RICERCA ITALIANA     

Figurative production and monumental contexts in the Roman Cisalpine

Università degli Studi di Trieste

Abstract

The research program on the figurative production and the monumental contexts in the Roman Cisalpine will be summarized following the goals of the single units.

The area of research of the group of the University of Pavia will include the territories along the Po river and, in a more general sense, South-Western Cisalpina. An investigation, in particular, of the following ancient collections has been planned (and partially begun, see bibliography.
The preliminary work will involve the cataloguing and analysis of all the sculptural testimonies from Ticinum and its territory, including pieces preserved in the context of local exhibitions, pieces which have been re-used in modern contexts and pieces from recent excavations. This preliminary analysis will allow us to complete the publication of an issue of the CSIR of the area.

The Milan Research Unit intends to study four aspects of Roman sculpture in Cisalpine Gaul, until now scarcely investigated. Special attention will be paid to the state sculpture (cuirassed statues, equestrian groups) and the decorative sculpture (marble furniture, decorative works). Not less important the research on architectonical decoration, conducted particullarly in the ancient towns of South Lombardy and East Piedmont.
Finally, the group of the Milan University is specially interested on analyzes of materials (imported marble, local stones, colored stones, precious materials).

The group of the University of Bologna will take into consideration the sculptural figurative production and the decorative (pictorial and mosaic) features of the principal Roman and Latin colonies, located along the via Aemilia: Rimini, Bologna, Modena, Parma, Piacenza. To this end, the various “politics of images” established by each community will be examined, both in the private and public spheres. Our aim will be to re-examine the relationship between monumental contexts and image strategies, within an essentially “political” type of communication between centre and suburbs. Particular attention will also be paid to the nearby areas (Regio VI Umbria, ager Gallicus), strictly connected, for historical-environmental reasons, to the Po river valley (Sena Gallica, Pisaurum, Fanum Fortunae, in the hinterland Suasa and Ostra).

The research programme of Venice University will consider the sculpture and architectural decoration of Veneto in Roman times. A first phase regards the complete cataloguing of the unpublished or badly known sculptures and architectural elements stored in some archaeological museum (among others the museum of Altinum, Verona, Padua, Portogruaro, Este and Adria), the cataloguing of the Roman sculptures in private collections, or reused in Medieval and modern building of the region. A second phase will deal with some important historiographic topics, such as for example the relationship of the sculpture with the archaeological context in the public and private sphere, the characteristics of the local production, and the role of works of art in the society of Roman Veneto.

The research carried out by the group of the University of Triest is to take a census of all the stone artefacts, mainly sculptural and architectural features of the Eastern Cisalpine (Friuli-Venezia Giulia). Particular attention will be paid to the very rich stone heritage (sculpture and architectural decoration) in Aquileia. An important question is the relationship between the workshops of Aquileia, Trieste and Pola. The results will be published in the CSIR.
At the same time will be investigated some important monumental contexts,like the architectural complex on the hill of S. Giusto and the theatre of Triest, or the basilica and the imperial residences in Aquileia. <<<

Principal Investigator

Monika Verzar Bass Università degli Studi di TRIESTE

Research Objectives

This research purports to investigate the figurative heritage (especially sculpture) of the whole of ancient Northern Italy (Regiones VIII, IX, X, XI) and the contexts in which this heritage is found. Where possible, within monumental contexts, I will examine also non-sculptural figurative data (especially from mosaics and paintings), with the goal of reconstructing the original complex and its transformations over time (such as the extension of imperial cycles or the re-employment of sculptural material in late antiquity).
The basis of this research will be a systematic census of the material preserved in public and private collections, in museums and other cultural institutions, as well as of the material still found in loco in the Northern Italian area. This census will be integrated by archival and bibliographic research aimed at finding useful information both for identifying pieces of unknown provenance and for retracing missing material. There is no doubt that such an inventory will be useful for the organizations that look after our cultural heritage. All data will be stored in computer files with a database in conformity with ICCD guidelines.
The research will cover the following directions:

(1) Sculpture
• Public sculpture (honorary statues, imperial cycles, celebrative monuments etc.);
• Private sculpture (domestic decoration, funerary decoration etc.);
• Architectural decoration, both public and private;
• Identification and characteristics of local traditions;
• Materials used for sculptures: the use of local, regional or imported stones;
• Identification of Cisalpine ateliers and their relationships with other areas;
• Identification of itinerant masters;
• Importation and circulation of sculptures.

