How did the statues of ancient Greece wind up dictating art history in the West? How did the material culture of the Greeks and Romans come to be seen as "classical" and as "art"? What does "classical art" mean across time and place? In this ambitious, richly illustrated book, art historian and classicist Caroline Vout provides an original history of how classical art has been continuously redefined over the millennia as it has found itself in new contexts and cultures. All of this raises the question of classical art's future. What we call classical art did not simply appear in ancient Rome, or in the Renaissance, or in the eighteenth-century Academy. Endlessly repackaged and revered or rebuked, Greek and Roman artifacts have gathered an amazing array of values, both positive and negative, in each new historical period, even as these objects themselves have reshaped their surroundings. Vout shows how this process began in antiquity, as Greeks of the Hellenistic period transformed the art of fifth-century Greece, and continued through the Roman empire, Constantinople, European court societies, the neoclassical English country house, and the nineteenth century, up to the modern museum. A unique exploration of how each period of Western culture has transformed Greek and Roman antiquities and in turn been transformed by them, this book revolutionizes our understanding of what classical art has meant and continues to mean.

'The book is part of a series of introductory studies intended to bring the latest developments in art history to students and general readers. But it offers something new to the specialist reader too [...] the quantity of illustrations is impressive for such a slim and inexpensive book ...Classical Art is illuminating, playful, provocative, and often (literally) iconoclastic' -Times Higher Education Supplement

"Ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan civilizations come vividly to life in this selection of over one hundred highlights from the MFA's collection of Classical art. An introduction by curators Christine Kondoleon and Richard A. Grossmann outlines the geographical and historical scope of the Classical world from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity describes the range of materials and techniques used by ancient artists, and provides a brief history of the MFA's collection. An appendix by conservator Pamela Hatchfield shares the conservation stories of some of the featured objects. In the splendidly illustrated body of the book, the highlighted artworks are grouped according to five broad themes: myth and religion, heroes and warriors, love and loss, daily life, and beasts and beauties. Celebrated mosaics, statues, and vases share the stage with less-familiar jewelry, coins, and glassware - each piece accompanied by a concise discussion of its artistic creation and cultural context. Both shared interests and varied traditions emerge in cross-cultural discussions of topics such as war and politics, commemoration of the dead, sports and entertainment, and the human form, providing rich insight into the astonishing civilizations that produced and used these fascinating objects so many centuries ago."--BOOK JACKET.

From one of the world’s leading authorities on ancient Greek art, a groundbreaking account of how Greek images were understood and used by other ancient peoples, from Britain to China In this book, acclaimed archaeologist and art historian John Boardman explores Greek art as a foreign art transmitted to the non-Greeks of antiquity—peoples who weren’t necessarily able to judge the meaning of Greek art and who may have regarded the Greeks themselves with great hostility. Boardman examines how and why the arts of the classical world traveled and to what effect, from Britain to China, from roughly the eighth century BCE to the early centuries CE. In some places, such as Italy, Greek images were overwhelmingly successful. In Egypt, the Celtic world, the eastern steppes, and other regions with strong local traditions, they were never effectively assimilated. And in cultures where there was a subtler blend of influences, notably in the Buddhist east, classical images served as a catalyst to the generation of new styles. Along the way, Boardman demonstrates that looking at Greek art from the outside provides a wealth of new insights into Greek art itself, and he raises important questions about how images in general are copied and reinterpreted.

"delightful, readable, and scholarly. The volume is profusely and well illustrated, each art example is clearly labelled and dated, and superb supplementary references for illustrations and supplementary suggestions for further reading are added to complete the study." Choice

The frames of classical art are often seen as marginal to the images that they surround. Traditional art history has tended to view framing devices as supplementary 'ornaments'. Likewise, classical archaeologists have often treated them as tools for taxonomic analysis. This book not only argues for the integral role of framing within Graeco-Roman art, but also explores the relationship between the frames of classical antiquity and those of more modern art and aesthetics. Contributors combine close formal analysis with more theoretical approaches: chapters examine framing devices across multiple media (including vase and fresco painting, relief and free-standing sculpture, mosaics, manuscripts and inscriptions), structuring analysis around the themes of 'framing pictorial space', 'framing bodies', 'framing the sacred' and 'framing texts'. The result is a new cultural history of framing - one that probes the sophisticated and playful ways in which frames could support, delimit, shape and even interrogate the images contained within.

An inquiry into the foundations of European culture. The account ranges from the Greek Dark Ages to the Christianisation of Rome, revealing how the experience of a constantly changing physical environment influenced the inhabitants of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Want to paint more like Manet and less like Jackson Pollock? Students of art hailed Classical Drawing Atelier, Juliette Aristides’s first book, as a dynamic return to the atelier educational model. Ateliers, popular in the nineteenth century, teach emerging artists by pairing them with a master artist over a period of years. The educational process begins as students copy masterworks, then gradually progress to painting as their skills develop. The many artists at every level who learned from Classical Drawing Atelier have been clamoring for more of this sophisticated approach to teaching and learning. In Classical Painting Atelier, Aristides, a leader in the atelier movement, takes students step-by-step through the finest works of Old Masters and today’s most respected realist artists to reveal the principles of creating full-color realist still lifes, portraits, and figure paintings. Rich in tradition, yet practical for today’s artists, Classical Painting Atelier is ideal for serious art students seeking a timeless visual education.

The British Museum has one of the finest collection of antiquities from ancient Greece and Rome outside of those countries. This beautiful book investigates 180 of the most important works, including the most famous (such as the Parthenon sculptures) and also a selection of lesserknown but equally important pieces. The unique story of each work of art is illustrated with superb photographs, many specially taken for this publication. A preface includes a brief history of the British Museumâe(tm)s marvellous collections, and chapter introductions provide a concise background to each period of Classical art. A stunning overview of the artistic production of this creative period and a must-have introduction to Classical art.

A history of the Department of Greek and Roman art -- Floor plan of the galleries of the Department of Greek and Roman art -- Art of the Neolithic and the Aegean bronze age : ca. 6000- B.C. -- Art of geometric and archaic Greece : ca. 1050-480 B.C. -- Art of classical Greece : ca. 480-323 B.C. -- Art of the Hellenistic Age : ca. 323-31 B.C. -- Art of Cyprus : ca. 3900 B.C.-ca. A.D. 100 -- Art of Etruria : ca. 900-100 B.C. -- Art of the Roman Empire : ca. 31 B.C.-A.D. 330 -- Notes on the works of art : Art of the Neolithic and the Aegean bronze age -- Art of geometric and archaic Greece -- Art of classical Greece -- Art of the Hellenistic age -- Art of Cyprus -- Art of Etruria -- Art of the Roman Empire -- Concordance -- Index of works of art