Preface & Acknowledgments

Kleiner, Diana E. E.

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Preface & Acknowledgments

Diana E. E. Kleiner

Roman Sculpture

~This book owes its inception to Judy Metro of Yale University Press, who in 1982 suggested that I write a comprehensive study of Roman sculpture to complement the one on Greek sculpture by Andrew Stewart of Berkeley. The idea intrigued me because a book that concentrates on Roman sculpture is, in itself, new. There is no survey book devoted to Roman...

Author

Diana E. E. Kleiner

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19169

Preface & Acknowledgments

This book owes its inception to Judy Metro of Yale University Press, who in 1982 suggested that I write a comprehensive study of Roman sculpture to complement the one on Greek sculpture by Andrew Stewart of Berkeley. The idea intrigued me because a book that concentrates on Roman sculpture is, in itself, new. There is no survey book devoted to Roman sculpture alone, with the possible exception of the out-of-date and long out-of-print survey by Eugenie (Mrs. Arthur) Strong, Roman Sculpture from Augustus to Constantine (London, 1907) (and an Italian translation published in 1923–26). The survey books that have been written in more recent years—for example, those by Bernard Andreae, Richard Brilliant, George M. A. Hanfmann, Helga von Heintze, Martin Henig, Andrew Ramage, Nancy Ramage, and Mortimer Wheeler—deal with sculpture, painting, and architecture, which necessitates a less detailed treatment of the sculptural material. The only recent study that concentrates on sculpture is Donald Strong’s Roman Art (Harmondsworth, 1976), but although Strong focuses on sculpture he also devotes attention to painting, mosaic, and the minor arts.

In any case, the scope and organization of this book are different from those of earlier surveys. Above all, I have strived for a balanced perspective on Roman sculpture, concentrating not only on art commissioned by the court in Rome and the aristocracy in the provinces, but on the art of freedmen and slaves. Of equal importance is the interrelation between the art of those of different social status. I have also included portraits and reliefs representing women and children who are largely ignored in studies of Roman art. Even portraits of the empresses, which are sometimes more original and interesting than those of their husbands, are rarely included in surveys of Roman art. Attention is given, therefore, not only to major monuments but to less well-published works of lower quality that are, however, of high historical and cultural interest. This material is important not only for our understanding of Roman art but also of Roman society and Roman patronage.

I wrote this book during the 1987–88 academic year. My greatest debt is to the president of Yale University, Benno C. Schmidt, Jr., who granted me a special leave of absence from teaching and administrative duties to write Roman Sculpture, which would not have come into being at this time without President Schmidt’s wise advice and generous support. I am also grateful to the former provost, William D. Nordhaus, and to the former dean of the Graduate School, Jerome J. Pollitt, for their counsel and encouragement.

I am grateful to the J. Paul Getty Trust for its generous grant in support of the publication of this book, and I would like also to acknowledge another grant from the John F. Enders Fellowship of Yale University. The latter enabled me to benefit from the expert research assistance of Eric Varner in securing bibliographic references. Additional bibliographic work, as well as help in organizing the illustrations, was provided by a Yale College undergraduate, Annelisa Stephan, during the 1988–90 academic years. I owe a debt of gratitude to her and to many other Yale students. I want to thank the graduate students in Classics and in the History of Art who have listened to my ideas and presented many of their own. Countless Yale undergraduates have also passed through my courses on Roman art and architecture, and I am grateful to them for their enthusiasm for the study of Roman art and especially for their many challenging questions and astute comments.

I also want to thank my husband, Fred S. Kleiner, and friends and colleagues Sarah Cormack, Natalie Kampen, John Pollini, Eric Varner, Cornelius Vermeule, Gordon Williams, and Susan Wood, who generously read all or part of the manuscript and offered many useful suggestions. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Gordon Williams, not only for his sensitive reading of the text, but for his generous support and encouragement.

Special thanks are also owed to Lorraine Alexson for her expert editing of the text and for her help in preparing the glossary, to Ken Botnick for his masterful design of the book and for laying out the plates, and to Marni Kessler for invaluable assistance in making the index. Judy Metro’s significant contribution to this book has already been acknowledged, but I want to thank her also for her support and encouragement along the way.

It was a great challenge to collect the 421 photographs that illustrate this book, and I am grateful to Yale University for a triennial leave in spring 1991 that allowed me to do just that. I thank first and foremost Helmut Jung of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Rome, Elena Quevedo of Art Resource in New York, Gisela Fittschen-Badura, and Klaus Fittschen for their generous help in acquiring most of the photographs. A great debt is also owed to William Valerio, who selflessly took time from his own research to keep track of my many photograph orders in Rome. I also acknowledge the invaluable help of Edmund Buchner, Richard Gergel, Antonio Giuliano, Eugenio La Rocca, Anna Marguerite McCann, and R. R. R. Smith, who kindly provided me with photographs from their personal collections. Judith Barringer, Eve D’Ambra, and Lee Ann Riccardi are to be thanked for locating miscellaneous photographs in Athens and Rome. Additional photographs were provided by the following museums and institutions: Musées d’Arles (Arles), American School of Classical Studies, Corinth Excavations (Athens), Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (Athens), École française d’Archéologie (Athens), National Museum (Athens), Staatliche Museen, Antikensammlung (Berlin), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Civici Musei d’Arte e Storia di Brescia (Brescia), Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Mass.), Forschungsarchiv für römische Plastik Köln (Cologne), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen), The British Museum (London), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Museo Civico (Lucera), Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Mainz), Hirmer Verlag München (Munich), Staatliche Antikensammlung und Glyptothek (Munich), Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven), American Numismatic Society (New York), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), Musée du Louvre (Paris), The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), Fototeca Unione at the American Academy (Rome), Istituto centrale per il catalogo e la documentazione (Rome), Musei Capitolini (Rome), Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma (Rome), Stadtbibliothek (Trier), Archivio Fotografico Musei Vaticani (Vatican City), Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna), Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Washington, D.C.), and Worcester Art Museum (Worcester).

I owe a special kind of debt to my father, Morton H. Edelman, my brother, Robert G. Edelman, and my sister, Nancy E. Wells, for the loving support they gave me during the year I wrote this study. The memory of my mother, Hilda W. Edelman, is always sustaining and it gives me great pleasure to know how much she would have liked this book.

Roman Sculpture is dedicated with great love and devotion to my six-year-old son, Alexander Mark Kleiner, named for two men who figure prominently in this book. The first—Alexander the Great—Hellenistic general and ruler whose inspired portraits were widely imitated by the emperors of Rome; the second—Marcus Aurelius—successful general, merciful emperor of Rome, and sensitive philosopher—who presided over the Roman empire at a critical time of transition. On 28 May 1985 my Alexander Mark came into the world, and his handsome face, sparkling eyes and smile, and exuberant personality inspired this book.

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