Table Of Content

Shaky Ground DEBATES IN ARCHAEOLOGY Series editor: Richard Hodges Against Cultural Property John Carman The Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers Vicki Cummings Archaeologies of Conflict John Carman Archaeology: The Conceptual Challenge Timothy Insoll Archaeology and International Development in Africa Colin Breen & Daniel Rhodes Archaeology and the Pan-European Romanesque Tadhg O’Keeffe Archaeology and State Theory Bruce Routledge Archaeology and Text John Moreland Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians Peter S. Wells Combat Archaeology John Schofield Debating the Archaeological Heritage Robin Skeates Early European Castles Oliver H. Creighton Early Islamic Syria Alan Walmsley Gerasa and the Decapolis David Kennedy Image and Response in Early Europe Peter S. Wells Indo-Roman Trade Roberta Tomber Loot, Legitimacy and Ownership Colin Renfrew Lost Civilization James L. Boone The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor Charles F. W. Higham The Origins of the English Catherine Hills Rethinking Wetland Archaeology Robert Van de Noort & Aidan O’Sullivan The Roman Countryside Stephen Dyson Shaky Ground: Context, Connoisseurship and the History of Roman Art Elizabeth Marlowe Shipwreck Archaeology of the Holy Land Sean Kingsley Social Evolution Mark Pluciennik State Formation in Early China Li Liu & Xingcan Chen Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne Richard Hodges Tradition and Transformation in Anglo Saxon England: Archaeology, Common Rights and Landscape Susan Oosthuizen Vessels of Influence: China and the Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere Villa to Village Riccardo Francovich & Richard Hodges Shaky Ground Context, Connoisseurship and the History of Roman Art Elizabeth Marlowe Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2013 © Elizabeth Marlowe, 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Elizabeth Marlowe has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: ePDF: 978-1-47250-2100 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN Contents Acknowledgments vii List of Figures ix Introduction: Contradictions 1 Grounded and ungrounded 1 Resonance and wonder 7 1 Histories Modern and Ancient 13 A glimpse of the eighteenth century 13 An uncertain view of the ancient world 20 Clearer prospects 29 2 Indifference to Context 37 Chicken and egg 37 Inconsistent labels 44 Grounded and ungrounded, side by side 46 Grounded but now uncontextualized 49 Less is more 52 3 Lessons Learned and Not Learned 59 Authority and evidence 60 The constancy of style 64 Hypotheses built upon hypotheses 70 The art market 76 4 Connoisseurship and Class 81 Social art history 81 Circular logic 84 Empty niches 89 5 Red Herrings 99 Unknown unknowns 99 “From Egypt, exact provenance unknown” 103 vi Contents Licit/illicit 105 Repatriation and recontextualization 109 Conclusion: Best Practices 119 A ripe moment 119 Prioritize archaeological context 121 Itemize epistemological data 128 Bibliography 131 Index of artworks and monuments 157 Index 160 Acknowledgments The research for this book was supported by generous grants from the Colgate University Research Council, including a Picker grant that made the travel possible. I am grateful to my Colgate colleagues in Art and Art History, especially my patient and perceptive chair, Bob McVaugh, for the many ways, large and small, that they have encouraged this project. My Colgate students have also been a nourishing source of energy, curiosity and inspiration, particularly Claudia Piacente, Jeremy Rhodes, Eliza Graham, Ashlee Eve, and Frances Kahan. Nicole Beletsky and Elizabeth Johnson have served as reliable, competent research assistants. For various forms of expertise and assistance, I am grateful to Fabio Barry, Dorian Borbonus, Robert Cohon, Joseph Connors, Sophie Descamps, Steven Ellis, Jasper Gaunt, David Gill, Juliet Istrabadi, Christine Kondoleon, Ken Lapatin, Christopher Lightfoot, Peter Lukehart, John Moore, Timothy Motz, Oscar White Muscarella, Carole Paul, Victoria Reed, Peter Rockwell, and Julie Van Voorhis. Audiences and gracious hosts at the Roman Archaeology Conference in 2008, the Smith College Museum Studies