(2) Contexts
• Investigation, where possible, of public and private contexts (decoration of fora, decorative programme of public buildings, domestic decoration etc.);
• Relationships with central Italy and the provinces;
• Identification of possible characteristic specific to the Cisalpine area.

Point (1) will investigate all aspects of the production of sculptures, with an emphasis on iconographic preferences and stylistic currents. In particular, there will be the investigation of the different artistic components (urban, Greek, Oriental-Greek and possible surviving local traditions). The latter the project will investigate also in their chronological development so as to identify their networks of relationship. There will be paid particular attention to the identification and functioning of ateliers and to the circulation of sculptures. To this end, the project will rely significantly on the results of petrographic analyses carried out locally.
Point (2) pursues the research in greater depth, on the basis of results obtained by elaborating the data illustrated in point (1). The aim of point (2) is to reconstruct the original monumental contexts and their transformation. The reconstruction of contexts in their entirety affords a clearer insight (a) on the relation with the centre (Rome and Central Italy), (b) on the extent of the originality of the local figurative production and (c) on the role played by Cisalpine Italy as an intermediary between the centre and the European provinces.
A further investigation concerns the various local specificities within the vast geographical area taken into consideration, and in particular the differences between Adriatic, Tyrrhenian and Alpine cultures. It is important to investigate not only the contacts that Northern Italy entertained with the neighbouring provinces, but also (a) the relationships between the various areas internal to Northern Italy, as these developed along the main infrastructural arteries, namely roads, rivers and lagoons and (b) the connections between maritime centres and inland centres. It is then necessary to investigate both the circulation of sculptors and workmen and the commercial routes, both with respect to the distribution of artefacts and with respect to the supplies of raw material, namely stone. Recent studies have shown close relationships between the area furthest to the West, namely Piedmont, and the extremity of the X oriental Regio which, as witnessed by recent discoveries in Slovenia, extends as far as Emona (Ljubljana).
We envisage: (a) the inception of a systematic census of the figurative production (sculpture and architectural decoration); (b) the creation of a computerized data bank; (c) the publication, on paper, of all materials. As for sculpture, this project will continue with the edition of corpora, on the model of the international collection edited by the CSIR and arranged by region. This model is very much in use in Europe, but virtually non-existent in Italy, where only two volumes have been published in Lombardy (XI Regio) and two in Friuli-Venezia Giulia (X Regio). There are planned also catalogues organized by site and by geographical area, thematic catalogues organized according to the types of sculptural materials, and reconstructions of monumental contexts.
It will be necessary to develop our contacts with similar projects underway in neighbouring countries, so as to create a network connecting tools developed in Italy with important foreign projects – such as the “Nouvel Espérandieu” in France (Gallia Narbonensis), promoted by the “Centre Camille Jullian à Aix-en-Provence” under the guidance of A. Hermary and the project “Ubi erat lupa”, promoted by the “Forschungsgemeinschaft Wiener Stadtarchäologie” under the direction of O. Harl – and with the expanding network of research centres situated in other European countries (France and Germany, and, more recently, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia). We also envisage the connection with the “Nouvel Espérandieu” project. By means of the two projects, our foreign colleagues are trying to set up a unified system for the knowledge and the consultation of data relative to Roman artefacts in stone. <<<

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

* All the bibliographic indications (including author and year) are recorded in paragraph § 2.2a, in which the publications of the coordinators of the various research units are excluded.

