Download The Art of Imitation

Gallery 21 • Greece and Rome
The Art of Imitation
Greece and Rome
‘Imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery’. This proverb goes some
way towards explaining why the
Greeks and Romans imagined
their gods to look like them,
and why Hadrian’s young lover,
Antinous, is immortalised in a
headdress similar to that worn by
the god Dionysos on the Pashley
sarcophagus. It also explains why
Greek and Roman sculpture is
often difficult to tell apart. After
Marble bust of Antinous found at
their conquest of Greece in the
Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, Italy. Made about
AD 130-150. (GR.100.1937)
second century BC, the Romans
so admired Greek culture that they brought Classical
Greek artefacts to Rome. They also employed Greek
artists to make new versions of these pieces, which were
displayed in both public and private spaces.
These actions led - in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries – to the view that the Romans had little skill or
imagination of their own. Yet almost all the sculpture in
this gallery was made in the Hellenistic or Roman period.
Many of the most famous Greek works like the Apollo
Sauroktonos statue only survive in these later versions;
it was this ‘copying’ as it is commonly called that turned
them from cult statues to ‘art’. But put two versions of
the same statue side by side, as we have done with the
statuettes of Aphrodite from Hellenistic Egypt (Case 8),
and the differences show that they are not clones but
siblings. The same would be true of Roman versions of the
Apollo Sauroktonos. Variations in material, size and displaycontext attest to Rome’s creative contribution.
Fathers and Sons
This culture of imitation also explains the similarities
between the Roman portrait-heads of Aelius Verus, Marcus
Aurelius, and the Greek philosopher, Plato. The visual
overlap between Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor AD
161-180) and Aelius Verus, who should have succeeded
Emperor Hadrian to the throne in place of Marcus’
adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, and indeed between their
portraits and those of Antoninus and Hadrian, implies that
all are of a type. They do not need to be related by blood
to be fit to rule. They are ‘out of the same mould’, a mould
with a strong connection to the kinds of philosopher
portraits represented by Plato. Imitation is fundamental to
their success as sophisticated emperors. Any difficulty we
might have in telling one portrait type from another is key
to that portrait’s meaning.
Marble head of Plato (who lived 428348 BC). Made in Italy about AD 1-100.
(GR.23.1850)
Marble head of Aelius Verus (who lived
AD 101-138). Made in Greece about AD
100-200. (GR.32.1850)
Ancient and Modern
Ancient and modern Classical art never ceases to be
influential. But it is not until the Renaissance that artists
are again as self-conscious in their imitation of classical
forms. Artists like Michelangelo learned their craft by
copying ancient sculptures and restoring those that
were damaged. Skilful
restorations, like that
of the Apollo statuette
(Case 13, no. 12), were
praised, and copies and
casts almost as prized as
the original. But as more
antiquities surfaced and
the market expanded,
the original gained such
Marble roundel showing the Emperor Nero.
(Case 13 no.16). Made in Italy about AD 1450-1600.
(GR.63.1850)
a premium that modern imitations were passed off as
antique. The marble medallion of the emperor Nero (Case
13, no. 16) is one such piece, made in the Renaissance, but
brought to England because it was thought to be ancient.
It is a ‘fake’, but then so too, in some senses, is any restored
or copied artefact: it is really only the locks of hair on his
chest that attest to the statuette’s identity as Apollo. It is
merely the intent that is different. Imitation is key to the
survival of classical art, and an act of imagination.
To download a printable version visit:
www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/ant/greeceandrome