The Aesthetics of Emulation in the Visual Arts of Ancient Rome [Paperback]

Originally published in 2005, this book examines Roman strategies for the appropriation of the Greek visual culture.This book examines Roman strategies for the appropriation of the Greek visual culture and argues that the scholarship on this topic has not appreciated Roman values in the visual arts. Roman aesthetics explain the preponderance of copies, exact or free, after the sculpture of great Greek masters in Roman art. A knowledge of Roman values explains the entire range of visual appropriation in Roman art, which includes not only the phenomenon of copying, but also such manifestations as allusion, parody, and most importantly emulation, successful rivalry with one's models.This book examines Roman strategies for the appropriation of the Greek visual culture and argues that the scholarship on this topic has not appreciated Roman values in the visual arts. Roman aesthetics explain the preponderance of copies, exact or free, after the sculpture of great Greek masters in Roman art. A knowledge of Roman values explains the entire range of visual appropriation in Roman art, which includes not only the phenomenon of copying, but also such manifestations as allusion, parody, and most importantly emulation, successful rivalry with one's models.Arguing that the scholarship on this topic has not appreciated Roman values in the visual arts, this book examines Roman strategies for the appropriation of the Greek visual culture. A knowledge of Roman values explains the entire range of visual appropriation in Roman art, which includes not only the phenomenon of copying, but also such manifestations as allusion, parody, and, most importantly, aemulatio, successful rivalry with one's models.Introduction: a critical time in the study of Roman artistic imitation; 1. Decorum and tradition: the beginnings of a theoretical apparatus; 2. Decorum and patron: the functions of art; 3. The marginalization of innovation: Kopienkritik and the construct of the free copy; 4. The strategy lc-