragment of a scroll papyrus with Amor and Psyche (ca. 2nd century AD). Florence,
Istituto Papirologico G. Vitelli (Accession Number: PSI 919).�������������������������������������������� 26
Figure 27: Roman portrait fresco of a young man with a papyrus scroll, 1st century AD.
Herculaneum. ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 27
Figure 28: Wall-painting with Andromeda and Perseus, perhaps after Nikias. House of
Dioscorides at Pompeii. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.��������������������������������� 29
Figure 29: Alexander Mosaic, depicting the Battle of Issus in 333 BC between Alexander
the Great and Darius III of Persia. House of the Faun at Pompeii. Naples, Museo
Archeologico Nazionale.������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 30
Figure 30: The Gemma Augustea (sardonyx cameo). Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.����������� 31
ii
Figure 31: Marble relief, vicinity of Sirmium (Pannonia).����������������������������������������������������������������� 31
Figure 32: Tabula portraying Hercules’ fight against the lion of Nemea. Barcelona, Montserrat
Monastery Museum.������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 33
Figure 33: Statue group of the Three Graces. Roman, Imperial period (2nd century AD); copy of
a Greek work from the 2nd century BC. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession
Number: 2010.260).����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 35
Figure 34: Sculpture of the Three Graces on the back of a marble statue of Aphrodite of
Aphrodisias. Museu Regional D. Leonor (Beja, Portugal).����������������������������������������������� 36
Figure 35-36: The Three Graces: Roman marble relief (2nd century AD). New York, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession Number: L.2013.17); Wall-painting from
Pompeii. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.����������������������������������������������������������� 37
Figure 37 a-b: Roman marble sarcophagus. Probably ex Villa Carpegna, Antiquities market.����� 38
Figure 38: Roman mosaic from Spain, Barcino.���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 39
Figure 39-41: A second-century Roman haematite gem depicting the Three Graces and a Gorgon
Medusa. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; Roman gold medallion. Found in
Turkey, Antiquities market; Roman lamp from Museo di Sabratha.����������������������������� 39
Figure 42-43: Roman Imperial Pb tessera 1st century AD and coin from Cilicia (Tarsus).
Maximinus I (238-244 AD), Ref: SNG Levante 1096 - one of the finest known
examples.�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 40
Figure 44: Marmoreal plaque of tavern. Berlin, Antikensammlung.����������������������������������������������� 41
Figure 46: Ficoroni Cista with Dionysus between two satyrs from the 4th century BC Rome,
Museo Nazionale Romano Villa Giulia.������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 42
Figure 45: Bronze group of men in a circle from Olympia. Athens, National Archaeological
Museum (Accession Number: X 6236).���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 42
Figure 47: Praenestine Cista with engravings of the Dioscuri and the Judgment of Paris from the
4th century BC Princeton, University Art Museum.�������������������������������������������������������� 43
Figure 48: Nude ‘Ludovisi’ Dionysus and Ampelos (ca. 160-180 AD). Rome, Palazzo Altemps.��� 44
Figure 49: Sculptural group with drunken Dionysus supported by Ampelos. North of Spain.
Museo Arqueolóxico Provincial de Ourense.�������������������������������������������������������������������� 45
Figure 50 a-b: Sarcophagus. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (Accession Number: 1972.650).�������������� 46
Figure 51-52: Roman rectangular oscillum in marble with Nude Dionysus and Ampelos (3rd
century AD). Antiquities market; Roman mosaic from the Antioch, House of the
Drunken Dionysos (ca. 4th century AD). Turkey, Antakya Museum (Accession Number:
861).����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 47
Figure 53: Roman lamp from Carthage (Deneauve VIII B).��������������������������������������������������������������� 47
Figure 54-55: The principal versions of Cnidian Aphrodite: ‘Colonna’ and Belvedere, Rome.������ 48
Figure 56-57: Statue-portrait of the ‘Venere Capitolina’ type. Naples, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale; statue of a matron (possibly Marcia Furnilla) in the guise of Venus, from a
villa near Lago Albano, in Italy. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.����������������������� 49
Figure 58: Burial inscription with relief depicting a Venus of the Capitolina type. Rome, Museo
Nazionale Romano.��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 50
Figure 59: Funerary stele from the North of Portugal, Penafiel.������������������������������������������������������ 51
Figure 60-62: Coin minted at Cnidus when the original Aphrodite was already more than half a
millennium old; Roman small ivory, ca. 2nd century AD, Antiquities market; Roman
bronze, 1st-2nd century AD, Antiquities market.������������������������������������������������������������ 52
Figure 63-65: Roman terracotta representing the Venus Pudica (beginning of the 3rd century
AD). Antiquities market; Fragment of a Roman lamp discus from the 2nd and 3rd
century. Seville, nowadays in Mérida, Museo Nacional de Arte Romano (Accession
Number: 19617); Miniature sculpture in glass from the Eastern Mediterranean or
Italy, probably 2nd century AD (Accession Number: 55.I.84).������������������������������������������� 53
iii
iv
Foreword
Maria Helena da Rocha-Pereira: the Suitable
Kairos Back Again
It has recently become popular to celebrate major works from the past, whose
real impact on society and among scholars has been particularly significant,
not in terms of the strict impact factor popularised by bibliometrics, but
rather because they have inspired and stimulated in-depth analysis and given
momentous contributions to science in specific areas of expertise. If we were
to choose, among Classicists in Portugal, the scholar who most perfectly
corresponds to this special degree of excellence, the first choice would fall
naturally upon Maria Helena da Rocha-Pereira.
