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The J. Paul Getty Museum journal PDF

173 Pages·1989·17.845 MB·English
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The J. Paul Getty Museum JOURNAL Volume 17/1989 Including Acquisitions/1988 Unless otherwise specified, all photographs are courtesy of the institution owning the work illustrated. © 1989 The J. Paul Getty Museum 17985 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, California 90265 (213) 459-7611 ISBN 0-89236-157-3 ISSN 0362-1979 THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM JOURNAL VOLUME 17/1989 Contents ANTIQUITIES An Ivory Fulcrum Medallion 5 Elisabeth Doumeyrou DRAWINGS A New Drawing by Giovanni Battista Naldini 15 Gerhard Gruitrooy A New Drawing by Hanns Lautensack 21 Lee Hendrix The Significance of Titian's Pastoral Scene 29 Clark Hulse Two Bronzes in Poussins Studies of Antiquities 39 David J affé DECORATIVE ARTS Science and Luxury: Two Acquisitions by the J. Paul Getty Museum 47 Jean-Nérée Ronfort PHOTOGRAPHS Portrait of a Marriage: Paul Strand's Photographs of Rebecca 83 Belinda Rathbone ACQUISITIONS/1988 Introduction: The Collections 100 Drawings 126 and the Year's Activities Decorative Arts 140 Notes to the Reader 106 Sculpture and Works of Art 146 Antiquities 107 Photographs 153 Manuscripts 116 Trustees and Staff List 167 Paintings 123 This page intentionally left blank An Ivory Fulcrum Medallion Elisabeth Doumeyrou In the beginning of 1987, the J. Paul Getty Museum forehead they become tormented and complex, stand­ acquired a very handsome Hellenistic ivory applique ing upright upon the eyebrow and giving the face a depicting the head of the god Pan in profile (figs, wild expression. la—b). The carving's quality, inspired iconography, and The frown is the most expressive element in the face: function make it a unique piece. it offsets the lack of a right eye and forms a dark The figure stands out in profile, turned toward the shadow that gives force to the whole piece. This ab­ left. The relief, flat at the top and the nape of the neck, sence of the right part of the face is also made less becomes deeper in the locks on the forehead, and is so obvious by the slight deviation of the muzzle. This high around the nose, the mouth, and the chin that shifting (noticeable when seen from the front) disap­ these parts seem almost carved in the round. pears in the general design of the profile. The violent When first created, the object must have had approx­ movement of eyebrows is common in Hellenistic Pans imately the same shape as today and thus did not be­ and can be found in a simplified version on coins. long to a broader composition. The original silhouette The very detailed eye, with thin eyelids and marked is formed by the top and the back of the head (almost pupil and iris, is seen, for instance, on a silver oinochoe entirely preserved) and the profile down to the middle of tomb II in Vergina.2 A Hellenistic terracotta head of the nose. The lower part of the piece is limited by the from the Treviso Museum also shows the same features incised edge under the chin, delineating the turn of the (fig. 2). The flat nose with goatlike triangular nostrils is beard. This detail indicates that the applique was meant rare in representations of Pan. A statue in the National to be seen from below. The major losses are the nape Museum in Athens presents a similar, but more natu­ and the background on which the lower part of the ralistic, nose.3 muzzle stands out. Only the beginning of this back­ The prognathous mouth opens on a delicate row of ground exists today, but according to the general bal­ upper teeth. The prominent chin curves softly and the ance of the piece, it must not have been very wide. The wavy beard, formed of thin strands, joins the hair of the back of the applique is flat and a hole is drilled through cheeks and turns under the chin at the edge of the piece. it, emerging on the face close to the temple. An equivalent beard treatment can be found in a ter­ The figure is unique in the mix of human and goatish racotta bust of Pan in the Varvakeion.4 The delicate and features. The general silhouette, round head, thick expressive cheeks, with supple muscles, high cheek­ neck, expressive forehead, and rather regular profile are bones, and thin hair, are particularly well carved, es­ more human, while the fleece, flat muzzle, beard, thin pecially around the nose, the mouth, and the corner of lips, pointed ears, and horns reflect the animal side of the lips. the god. A flat, double-edged bacchic fillet is tied around the Little comma-like curls, themselves incised in the head, although the knot on top is not