КОРСО АНТОНИО (Университет Падуи, Италия). Когда и почему античное искусство стало анонимным

ANTONIO CORSO (University of Padua, Italy). When and Why Ancient Art Became Anonymous

Ancient Greek art was based on strong personalities: I just cite Theodorus, Polygnotus, Ictinus, Phidias, Polycleitus, Zeuxis, Parrhasios, Praxiteles, Lysippus, Apelles etc. Although Roman art is often regarded anonymous, in fact it is also sealed by strong personalities of artists at least until the Antonine Stylwandel: I cite for example Timomachus of Byzantium for the age of Caesar, Ludius or Studius for that of Augustus, Zenodoros, Famulus, Severus and Celer for the age of Nero, Rabirius for that of the Flavians, Apollodorus of Damascus for that of Trajan and so on until around AD170-180 . Moreover, the age between the 1st c. BC and the late AD 2nd c. is the period when artists signed their works more often. It is true that the politican patronage became much more prevalent as the time goes from the Hellenistic age onwards, but still artists were needed in order to transform the political desiderata into works of art and their names are recorded and in some exceptional cases became important. However, from the very late AD 2nd century we have a drop in the practice of artists signing their works and moreover the most important monuments of the Several Age are anonymous. Why? In this paper I’ll try to answer this question which has not concerned very much previous scholars. This change of visual arts from personalized to anonymous may have to do with the change on aesthetic theory which is recorded at the times. Visual arts must no longer respond to the ‘mimesis’ but to the ‘phantasia’, which is meant to be creative imagination which translates the transcendent beauty and truth into the earthly world (Philostratus, Apollonius 6. 19). Thus the real artist becomes God (even late paganism is monotheistic) and the translator of the divine beauty with human works becomes much less important. By the way he also makes mistakes. Thus the artist becomes negligible as we enter the so called ‘age of spirituality’ and everything which is mundane is devaluated.

художники, смена стиля в эпоху Анттонинов, искусства времени Севера, Филострат, век духовности, анонимные художники

artists, Antonine Stylwandel, Severan art, Philostratus, Age of spirituality, anonymous artists