v
This is, therefore, what the reader will find here, together with two further
vases and a fragment, which are now published for the first time.
This book is also a decisive turning point in one of the areas she cherished most
during her life, as can be clearly perceived in the volume of her collected papers
on ancient art, which has just been published by the Coimbra University Press and
Calouste Gubenkian Foundation: Arte Antiga (Coimbra and Lisbon: 2017). Greek
Vases in Portugal was, ultimately, the seminal work responsible for introducing,
in scientific terms, Greek art studies to the Portuguese speaking countries and
the first to make the works meanwhile produced truly international.
Delfim Leão
Coimbra, March 2017
vi
The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and
Decorative Compositions1
1. Prolegomena
One of the most fascinating topics in the study of ancient art is related to
artistic practices and models, through the transmission of iconographic designs
and decorative compositions. At the genesis of the creative process we have the
prototype, archetype or model that is frequently replicated on different types
of mediums, repeating not only their general lines or specific details, but also
spread apart in space and time. This phenomenon, although well known, has
not drawn the attention it deserves on the part of scholars of ancient art.
One of the most common questions raised is related to whether artists and
craftsmen made direct copies of certain decorative motifs and whether they
used pattern books to do so. But as stated by J. Tamm,2 ‘the term ‘copy’ must
be used very loosely because only part would copy the original, sometimes
only approaching the ‘figure-sketch’ suggestion, and we have also to consider
the new additions, in a more fully worked out scheme’, and ‘these decisions
may have been based purely on artistic motives, dependent upon the taste and
vision of the artist, or patron, or both’.
1
I wish to thank Miss Carla Augusto for reading and revising my English manuscript.
2
J. Tamm (2007) 9.
1
2 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
similitude to the original: true or exact copy, close copy, imitation, eclectic
borrowing, etc. This conceptual variability depends naturally on the stylistic
inspirations of the time, as well as trends and/or taste phenomena which
inevitably influenced the copies.
We know that some workshops made exact copies of originals using casting
techniques and models (in Greek typos, in Latin forma), based on drawings and
sketches of the originals, as well as of true copies. The most commonly used
material in this procedure was plaster (Gr. gypsos), easily available and highly
regarded in the ancient world. This is why the specialist craftsman in charge
of making plaster casts was called gypsemplastes by the Greeks and gypsarius by
the Romans. Although we know the artisans’ workshops used these casts, for
example, in the Lysippos’ workshop, the earliest examples of this mechanical
system date from late in the Hellenistic period (ca. 170-130 BC), such as the well-
known cases of Delos and Pergamum. The work of these copyist artisans was,
however, more regular in the Roman imperial period, influencing the most varied
artistic genres (sculpture, painting, metalworking, etc.) and other crafts. They
thus perpetuated the consolidated artistic tradition from the Greek production
centres (Athens and Corinth), Asia Minor (Sidon, Synnada, Aphrodisias), Africa
(Caesarea, Cyrene) and, of course, Italy. The discovery of plaster fragments near
Baiae in the Bay of Naples, waste material from a sculpting workshop operating
at the end of the 1st century AD, bears witness to this mode of production in a
copyists’ workshop in the Roman era.3 Epigraphic evidence provides the names
of sculptors from Aphrodisias, artistic centre of Caria in Asia Minor, who were
renowned in the Roman and Italic markets, especially in the time of Hadrian,
due to production of copies, a well-documented tradition in Hadrian’s villa.