apparent. This curved locks, are very close to the style of hair tradi­ area was roughly carved, perhaps to save space for a tionally used in Hellenistic sculpture and metalware, nail. The cloth fillet falls down the cheeks and in front yet here they are woollier to represent fleece.1 On the of the temple in a soft, thick bow, then rolls diagonally I would like to thank here Dr. Marion True, Curator of Antiq­ ter) (Athens, 1978). uities, the J. Paul Getty Museum, for giving me the opportunity to 2. M. Andronicos, "The Royal Graves in the Great Tumulus (Ba- publish an article on this wonderful piece. I am also grateful to Dr. F. silikos taphoi tes megales toumpas)," AAA 10 (1977), pp. 1-72. The Causey, Dr. H. Prag, Dr. E. R. Williams, K. Wight, A. Smitt, A. abbreviations used are the ones listed in American Journal of Archaeol­ Leinster, and all of those who helped me during this study. ogy 82 (1978), pp. 3^10 and 84 (1980), pp. 3-4. 1. On sculpture, see for example, L. Laurenzi, Ritratti Greci 3. Statuette of Pan seated on a rock. From the Olympeion. (Rome, 1968); M. Bieber, Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age (New York, Athens National Archaeological Museum 683. 1955); C. Vermeule, Greek Art: Socrates to Sulla (Cambridge, Mass., 4. A. Furtwangler, "Buste Pans in Terracotta," AM 3 (1878), 1980); idem, Greek and Roman Sculpture in America (Boston, 1981). For pp. 155-160, pi. 8. goldware, see E. Gioure, O Krateras tou Derveniou (The Derveni Kra- 6 Doumeyrou Figure 1a. Applique depicting the head of Pan, three- Figure lb. Side view of figure la. quarter view. Hellenistic, circa 2d-lst cen tury B.C. Ivory. H: 8.56 cm (37s in.); W: 7.97 cm (37» in.); Th (max): 2.3 cm in.). (15/i6 Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum 87.AI.18. around the ear and floats freely in a decorative twist. Its short lines of the hair on the nose, the eyebrows, and end has been chipped away. the ear. Some details add to the sensitivity and natural In the fleece, a space had been drilled for a horn too ism of the figure, for example, the small wrinkles on large to be worked from the same piece of tusk. This the nose and under the lower eyelid, and the lock of horn, now missing, may have been made from another hair between the eye and the forehead. piece of ivory or from a nonreactive material (for ex Among ivories, a very beautiful group from the first ample, wood or bone). In keeping with the general century B.c. depicting Achilles and Penthesilea, now proportions of the object, it probably was not very in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City prominent. (fig. 3), shows the same interest in details as the Getty The extremely fine and skillful craftsmanship makes Museum's Pan, but in a more Neoclassical and sculp the appliqué unique. The little details are highly tural manner.5 This artful rendering of the small motif finished and decorative: the treatment of the hair, for and the accurate miniature without sacrificing the sensi example, ranges from the large curls of the fleece to the tive expression and general coherence is distinctive of small incisions of the beard (typical for the representa the artist. To achieve such effects, including the hole of tion of beards on Hellenistic bronze statues), and the the iris, he used only a small gouge or chisel. The 5. E. C. Banks, "A Roman Ivory of the First Century B.C.," pp. 189-286, pis. 1-3. Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum Bulletin 5, no. 5 (September 1979), 7. Athenaeus, 5.204e, 5.207c. pp. 3-22. 8. For Syrian and Phoenician ivories, see R. D. Barnett, "Phoeni 6. Athenaeus, 2.49a, 5.202, 6.2-552. On the use of bone see Pliny, cian and Syrian Ivory Carving," PEQ (1933), pp. 12ff For Etruscan NH 2.8. White details on furniture in black-figure vases may repre ivories, see Y. Huis, Ivoires d'Etrurie (Bruxelles-Rome, 1957). For My sent ivory inlays. See C. Ransom, Studies in Ancient Furniture: Couches cenaean ivories, see J. C. Poursat, Catalogue des ivoires mycéniens du and Beds of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans (Chicago, 1905), p. Musée National d Athènes (Paris, 1977). For Archaic ivories, see R. D. 40, n. 4. On ivory furniture, see also P. Bernard, "Sièges et lits en Barnett, "Early Greek and Oriental Ivories," JHS 68 (1948), pp. 1-25. ivoire d'époque hellénistique en Asie Centrale," Syria 67 (1960), For late antique ivories, see W. F. Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spàtan- An Ivory Fulcrum Medallion 7 Figure 2. Bust of a bearded man. Hellenistic, circa sec­ Figure 3. Group in the round of Achilles and Pen- ond half of the 2d century B.C. Terracotta. thesilea. Graeco-Roman, circa late 1st cen­ H: 15 cm (57/32 in.). Treviso, Museo Civico tury B.C. Ivory. H (max): 8.5 cm (3n/32 in.). DT.68. Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 76.11. same tools were also employed for flattening the back Roman periods.9 The very common use in these latter of the piece. periods of the lamination technique for building up A significant number of texts and discoveries prove ivory inlays has led to the material's fragmentation over the extensive use and value of ivory in classical antiq­ time into small, unattractive bits and layers. This, along uity. This material, and its cheaper substitute, bone, with the quick decay of ivory in damp soil, is largely were used for small- and large-scale sculpture (among responsible for making these objects unimpressive and which chryselephantine works are the most famous), explains the lack of interest among scholars and excava­ toilet objects, arms, musical instruments, and furni­ tors for the ivories of these periods. ture.6 In the Hellenistic period, it was widely employed The cross-section of the Getty Museum's applique as a luxury product for ornamental details on the walls, is typical of elephant ivory, though the piece is worked doors, and ceilings of palaces of princes and rulers.7 in such detail that there is no polished area where one Phoenician, Syrian, Etruscan, Mycenaean, Archaic can observe the normal crisscross surface pattern of Greek, and late antique ivories have been well studied this material.10 That the object was carved from a very and published.8 However, few works have focused on large tusk is evident from the marrow hollow visible ivory pieces of the Classical, the Hellenistic, and the at the back.11 tike und des Frühen Mittelalters (Mainz, 1952). klasyczwego)," Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warzawie V—18 (1976), 9. The most extensive and recent publications are: R. D. Barnett, pp. 59—110 (in Polish, summary in French). See also H. Graeven, Ancient Ivories in the Middle East and Adjacent Countries, Qedem: Mono­ Elfenbein und Knochen Schnitzereien in photographischer Nachbildung graphs of the Institute of Archaeology 14 (1982); H. Randall, "Classical (Hanover, 1903); this still-important work needs to be updated. Ivories" in Masterpieces of Ivory in the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 10. See L. Pennimann, Pictures of Ivory and Other Animals' Teeth, 1985); E. Rodziewicz, "Greek Ivories of the Hellenistic Period," Tra­ Bone, and Antler, Occasional Papers on Technology 5 (Oxford, 1968), vaux du centre dArchéologie Méditerranéenne de VAcadémie Polonaise des pp. 13-14, pi. 1. Sciences 11: Etudes et Travaux 5 (1971), pp. 72—89; idem, "Les ivoires de 11. B. Burack, Ivory and Its Uses (Tokyo, 1984) and A. McGregor, la période classique (Greckie wyraby z kosci sloniowej 'okresu Bone, Antler, Ivory and Horn (Totowa, N.J., 1985). 8 Doumeyrou Figure 4. Applique of a satyr walking to the left. Roman, circa 1st century B.C. Ivory. H: 22.8 cm (831/32 in.). Said to come from Sicily. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery 71.557. Under the microscope, there is no decisive element to west Hellenistic road (through Afghanistan and the indicate if the ivory comes from an Indian or an African Hindu Kush passes) or by sea via the Persian Gulf or elephant. In the Hellenistic period, ivory was partly the Red Sea.13 The re-exporting areas were Alexandria, imported from Africa—from the west (so-called Libya) Syria, and the Greek islands (chiefly Rhodes and De- and, more importantly, from the east (Ethiopia) by way los, coincident with either's preeminence during the of the Nile and above all the Red Sea.12 Indian ivory, period).14 From these markets, both types of ivory also frequently used, came by land following the east- traveled widely. Thus it is impossible, on this basis, to 12. Herodotus 3.114, 4.191; Pausanias 5.12.3. Adulis (Zala) on the World (Oxford, 1941). Eritrean coast was the most important market for ivory during the 15. See, for example, Anticka bronza u jugoslaviji (Beograd, 1969), Classical period. no. 63; A. Roes and W. Vollgraff, "Le canthare de Stevensveert," 13. Pausanias, idem. For trade routes, see M. P. Charlesworth, MonPiot 46 (1952), pp. 39-67. Trade Routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire (London, 1924); E. H. 16. Small hanging Marsyas in marble, Malibu, J. Paul Getty Mu Warmington, The Commerce Between the Roman Empire and India seum 72.AA.107; bronze statue of a standing man, Rome, Museo (London-New York, 1928), 2d ed. 1974; and R. Mauny, "Le Périple de Nazionale 1049; terracotta head of a bearded man, Treviso, Museo la mer Erythrée et le problème du commerce romain en Afrique au Civico DT 68; bronze portrait from Delos, Athens, National Mu sud du Limes," Journal de la société des africanistes 38, 1 (Paris, 1968). seum 14612. 