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Unearthing the Past by Leonard Barkan. The Arch of Septimius Severus. Built in 203 For victories over the Parthians. The Arch of Septimius Severus debris and detritus from more than a thousand years. Torso Belvedere. Unearthed in the 1430s
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The Arch of Septimius Severus • Built in 203 • For victories over the Parthians
The Arch of Septimius Severusdebris and detritusfrom more than athousand years
Torso Belvedere • Unearthed in the 1430s • Early 1500s before it was recognized as a valuable work
Torso Belvedere Sculptor: Apollonios, son of Nestor
Tiber • Unearthed 1440s • Re-interred • Unearthed again in 1512
Apollo Belvedere • Unearthed 1490 • Vatican Museum
The Others “A trove of statues” were unearthed in September 1514. These depicted various wounded and dead soldiers.
Two other [much copied] statues, however, not unearthedRome’s otherpopulation • Left is the Sleeping Ariadne • To the right is the Marble Faun by Praxiteles
The Knowledge of Art History • Pliny (23 AD to August 25, 79) • Wrote Naturalis Historia • Died in Mt. Vesuvius eruption
Mt. Vesuvius EruptionArtist’s rendering Actual View
Other writers that were influenced by Pliny and that influenced the arrival of the Renaissance • Petrarch (1304) • Ghiberti (1378) • Alberti (1404) • Landino (1424) • Vasari (1511) Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
Of the Unearthed, the Greatest:Laocoön“..superior toany paintingand anybronze”- Pliny
Unearthing theLaocoön • Unearthed January 14, 1506 • Recognized by the famous architect, Giuliano da Sangallo • Also there were his son, Francesco, and Michelangelo
Laocoön’s beginnings Pliny (improbably) attributed the work to three sculptors working together: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus
Art and Language Ekphrases [The stories behind and descriptions of the artwork] and Tropes [The use of parts or poses of the artwork to represent the prior ekphrases in a future artwork]
Ekphrasis of theLaocoön The sculpture shows the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being strangled by sea serpents. Laocoön was killed after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear. The snakes were sent by Athena, and were interpreted by the Trojans as proof that the horse was a sacred object. Which, of course, meant doom for the city.
Tropes Signs • Signifier • Signified Deconstruction
FragmentsConnecting to the past • Pope Julius II asked Michelangelo to finish the Torso Belvedere and the Laocoön. • Michelangelo refused. • They are beautiful just the way they are. • Several of the works of Michelangelo are unfinished or defaced by him.
Other Fragments Pasquino - unearthed in April, 1501
Reconstructionsof the Laocoön • 1510 Donato Bramante and Raphael run a contest. • The winner was Jacopo Sansovino. • Baccio Bandinelli creates replica and does another arm. • 1532 Montorsoli executed an arm. • 1540 Could have been Michelangelo.
Other Reconstructions Pasquino immediately became a place where dissent could be posted anonymously. Messages are usually written in first-person. At times the statue is dressed for festivals or to represent the target of the dissent. This is still done today.
Re-assimilations Re-assimilations