Less known are the copies of paintings. At the end of the Hellenistic period, the
fame of the greatest Greek painters of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, Polygnotus,
Zeuxis, Parrhasius, Nikias, Apelles, was such that monarchs attempted to acquire
the originals, especially of easel paintings. Given the cost of the originals, a good
copy would suffice. About 140 BC, Attalus II of Pergamum sent three painters to
Delphi, Kalos, Gaudotus and Asklepiades, to copy paintings for the royal collections.
The Romans’ passion for easel paintings (pinakes in Greek, tabulae in Latin) was
equalled by their passion for statues and precious objects. Countless original
paintings were transferred to Rome. This tradition was particularly popular in
the early imperial period: a copy of a famous fresco depicting the ‘Battle of
Mantinea’, painted by Euphranor at the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios in Athens (mid-
4th century BC), was commissioned by Hadrian for the Mantinea gymnasium.
3
J. Boardman (1985) 18.
1. Prolegomena 3
Figure 1: Ostraka with the portrait of Senenmut. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(Accession Number: 36.3.252).
4
For example, the vignettes accompanying the chapters of the ‘Book of the Dead’, and many of
the scenes on papyrus scrolls which accompanied texts, showing simple drawings or profusely
coloured complex compositions.
5
The ostraka from the time of Ramses, most of which found at Deir el-Medina, depict a wide
variety of themes, ranging from fragments with simple sketches to veritable miniature works of
art, some of which used as working models.
6
R. Freed (2001) 336.
4 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
On another ostrakon also found at Deir el-Bahri, one can see a sketch that depicts
a frequently occurring group of hieroglyphs: Ankh (symbol of life), Djed (symbol
of stability), and Was (symbol of power), that appear on many Egyptian reliefs.
Once again the grid lines allowed the artist to draw the hieroglyphs at the scale
required [fig. 2].
This type of model was replicated on different mediums, such as the case of a
rectangular wooden drawing board covered with a thin layer of plaster, dated
ca. 1479-1425 BC, found at Thebes in the Temple of Isis (Deir el-Medina) and
today held at the British Museum [fig. 3].
A seated figure of Pharaoh Thutmose III has been drawn on the left side of the
drawing, and hieroglyphs on the right side, depicting a quail chick and seven
clumsily drawn versions of a forearm with an outstretched hand. This illustration
is very interesting for a number of reasons. It represents a unit of measure, very
1. Prolegomena 5
Figure 3: Egyptian wooden drawing board from the 18th Dynasty. London. British Museum.
possibly the royal cubit (Mahe) between 523 to 525 mm, subdivided into 7 palms
of 4 digits each, for a 28-part measure in total,7 and a small sketch identifiable as
a loaf of bread impressed with the imprint of fingers. The squared grid, ruled in
red, on the left side of the board (the grid was deliberately erased on the right
side) indicates this is a preparatory drawing.8 These sketches on red-lined grids
were important aids to the Egyptians, ordering harmoniously and accurately
the scenes they intended to illustrate.9
7
Evidence of this unit is known in architecture, at least from the time the stepped Pyramid of
Djoser was built circa 2.700 BC (J.P. Lauer (1931) 59).
8
L. Manniche (1987) 14.
9
According to Pliny (Natural History XXXV, 5), the Egyptians created paintings by tracing the
shadow of human figures projected on the walls of tombs.
6 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
10
Knowledge of proportions is mentioned on a well-known limestone stele (dating 2000 BC)
found at Abydos and today held at the Louvre. On it, the master craftsman, scribe, and sculptor
Irtysen (or Iryrusen), who lived in 11th Dynasty, recorded a biographical account in which
he boasted of his multiple skills: ‘…Moreover I am a craftsman who excels at his art and has a
superior level of knowledge; I know how to estimate dimensions, recut and fit until an element is
in place…’. G. Andreu; M. H. Rutschowscaya and C. Ziegler (1997).