For a long time, the figurative production of Cisalpine Gaul has been almost totally neglected, even though it was generally considered an important region for the transmission of urban and central-Italian prototypes to the western provinces. This hypothesis was formulated at the beginning of the 19th century by A. Furtwängler who coined, in his study on the Trophaeum of Adamklissi, the term “Soldatenkunst”. A. Schober too, although in a less evident manner, referred to the role of Northern Italian art in his research on funerary art in Noricum and Pannonia, edited after WW I, as well as in his basic study on the origin of provincial art published some years later in 1930. At the same time, F. Poulsen studied the portraits of the provincial museums of Northern Italy, but without evidencing the specific characteristics of the artistic manifestations of this particular “province”. In fact, later on, all archaeologists used the term “provincial” only for the first Republican period or Late Antiquity. Instead of using this term they preferred to speak of “peripheral” art. In any case, the Roman artworks in Northern Italy were never really mentioned and many scholars seemed to avoid this geographic region. In 1937, L. Hahl, in his “Stilentwicklung der provinzialrömischen Plastik in Germanien und Gallien”, merely mentioned the arch of Susa, while G. Rodenwald, in his famous “Vorstufen der Spätantike”, published in 1940, considered the funeral monument of M. Valerius Anteros Asiaticus in Brescia as a precursor of Late Antiquity Art. Thus, the classification of Cisalpine art remained “peripheral” also in specialised literature, both in general studies on Roman art, and in specific works on western provincial art, which were very popular in the period between the two wars.
This situation changes only very slowly after the WW II. Research on the monuments of Northern Italy (Cisalpine and Transpadania) gradually became more and more important in archaeology due to the efforts of G. A. Mansuelli. The first investigations were carried out in the 1950s, with contributions such as “Genesi e caratteri della stele funeraria padana”. They evidenced one of the particular manifestations of Northern Italy, and Mansuelli’s evaluations of these monuments continue to remain valid. He dedicated a great deal of research to the specific problems of Cisalpine Gaul, approaching the material as a hole, within its historical and topographical context. His attention was mainly oriented to the relation between “official art” and non–Roman culture as well as to the development of “cultured art” inspired both by urban and Greek art. S. Aurigemma, M. Borda, C. Carducci, A. Frova, C. Saletti, G. Sena Chiesa also dealt with some aspects of the production of figurative art in Cisalpine Gaul, prevalently portraits and funerary art. In this field H. Gabelmann became a true specialist.
The initial outcome was manifested in the important exhibition on “Arte e civiltà romana nell’Italia settentrionale” (Bologna 1964), organised and set up by G. A. Mansuelli, who simultaneously, at the 8th International Congress on Classic Archaeology in Paris, gave the opening lecture on the provincial nature of Northern Italian Roman art.
In the 1970s important basic studies were carried out, such as: M. P. Rossignani’s and G. Cavalieri Manasse’s works on architectural decoration respectively of Parma (Rossignani 1975) and Aquileia, Triest and Pola (Cavalieri Manasse 1978), V. Santa Maria Scrinari’s catalogue of the Roman sculptures of Aquileia (cfr. Scrinari 1972), and G. Traversari’s catalogues of the Veneto Museums (Collezioni e musei archeologici del Veneto, cfr. Ghedini 1980 e Ghedini, Rosada 1982). In the mean time, in Lombardy the first two volumes of the Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani of Italy were published (cfr. Camporini 1979 e Tocchetti Pollini 1990).
These remain the only inventories, presently quite inadequate, despite the numerous recent publications on architectural and sculptural materials. The most systematic work was carried out in Veneto, although its museum-centred approach excluded all the material from different contexts (minor collections, in situ or re-utilised elements). Some centres with extremely copious findings, such as Altino, have not yet been published. A selection was made for the catalogue on the Roman sculpture of Aquileia, which, although very rich, was not well documented. The CSIR of Milan and Como contain only a part of the material.
Since the 1960s, some studies have paid attention to sculpture within its context, such as a paper by S. Aurigemma on the sepulchral road of Sarsina (Aurigemma 1963), works by A. Frova on the Capitolium of Brescia, studies by C. Saletti (Saletti 1968) dedicated to the cycles of the Imperial statues, or the essay by I. Favaretto (Favaretto 1970) on the sculptural workshop of Aquileia. At the same time, H. Gabelmann investigated the problems of identifying the Northern Italian workshops in his studies on sarcophagi (Gabelmann 1973). Still, the line most followed was the analysis of classes of monuments, selected according to typological or iconographic criteria.