Program, the Syracuse chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, Middlebury College, Skidmore College and the Center for Heritage and Society at the University of Massachusetts Amherst asked thoughtful questions that sharpened my thinking and sometimes changed my mind. Friends and colleagues have done so as well, including Dan Bouk, Patrick Crowley, Lesleigh Cushing, Noah Dauber, Jane Fejfer, Eliza Garrison, Elaine Gazda, Andrew Gordon, Michael Koortbojian, Laura Lesswing and Joshua Shannon. There has been nothing more useful and pleasurable than discussing these ideas in front of objects in museums in the company of criti- cally perceptive friends, and for that privilege I am deeply indebted to Padma Kaimal, Johanna Blokker, Ashli Baker, Susanna McFadden, viii Acknowledgments Rebecca Molholt, Barbara Kellum and Ken Lapatin. Ashli Baker gets special props for her fearless Turkish driving. Thanks also to Lisa Fentress, who made my many stays in Rome comfortable and stimu- lating; and to my sister and her husband, Nancy and Andrew Gordon, for doing the same in New York, and for Nancy’s eagle-eyed proof- reading and last minute photography. My Columbia University advisor, Richard Brilliant, has been patient, generous and supportive—even if he is somewhat skeptical of this particular project. It is a profound source of sadness not to be able to thank in person my other graduate school mentor, Tally Kampen, for all the ways she pushed me over the years, and a deep source of regret not to have taken better advantage of her innovative thinking about Roman provincial art while I had the chance. She is much missed. More than anything, this book is a product of conversations carried on over the past fifteen years with the members of the “Pioneer Valley Roman Forum,” an informal group that has been convening at various locations between Mt. Holyoke and New York City and sharing work in progress. There have been too many thoughtful, challenging inter- locutors from that community over the years to name them all, but Rebecca Molholt, Jim Frakes, Barbara Kellum and Bettina Bergmann in particular have been consummate mentor-friends, challenging and encouraging. They also offered insightful and incisive comments on the manuscript, as did Ken Lapatin and Patrick Crowley. My biggest debt of gratitude is to my husband, Robert Nemes, who inspires me to be a better thinker and a better person, and who supports my efforts to do so in every conceivable way; and to our two delightful daughters, Arielle and Dahlia, for whom one of my greatest hopes is that someday they will find as much stimulation in their work as I have found in thinking and talking through the ideas presented here. List of Figures All photos by author unless otherwise noted. Figure 1 Sala degli Imperatori, Capitoline Museum, Rome. 14 Figure 2 Marble portrait of a young woman, known as the “Fonseca bust,” Capitoline Museum. 16 Figure 3 Alabaster portrait head of a young woman, replica of the Fonseca bust, Fiesole Archaeological Museum. 23 Figure 4 Marble portrait head of a young woman with Flavian hairstyle, Louvre. 26 Figure 5 Marble portrait head of a young woman, identified as Agrippina the Younger, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. 28 Figure 6 Two female statues in marble, one wearing a peplos and one in the guise of Ceres, Istanbul Archaeological Museum. 30 Figure 7 Two male statues in marble, both wearing the chlamys, known as the “Elder and Younger Magistrates,” Istanbul Archaeological Museum. 32 Figure 8 Marble portrait statues of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna, Antalya Archaeological Museum. 41 Figure 9 Marble busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna, Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum. 41 Figure 10 Marble portrait heads conventionally identified as “Marius” and “Sulla,” Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek. 47 Figure 11 Roman Gallery, Cleveland Museum of Art, featuring the headless bronze statue probably of Marcus Aurelius and probably from Bubon, Turkey. 53 Figure 12 Gallery 169 of the Greek and Roman collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with marble portrait head of Caracalla. 56