11
L. Manniche (1987) 14-15.
1. Prolegomena 7
‘Pattern books for paintings have not survived, but scrolls with architectural
drawings are known. The evidence for their existence is more than suggested
by the curious case of Wensu and Paheri. Wensu was scribe of the accounts of
grain at Thebes; Peheri was an important official in the town of el-Kâb, some
fifty-five miles south of Thebes. Wensu had his tomb cut in the rocks at Dra’
Abu el-Naga’ and decorated with a number of conventional scenes in the best
style of the mid-Eighteenth dynasty painting. Paheri naturally chose to have his
tomb made in the cliffs near his native town of el-Kâb. Apart from the fact that
Paheri’s duties also included supervision of granaries far beyond the district of
Thebes, there is nothing to suggest that the two men had anything to do with
each other, were it not for the curious fact that certain scenes in their tombs are
absolutely identical. That Paheri’s tomb is carved in relief and that of Wensu is
painted shall not concern us here; it only goes to show how closely related the
two techniques were.
The only way in which the design so many miles apart could be so similar is
by copying a common source. The contemporary royal tombs of Tuthmosis III
and Amenophis II show beyond doubt that the painter had consulted a scroll of
papyrus while he worked. Not only has the decoration in these two royal tombs
the unmistakable characteristics of sketchy papyrus design; but the text was
damaged, notably at the beginning of the scroll which was the most vulnerable
when the scroll was stored. The scribe who copied the text left blanks where his
scroll was broken, or he wrote ‘found damaged’.
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and
Decorative Compositions
in The Greek World
12
According to A. E. Barclay (2013) 144, ‘although it is true that a Near Eastern flavour dominated
the art of 7th century BC Greece, this was not so much a period of ‘Orientalisation’, which suggests
an indiscriminate flow and adoption of ideas from the east, as it was a period of experimentation.
Craftsmen in different, but not all, regions of the Greek world were selectively adopting and
adapting different elements from several sources, including the vast, ready-made Near Eastern
artistic corpus’.
13
This correlation seems to have had wide acceptance in Antiquity. Diodorus Siculus (IV, 96), in
the 1st century BC, refers to Daedalus as a great sculptor and highlights a journey the artist
made to Egypt to learn about their work concepts and techniques. This relationship is not always
accepted but, as Alan Johnson contends (1993) 52, ‘the influence of Egyptian large-scale stone
figures, both in the use of a grid and in monumental size, is clear, though the Greek figures are
nude and make do without the back pillar support used in Egypt’.
14
J. Boardman (2014) 10.
8
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and Decorative Compositions 9
placed on the walls of the rectangular tombs. These tablets, usually in terracotta,
could also be made in ivory, marble, metal or wood. The best surviving examples
in wood are four panels found in a cave in Pitsa, near Corinth, dating from the
6th century BC The most well-preserved panel, measuring about 30 cm, perhaps
the most ancient, depicts a sacrificial procession, revealing a style of painting
that is quite similar to that found on some Attic black-figure vases [fig. 5]. The
contrast in colour, in white, red and black, is similar to the Corinthian vases of
this period.15
The marble pinakes were individually engraved, while those in bronze would be
moulded repeatedly, a technique known as lost wax casting. The most common,
though, were those in terracotta. Normally, they were pierced by holes cut into
each corner, or two at the top, or at the centre top and bottom. Sometimes, they
had as many as three or four holes at the top, and they were cut large to hold
iron nails rather than thongs. As John Boardman says,16 this proves that these
15
A. Johnston (1993) 69-70, nº 64.
16
J. Boardman (1955) 54.
10 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
way in which they were placed can be seen in paintings on Greek vases, showing
them hung on temple walls, on trees in the sanctuary grounds, or even on the
divinity’s cult image. The Roman architect Vitruvius mentions pinakes could be
found in the cells of temples and could be owned by private owners.
The terracotta pieces were produced in the same workshops as the Greek vases,
and their authorship can sometimes be identified, such as those held at the
Berlin Museum, attributed to Exekias.18 One of the earliest examples dates
from the geometric period (7th century BC), found at the Poseidon sanctuary
at Cape Sounion. It depicts the back part of a ship (a penteconter?) with five
hoplites at the bridge and a helmsman [fig. 6].
They are, however, more common from the 6th century BC The Metropolitan
Museum holds a pinax dated circa 520-510 BC, depicting a prothesis (laying out
of the dead) and a chariot race [fig. 7].
17
J. Boardman (2014) 54.
18
J. Boardman (1955) 63-66.
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and Decorative Compositions 11
Others are simply found in the antiques market, such as this example dated
ca. 510 BC, once part of a private collection, depicting again a funeral scene,
mentioned in a publication by J. Boardman, Painted Funerary Plaques19 and in the
Beazley Archive (nº. 11557), [fig. 8].
The most well-known pinakes are those depicting pottery activities, from the
process of clay extraction to the turning and baking phase. They are illustrated
here by two examples found in Penteskophia, near Corinth [figs. 9-10].