Despite the increasing attention, an overall perspective was still lacking, due above all to the diffused tendency to move within modern regional (Mansuelli 1960; Carducci 1961; Carducci 1965; Cavalieri Manasse 1978; Mercando 1998a) and municipal (Borda 1971; Rossignani 1975; Beschi 1980) “boundaries”.
By the end of the 1980s, the scientific contributions regarding Northern Italy began to multiply. They were accompanied by intense excavation activity, conferences and exhibitions. At the beginning of the 1990s M. Denti wrote two monographs which attempted to make an overall analysis of Northern Italian Art, evidencing the problems regarding the Republican and Augustan epochs up to the Julio-Caludian period (Denti 1991a e 1991 b).
Recently, much emphasis was placed on the period of Romanisation and formation of the figurative culture of Cisalpine Gaul and on the contemporaneousness of stylistic and iconographic creations with respect to the colonies of central-south Italy (cfr. Strazzulla 1987). It has been observed that, during the first colonial period, the artistic level was particularly high. This phenomenon has been linked to the presence of the urban elite in the cities of Northern Italy and their interest in the economic and political affairs of this region. In the first period after their foundation, these cities thus enjoyed the direct intervention of Roman officials linked to Urban workshops, which began to work in the new Cisalpine centres (an enlightening example is that of the Aemilii studied by M. P. Rossignani, Gli Aemilii e l’Italia del Nord, in Splendida Civitas nostra 1995). Widely accepted opinion concurs that local figurative production (both of “cultured” and lower-class levels) did not begin before the I century BC, probably after the recognition of Roman citizenship in 89 BC. Workshops producing typical “municipal art”, using for the most part local stone, are found everywhere from the beginning of the I century BC. The picture of the previous decades, instead, gives an extremely heterogeneous idea of the existence of monuments in the Cisalpine cities, with a significant presence of Greek artworks, presumably imported, although for some scholars a number of these were produced by Greek artisans using imported marble.
Despite the conspicuous number of studies on the problems related to the first phases of life of the Northern Italian centres, many aspects have still not yet been particularly investigated. A clear picture of the figurative production of the Cisalpine and Transpadanian cities is thus not possible. It is clear that the presence of the Roman ruling class had the effect of a type of cultural koiné and one could perhaps speak of a koiné in reference to the central-Italian towns. This also regards the tendencies of the workshops which worked on commission for the middle class and well-off freedmen in the cities during the Augustan and Julio-Claudian epochs. Various studies, mainly on funerary art (see Compostella 1996) but less on public and private furnishing, have been carried out in this field.
The most evident lacunae regard however the Flavian period onward, particularly the II and III centuries AD, while a series of studies provides greater information on the Late Antiquity period. The monograph on the funerary altars, many of which date to the Flavian epoch (Dexheimer 1998), the studies on the sarcophagi, particularly the imported Attic and Oriental ones (Rebecchi 1978; Ciliberto 1996; Ciliberto 1997), and the investigation on the forum decorations (Casari 2004) are however exceptions.
The German School founded by H. Gebelmann has recently published the studies of P.E.G. Hagenweiler on “Ausstattungskunst”, a theme dear to German scientists, which has also been examined by a group of Milanese scholars (see bibliography of F. Slavazzi). Another work by S. Vogt on limestone sculpture has been completed. They aim at a wide-scale disposition regarding the entire Cisalpine region, as H. Pflug proposed for the stele with portraits (Pflug 1989) and D. Dexheimer for the funerary altars (Dexheimer 1998).
However a balance between the works of wide geographical interest is lacking. Moreover, the studies carried out on very limited and sometimes poorly treated (especially with regard to the archive data) classes of materials as well as other geographically more restricted works have been badly coordinated. Undoubtedly, regional boundaries must be overcome and common models created in order to catalogue the material with use the same database. <<<