Table Of ContentShaky 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
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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,
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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