Other still are votive in nature, such as those from the sanctuary of the Nymphe
on the slopes of the Acropolis and today on exhibit at the new Museum20 [figs.
11-12].
An interesting pinax (or metope), a rare example of great painting from the Late
Archaic period, was found at the Acropolis, depicting a fully-armed hoplite
19
J. Boardman (1955) 61, nº 22.
20
P. Valavanis (2014) 25, figs. 30-31.
12 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
Figure 9-10: Corinthian terracotta plaques (about 600-575) depicting workers in a Clay Pit and
potter’s workshop, from Penteskophia near Corinth.
Berlin, Pergamon Museum, and Paris, Louvre.
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and Decorative Compositions 13
Figure 11-12: Two terracotta plaques from the 6th century BC Votive offerings in the sanctuary
of the Nymphe. Athens, Acropolis Museum.
running to the left,21 probably the work of Euthymides, ca. 510-500 BC It bore
the inscription: ‘Megakles is handsome’ (‘Megakles kalos’), but the name was
scratched out and substituted by ‘Glaukytes’, probably following Megakles’
ostracism in 486 BC [fig. 13].
A very interesting vase found in Vulci and today held at the Staatliche Museen
(nº 2294; arv 400, I) in Berlin, attributed to the Foundry Painter, portrays a
bronzesmith’s workshop in full activity. Besides depicting a forge and tools used
in the workshop, one can see on the left side of the wall imagens of Athena
and Hephaestus, patron of the craft, and four tablets hung on a bucranium, one
of which is in front of Hephaestus’s bust. These tablets, possibly placed for
apotropaic effect (against disgrace, illness, or any other type of evils), reveal
affinities with the terracotta plaques mentioned previously [fig. 14a-b].
21
P. Valavanis (2014) 57, figs. 91.
14 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
Figure 14 a-b: Attic red-figure kylix depicting a bronzesmith’s workshop, early 5th century
BC It is the name vase of the Attic vase painter known conventionally as the Foundry
Painter. Berlin, Staatliche Museen.
16 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
The metopes on the façade bear a painted decoration which replicates those of
the south wall metopes of the Parthenon portraying the mythical battle of the
22
R. R. R. Smith (1993) 170-172, nº 161.
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and Decorative Compositions 17
Lapiths and Centaurs.23 Apart from the clear interest this copy conveys, we can
question which type of model was used to replicate these representations, at
a moment in time and in a geographical space far removed from the original.
Copies based on models are also suggested in the sculptural themes found on
Greek vases. This seems to be the case of some vases attributed to the Andokides
Painter, which apparently served as inspiration to the architectural sculptures
of the North Frieze of the Siphnian Treasury.24
23
E. M. Moormann (1998) 15.
24
Brunilde S. Ridgway (1987) 81.
18 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
In other cases, this phenomenon is even more evident: the sculptural group
that represents the goddess Athena and the satyr Marsyas25 are versions of
a famous bronze sculptural group dated 450-440 BC, attributed to the Greek
sculptor Myron,26 replicated in an Attic red-figure oinochoe by the Codrus Painter
(ca. 450-425 BC), along with rare Athenian bronze coins27 from the reigns of
Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius [figs. 17 a-b, 18, 19 a-b], and on a marble
vase in Athens (not illustrated).28
Figure 17 a-b: Marble. Roman copy of a bronze Greek original by Myron (ca. 470 BC) portraying
‘Athena and the satyr Marsyas’, according to John Boardman.
25
The statue finds its closest parallel in the surviving statues of the ‘Athena-Marsyas group’, the
best examples today in the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt, in the Paris Louvre, and Lateran Museum in
Rome.
26
Thanks to a mention from Pliny the Elder referring to a ‘… satyr in admiration before Athena
and their flute’ (Natural History XXXIV.57) and by Pausanias, when he refers that he had seen on
the Acropolis in Athens ‘…a statue of Athena striking Marsyas, the Seilenos, for taking up the
flutes that the goddess wished to be cast away for good’ (Periegesis 1, 24, 1), (apud G. M. A. Richter
(1950) 209-210).
27
Decade 40 or 50 of the 2nd century to about 175, see RPCOnline 3438 and SNGCop 351.
28
G. M. A. Richter (1950) 209-210; J. Boardman (1985) fig. 61 and 64.
29
Brunilde S. Ridgway (1987) 85-87.
