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Painting Antiquity explores the archaeological dimension of the works of these three artists: in doing so, it addresses how the aesthetic engagement these artists had with ancient objects represented a unique and important development in the cultural reception of the past.
List of contents
- Introduction: Possessed of the beauty of antiquity
- Chapter 1. The ancient world in the art of Alma-Tadema, Poynter and Long: background, training and appraisals
- Chapter 2. Embracing antiquity: the early Egyptian works of Alma-Tadema and Poynter
- Chapter 3. 'Something more than painting': Alma-Tadema, Poynter and the establishment of archaeological genre painting
- Chapter 4. Evoking antiquity with heart and mind: Alma-Tadema's and Poynter's Egyptian paintings of the 1870s
- Chapter 5. A fascination for 'local colour': Edwin Long and the customs of ancient Egypt
- Chapter 6. From genre to spectacle: Alma-Tadema's return to Egypt
- Chapter 7. The currency of objects: artistic, historical and cultural contexts of archaeological genre painting in Britain
- Chapter 8. Objects and images: Egyptological and archaeological sources for British archaeological genre painting
- Chapter 9. Learned artistry: the methods and preparatory materials of Alma-Tadema, Poynter and Long
- Chapter 10. 'A new type of beauty': critical reception of archaeological genre painting in the nineteenth century
- Chapter 11. Rise and fall: critical reception of archaeological genre painting in the new century
- Conclusion: The splendid appearance of things mundane
About the author
Stephanie Moser is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. She is the author of four books, most recently Designing Antiquitiy (Yale, 2012).
Summary
Painting Antiquity explores the archaeological dimension of the works of these three artists: in doing so, it addresses how the aesthetic engagement these artists had with ancient objects represented a unique and important development in the cultural reception of the past.
Additional text
Providing a space where biblical legend, historical anecdote and the domestic scene could coalesce, nineteenth-century paintings of ancient Egypt represent an important genre often subsumed beneath discussions of classicism in Victorian art. Moser does these works a considerable service in excavating, in their own right, their archaeological inspirations and aesthetic importance.
