The book is a calibrated reworking of the results of the innovative and multidisciplinary international conference organized in Paris in 2014 by the Université Paris-Sorbonne and the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), which saw the participation of archaeologists and historians of ancient and early modern art. Qualified by a well-structured organization and excellent contributions from the most authoritative scholars on the various topics treated, it assesses the state of the question in the literature. It stands out for its many merits, one of which is the quest to attain a more refined perception of the role played by artists in antiquarian scholarship.
This work highlights the importance of the documentation (i.e., prints and drawings) reconsidered in recent scholarship for both content and method of production, such as exceptional reproductive techniques, the definition of a specialized visual repertory, and the dissemination of knowledge through imagery. The analysis of modalities of cultured collaboration established between antiquarians and artists illuminates, for the first time, socio-professional networks, documentation and illustration practices used for treatises, the material objects produced, and an antiquarian visual repertory understood as an essential, richly informative point of reference rather than as a subordinate form of representation. The book probes previously underexplored issues, such as the relationships between knowledge and invention and antiquarian erudition and artistic creation, which marked the apogee of the antiquarian tradition in European scholarly thought from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries.
Each essay in the book represents a step forward with respect to the current state of the field and contributes to the development of scholarship by opening up new and intriguing lines of research. The contributions are thematically organized under three rubrics: 1) scholars’ and artists’ study of antiquity; 2) antiquarian illustration techniques, types, and functions; and 3) antiquarian scholarship and artistic creation.
The first part of the volume analyzes modalities of scholarly collaboration between antiquarians and artists. If the former often required drawings to accompany their work documenting ancient objects, sites, or vestiges, artists proved to be both excellent collaborators and refined connoisseurs of classical antiquities, who contributed directly to the construction of the discipline. The necessity for this kind of cooperation was specific not only to antiquarian studies in the early modern era, but to all fields of investigation where knowledge was based at least in part on empirical data.
The need for visual documentation was closely linked to archaeological discoveries. In gradually perfecting a specialized iconographic vocabulary, the works of antiquarian scholars were aimed above all at illustrating not only what was known from ruins, artifacts, and fragile material traces (entities that few knew de visu and for which illustration was thus necessary), but also other aspects of ancient civilizations—e.g., rituals, the use of space, material culture, and traditions—for which learned discourse or even documentation in scholarly texts could not alone suffice. In this way there emerges a new way of seeing artists, who finally join antiquarians in reflecting on the ancient world. By corresponding with antiquarians, actively collaborating on their publications, contributing directly to the study and interpretation of ancient sources and the compilation of documentary corpora, artists made a name for themselves in the scholarly community.
The second part of the book explores the importance of antiquarian illustrations, successfully awakening the reader's interest in a category of scientific images that constantly calls into question our notions of the techniques of artistic reproduction, documentary representation, and the artist's craft in early modern society. The third and final part of the book brings together studies highlighting forms of antiquarian scholarship in the fields of architecture, decorative arts, and history painting. Each of these forms of expression represents an extension of the antiquarian spirit in the art theory of the early modern era. At times this is through the application of precise data drawn from archaeology or through the interpretation of ancient texts in contemporary projects, and elsewhere it is seen in the appropriation of antiquarian knowledge and iconography for social ends, personal celebration, or legitimation.
The publication itself is splendidly illustrated. Impeccable care has been given to its editing and back matter: particularly useful are the annexes with abstracts in French and English for the authors’ contributions, the double index of places and monuments, and the index of personal names, valuable even for the non-French-speaking reader. Ultimately, the contributions also lead us to reflect on the fact that European classicism was conceived from the start as a form of cultural, ideological, and social rebirth of an earlier tradition, which required understanding and attentive cultivation.
This book is an invitation to rediscover that spirit of intellectual effervescence and the uninterrupted fascination with the art of antiquity, a production that inspired European culture for many centuries.