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and Decorative Compositions 19
chronological differences and in the rendering of costume and folds but also
because they were produced for different purposes and circles.
The reference to Theodorus as one of the most important gem engravers is also
quite interesting, as we know that this artist was the architect of one of the
greatest Ionic temples of all time, and a sculptor remembered for his bronze
works. According to John Boardman,32 this artistic relationship is more common
than it may seem. Phidias, one of the greatest masters of Greek sculpture, was
also a painter, and still remembered as a miniaturist of some famous gemstones
- a cicada, a fly and a bee - imitated in classical gems.
Even though we may admit the examples mentioned do not bear witness to a
correlation between artists and, consequently, the systematic transmission of
iconographic designs and decorative compositions among the different crafts, we
cannot neglect to highlight that in a few cases the affinities in design suggest the
existence of pattern books in the workshops, but whose medium is unknown.
This seems to the case of several Greek vases associated to the Red-line Painter’s
workshop. We illustrate our idea with two type-A neck-amphorae, dated ca.
510-475 BC, belonging to the collections of Gómez-Moreno33 and Manuel de
Lancastre.34 The same design can be seen on the B side of these amphorae: two
Athenian heroes, Peleus and Heracles, depicted as naked young men, with short
hair and in the same position [figs. 20-21]. The first amphora depicts Peleus’
abduction of Thetis, with a Nereid running quickly with her head thrown back.
On the second vase, the motif is different, portraying Heracles’ capture of the
Cretan Bull.
Two more examples of the same type can be found in the CVA of the Museo
Nazionale di Villa Giulia35 (and which we think belong to the same painter),
30
Brunilde S. Ridgway (1987) 85.
31
We also know Zeuxis made painted vases that were still highly regarded in the Roman period
(R. Morais; A. María Adroher (2016) 15).
32
J. Boardman (1970) 18.
33
R. Morais (2016) 125-129.
34
M. H. Rocha-Pereira (2007) 86-87.
35
CVA Italy 1, Tav. 10, nº 1-4.
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and Decorative Compositions 21
portraying another of Heracles’ labours, his fight against the Nemean lion. As
we can see, the design is the same, different only in the absence of Iolaus from
one of the vases [figs. 22-23]. According to the catalogue’s description, these
vases, called ‘gemelos’, were found in the same tomb, certainly indicating they
were made at the same time and in the same workshop.
These examples suggest the existence of pattern books used in the workshops.
They do not seem to be only fruit of the artist’s ability to replicate designs
from memory and based on skill. We cannot forget that the same vase could
be painted on by several artists, masters and young apprentices, who would
replicate the desired themes. There is a high number of vases by the Red-line
Painter, about 120, found particularly throughout Italy (Etruria, Sicily, Po River
Valley) and the Black Sea. Although not among the most renowned of artists,
some of his vases reveal high artistic value, which leads us to assume they were
made by him and the others by artists in his workshop who copied the works
based on sketches.36
36
E. J. Holmberg (1990) 8.
37
Later they were included in the illustration of books (Plutarch, Live of Theseus, I, 1; apud C. Jacob
(1990) 252).
38
Plutarch, Live of Themistocles, V, 4). apud C. Jacob (1990) 252.
39
Agathemerus, A Sketch of Geography in Epitome I, 1; apud C. Jacob (1990) 245.
40
Herodotus IV, 36.
41
Herodotus IV, 49.
42
C. Jacob (1990) 251-254.
2. The Transmission of Iconographic Designs and Decorative Compositions 23
If the mediums used in the Greek world are unknown, the same cannot be said of
the Roman world. Written sources mention the existence of manuals in the form
of papyrus scrolls (stemmata, imagines) which served as model and inspiration
for the artists.45 Salvatori Settis46 gives us an interesting example of a papyrus
found in Cairo, which mentions a certain Attic, a sort of artistic advisor to Cicero,
who, during his stay in Athens between 68 and 65 BC, would look for ‘books’ and
statues to serve as inspiration to decorate the orator’s villa in Tusculum. Although
rare, some copies of designs on papyrus scrolls have survived, such as the one
portraying ‘Orpheus among animals’, dated from the 4th century, and today held
at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London47 [fig. 24].
43
Horace, Epistles II, 1.156.
