Early Christian and Medieval Antiquities
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Book Series
The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Series A: Antiquities and Architecture, vol. 1
Ancient Mosaics and Wallpaintings
Helen Whitehouse
- Pages: 447 p.
- Size:220 x 285 mm
- Illustrations:99 b/w, 156 col.
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2001
- € 250,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-1-872501-57-4
- Hardback
- Available
The 132 drawings catalogued here, many on a large scale and highly coloured, document most of the major examples of ancient Roman pictorial art known to seventeenth-century Rome.
Review(s)
"This book will be of great interest to people concerned with ancient Roman art, seventeenth-century antiquarians and the history of archaeology. The work is very valuable for its methodical format, its convincing and detailed text, its scholarly apparatus, and the beautiful illustration of each dal Pozzo image, accompanied by adequate comparative visual material." (J.B. Lloyd in: Parergon, Volume 19, n° 2, July 2002, p. 245-247)
"Sets impressive standards and amply demonstrates the value of the drawings." (Times Literary Supplement)
"Whitehouse’s prose, a model of clarity and grace, is a pleasure to read. Her scholarship cannot be faulted: she thoroughly commands both primary and secondary sources." (Journal of Roman Archaeology)
BIO
Helen Whitehouse was Curator of the Egyptian and Nubian collections in the Department of Antiquities of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, with a particular interest in Graeco-Roman Egypt and the post-classical reception of Egyptian antiquities.
Summary
The 132 drawings catalogued document most of the major examples of ancient Roman pictorial art known to seventeenth-century Rome. They include early finding such as the "Aldobrandini Wedding", the Nile mosaic from Palestrina, tha marble pictures from the Basilica of Junius Bassus, and later finds such as the Harbour Landscape (found in 1668) and the Tomb of Nasonii (1674). Detailed accounts are given of the discoveries, and a general introduction assesses the significance of the Cassiano assemblage within the wider context of contemporary antiquarian interest in ancient painting, its collectors and copyists. Cataogue entries describe and discuss the drawings in graet detail, relating them to the original mosaics and wallpaintings as they survive in their present state of preservation. All drawings catalogued are reproduced, mostly on a large scale and mostly in full colour. They are frequently accompanied by illustrations, also in colour, of the ancient originals.
