A Famous Antique: A Roman Sarcophagus at the Los Angeles Museum

* The basic conclusions of this paper were presented at the ninth annual Symposium on the History of Art, held at the Frick Collection in April 1955. I am grateful to Dr. Karl Lehmann, Dr. Phyllis W. Lehmann, Dr. Richard Krautheimer, Mr. Norman Neuerburg, and Dr. Cornelius Vermeule for much assistance and many suggestions presented in this discussion.

Abstract

RENAISSANCE and post-Renaissance drawings and engravings after the antique provide valuable evidence of the interests and tastes of specific periods and of individual artists in ancient monuments, as well as extensive documentation for the objects themselves, their “modern” history, and often their subsequent mutilation or restoration. However, these monuments seldom are represented with sufficient frequency to afford a clear and continuous image of their post-antique existence, their popularity and influence and, in some cases, their disappearance. This study is concerned with one of the rare exceptions.