44
According to Livy 39.6, ‘The beginnings of foreign luxury were brought to Rome by the army of
Asia. These soldiers were responsible for the first importation of bronze couches, costly
upholstery, tapestries and other textiles, and pedestal tables and sideboards, then the height
of fashion (…)’. The same idea is found in Sallust, Bellum Catilinae 11. 5-6: ‘That lovely country
[Asia Minor] and its pleasures soon softened the soldiers’ warlike spirits. This was where Roman
soldiers first learned to make love, to be drunk, to enjoy statues, and pictures, and embossed
plate. They stole them from private houses and public buildings; they plundered temples and
polluted everything, sacred and secular’ (apud Z. H. Archibald 2013, 23, note 1).
45
O. Brendel (1982) 147; J. R. Clarke (2001 and 2003).
46
S. Settis (1982) 184; 198, n. 57.
47
S. Settis (1982) 183.
24
3. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio 25
Figure 24: Drawing on papyrus with Orpheus among animals. London, Victoria and Albert
Museum (Accession Number: 15-1946).
Following older traditions, papyri can contain text and images, even if only
in the form of rough sketches. One of the few surviving scraps of classical
literary illustration on papyrus, known as The Heracles Papyrus, is a fragment of
a 3rd-century Greek manuscript of a poem about the Labours of Heracles. This
fragment, found at Oxyrhynchus (Pap. 2331), contains three unframed coloured
line drawings of the first of the Labours, the killing of the Nemean Lion, set
within the columns of cursive text48 [fig. 25].
48
K. Weitzmann (1977); J. Huskinson (1993) 327, nº 327.
26 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
Figure 25: The Heracles Papyrus (Oxford, Sackler Library, Oxyrhynchus Pap. 2331), a fragment of
a 3rd-century Greek manuscript of a poem about the Labours of Heracles.
Figure 26. Fragment of a scroll papyrus with Amor and Psyche (ca. 2nd century AD). Florence,
Istituto Papirologico G. Vitelli (Accession Number: PSI 919).
3. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio 27
Another fragment of papyrus, perhaps from the 2nd century AD, depicts the
encounter between Amor and Psyche, probably part of a scroll bearing only
illustrations, without associated text49 [fig. 26].
Figure 27: Roman portrait fresco of a young man with a papyrus scroll, 1st century AD.
Herculaneum.
49
G. Cavallo (1989) 718.
50
Between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, the vellum codex gradually replaced the scrolls of vellum
or papyrus.
51
G. Cavallo (1989) 703.
52
G. Cavallo (1991) 171.
28 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
During his exile in the Black Sea, Ovid mentions the word tabella in a letter sent
to the Emperor Augustus, to refer to a small painting (parva tabella) depicting
sexual positions, very common in the homes of the wealthy upper classes.58 In
his The Art of Love, Ovid says rather ironically that women invented positions
which went far beyond those represented in these small paintings. Suetonius59
mentions that Tiberius, in his retreat at Capri, ‘had several chambers set round
with pictures and statues in the most suggestive attitudes, and furnished with
the books of Elephantis, that none might want a pattern for the execution
of any project that was prescribed him’. This type of illustration certainly
corresponded to illustrated manuals and ‘encyclopaedic catalogues’ with figurae
veneris, already well-known in the Hellenistic period.60
Even if we admit that most of the mural paintings are not replicas of Greek
originals, several examples seem to derive from original models, such as the
painting found in the peristyle of the House of the Dioscuri, in Pompeii, which
portrays Perseus with winged sandals, saving Andromeda from being sacrificed.
It is thought that this painting is indeed a replica of the celebrated original by
Nikias, from the 4th century BC [fig. 28].
Another good example of the existence of illustrated manuals can be seen in the
art of mosaics. We know the workshops had agents in charge of proposing sets
of designs and themes to clients, as well as the price, the time of delivery and
53
Pliny, Natural History XXXV.
54
E. M. Moormann (1998) 21-22.
55
E. M. Moormann (1998) 21.
56
O. Brendel (1982) 147.
57
E. S. P. Ricotti (1995) 54.
58
J. R. Clarke (2001) 91-92, 277.
59
Suetonius, Life of Tiberius III and XLIII (translated by M. D. Alexander Thomson 2013).
60
O. Brendel (1970) 63-64; J. R. Clarke (2001) 34, 92-93, 246; (2003) 29.
3. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio 29
Figure 28: Wall-painting with Andromeda and Perseus, perhaps after Nikias. House of
Dioscorides at Pompeii. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.
30 Greek Art: From Oxford to Portugal and Back Again
Figure 29: Alexander Mosaic, depicting the Battle of Issus in 333 BC between Alexander the Great
and Darius III of Persia. House of the Faun at Pompeii. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.
