Supports in Roman Marble Sculpture

The first study of a crucial aspect of Roman stone sculpture, exploring the functions and aesthetics of non-figural supports.

Figural and non-figural supports are ubiquitous features of Roman sculpture in stone but have never before been the subject of a close investigation. This is the first full treatment of a fundamental subject and overturns previous assumptions about Roman visual traditions and the reception of Greek art.Figural and non-figural supports are a ubiquitous feature of Roman marble sculpture; they appear in sculptures ranging in size from miniature to colossal and of all levels of quality. At odds with modern ideas about beauty, completeness, and visual congruence, these elements, especially non-figural struts, have been dismissed by scholars as mere safeguards for production and transport. However, close examination of these features reveals the tastes and expectations of those who commissioned, bought, and displayed marble sculptures throughout the Mediterranean in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Drawing on a large body of examples, Greek and Latin literary sources, and modern theories of visual culture, this study constitutes the first comprehensive investigation of non-figural supports in Roman sculpture. The book overturns previous conceptions of Roman visual values and traditions and challenges our understanding of the Roman reception of Greek art.