14. M. Rostovzeff, The Social and Economie History of the Hellenistic 17. On iconography see F. Brommer, "Pan," PW Supplement 8 An Ivory Fulcrum Medallion 9 determine the provenance of our material. The piece obviously belongs to the Hellenistic tradi­ tion of decorative arts and is especially related to metal- wares in silver and gold.15 One can find in it influences of the baroque pathos recurrent in this period, as well as signs of the beginning of a classical revival. The strong construction, the delicate study from nature, and the fine expression—neither totally naturalistic nor wholly fantastic—are part of the eclecticism of late Hellenistic art. General comparisons of proportions can be made with other sculpture of this period, including a small Marsyas in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, the Hellenistic Ruler in the National Museum in Rome, the head in Treviso, and the portrait of a man from Delos in the National Museum in Athens.16 However, the wide silhouette, the triangular nose, the exaggeratedly cap­ rine mouth, and, above all, the absence of the typical long and tormented mustaches of the goat-god (re­ placed here by a more realistically hairy upper lip) set the Getty Museum's Pan apart from the many icon- ographic types of Pans from the Hellenistic period.17 One of the most handsome Hellenistic ivories comes from tomb III in Vergina.18 It represents a Dionysiac pair preceded by Pan playing the flute. The craftsman­ Figure 5. Back of figure la. ship is delicate, freely artistic, and Lysippan. But it is a young Pan whose iconography is totally different from that of our piece. The flat back of the piece (fig. 5) was scratched to Another cruder and more elementary Pan, playing increase its adherence to a background.23 The hole in the flute, is incised on a plate from Great Bliznitsa in the face, which seems ancient, was probably filled by a southern Russia.19 Unfortunately the figure of the god (metal?) nail that projected beyond the surface; the hole is broken in another small, delicate relief showing a is partially bored in the thickness of the fillet, and Dionysiac procession (sold in Basel in 1972).20 I have shows traces of oxidation. The second part of the hole not been able to see a "little damaged Pan holding a may be modern. It was connected to the first one but syrinx and a pedum" of the Imperial period, mentioned drilled from the back, not quite on the same axis, by a in the catalogue of the museum in Ostia.21 screw that broke chips out of the back. This second In the same iconographic range, one can include an hole was certainly added sometime later to reinforce the ivory ajouré depicting a satyr from the Walters Art Gal­ adherence to the background. lery in Baltimore (fig. 4), a small furniture support in The somewhat round shape of the piece leads one to the shape of a Marsyas in the Museo Archeologico in the conclusion that it was a medallion. Too large to Naples—both of which are more classical—and a stat­ belong to a toilet object, a casket, or a musical instru­ uette of Silenus in a private collection in Basel, typical ment, it would have suited a piece of furniture—more of the late Classical period.22 specifically the fulcrum of a couch or a bed. (1956), cols. 950-1008; R. Herbig, Pan (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1949). Basel, December 1972, lot 59. 18. Excavated in 1978. See Andronicos (note 2); idem, "The Finds 21. R. Calza and M. Floriani Squarciano, Museo Ostiense (Rome, from the Royal Tomb at Vergina," ProcBritAc 65 (1979), pp. 355-367 1947), pp. 97-104, inv. 4214. and figs.; idem, "The Royal Tombs at Vergina: A Brief Account of 22. Randall ([note 9], fig. 8, n. 18), inv. 71.557; G. Pesce, // Museo the Excavations," The Search for Alexander, ex. cat. (Museum of Fine Nazionale di Napoli: Oreficeria, toreutica, gliptica, vitraria, ceramica Arts, Boston, 1982), pp. 26-38. (Rome, 1932), pp. 7-8, fig. 6; K. Schefold, "Klassische Statuette aus 19. E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks (Cambridge, 1912), fig. 314 Elfenbein," Melanges Koutouleon (Athens, 1980), pp. 112-116, pi. 38. (1-15). 23. For a similar treatment, see F. Rossi, "Una plachetta d'avorio 20. Bronzen der Antike; Tarentinische Skulpturen; Schnitzereien aus dall'acropoli di Monte Sannace" in Archivo Storico Pugliese 33 (1979) Bein und Elfenbein (Sonderliste O); Miinzen und Medaillen, sale cat., Fasc. 1-IV, pp. 243-251, fig. 4.

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