A truly unique case are the close similarities to the scenes represented on
the famous Gemma Augustea [fig. 30], with a marble relief from a private
collection, probably found near Sirmium, in Pannonia [fig. 31]. Despite stylistic
and compositional similarities, the differences between these two works
are notable, not only due to the materials from which they are made, their
size and execution, but also due to chronological differences. The Gemma
Augustea, a cameo in sardonyx and a masterpiece of the art from the end of the
Augustan period,62 contrasts with this relief in marble, produced in a provincial
environment, probably between 320 and 326 BC Ivana Popović puts forward two
hypotheses: the artisan either saw the cameo or a sketch of it.63
61
G. Ritcher (1994) 282.
62
Maybe shortly before 14 AD (P. Stewart 2008, 121-123).
63
The copy of the Gemma Augustea appears at a time when gems from the Julius-Claudius period
3. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio 31
Similarly to small objects, textile canvases and clothing (jackets, shawls, etc.)
were perfect vehicles for the transmission of decorative themes and motifs.66
These pieces, dating from the 3rd to 8th centuries, and mostly found in Egypt,
correspond to medallions (orbiculi, tabulae) and decorated bands (clavi).67 A
fragment of a slate, today held at the Museo del Monasterio de Montserrat
(Barcelona), shows the same motif as the papyrus referred to in fig. 25, which
depicts the famous scene of Hercules’ fight against the Nemean lion [fig. 32].
had become very popular and were used as motives of imperial propaganda, the so-called imitatio
Augusti, during the time of Constantine (I. Popović 2011, 359-364).
64
The similarities between these small metal pieces and mural paintings are well documented
(Clarke 2011, 248, 274, 278).
65
Particularly noteworthy are the terracotta oil lamps which, due to their low cost and extensive
distribution throughout the empire, served to spread distinct and varied iconographic lexicons.
Similarly to the mosaics, the diffusion of the most popular scenes and motifs represented on the
lamps’ discuses can only be understood if we think of the existence of drawing and pattern books
in the workshops that produced them (M. Vejas 1966, 83; A. Morillo Cerdán 1999, 164).
66
However, these motifs were replicated from drawings (‘pattern books’), copied over and over
again in different crafts, as we have already mentioned, in the art of mosaics, in painting or in the
decoration of small objects, such as oil lamp discuses (E. Besciani 1993, 958).
67
The historical evolution of Egypt from the Alexandrian period favoured the introduction of
classical iconography, creating a highly varied thematic catalogue: gods of the Olympus, heroes,
several personifications and allegories, as well as characters and themes from tragedies by
classical authors and pastoral representations inspired by bucolic poetry.
3. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio 33
Figure 32: Tabula portraying Hercules’ fight against the lion of Nemea.
Barcelona, Montserrat Monastery Museum.
4. Case Studies
To illustrate this chapter, we have chosen three case studies, although there are
others we could refer to and other themes consecrated in Classical Antiquity,
replicated countless times on several types of medium. As Otto Brendel68
mentions, a copy implies the use of a specific model, usually ancient; the
variations indicate the continuous influence of a still active iconographic legacy.
We will start with a sculptural group depicting ‘The Three Graces’ (Euphrosyne,
Aglaia and Thalia), generally portrayed in the nude, gently embracing each
other. It is a Roman copy in marble from the 2nd century AD, today in the New
York Metropolitan Museum,69 which emulates the famous marble group of
Cyrene from the 2nd century BC [fig. 33].
In the Roman period, this group was replicated countless times and on different
mediums, including textiles.71 They serve to exemplify sculptural reliefs in
marble, murals, sarcophaguses, mosaics,72 and small objects, such as the gold
medallion, gem and oil lamp discus illustrated here [figs. 35-36, 37a-b, 38-41].
68
O. Brendel (1982) 148.
69
P. Zanker (2016) 99, fig. 130.
70
V. de Souza (1990) 9-10, nº 2; (2002) 247, fig. 2.
71
L. Rodríguez Peinado (2011) 345.
72
There are several Roman mosaics with this theme, among which the mosaics today at the
Museo Nazionale di Napoli, found in Pompeii at the ‘Giardino della Casa di Apollo’, and at the
Museum of Narlıkuyu (Mersin), in Turkey.
34
4. Case Studies 35
Figure 33: Statue group of the Three Graces. Roman, Imperial period (2nd century AD); copy of a
Greek work from the 2nd century BC.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession Number: 2010.260).
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