Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

8. Considering Works of Art
Pausanias describes buildings he is most likely to comment on the sculptural
decoration, and if he discusses the architecture at all he might
merely identify the architectural order or point out unique features. Only
a very small fraction of ancient art survives, but there are enough examples
of buildings and statues to give us an impression, while for paintings
we rely almost entirely on descriptions in ancient texts. Pausanias mentions
a significant number of paintings, and in a few cases he discusses an
art work in detail. 8
Art description in the Periegesis follows the same principle of variety
that we have already observed in Pausanias’ treatment of history. In many
cases he simply mentions the existence of an artefact, and if he provides
additional information he often just gives the artist’s name or identifies a
subject or theme. Remarks about the size or the material of statues are
relatively common and sometimes he notes individual attributes, especially
if the work has a sacred function or meaning. There are, however,
also a few ‘set piece’ examples of ekphrasis where the detailed description
of a particular work of art takes up several pages of text. The most
extensive examples deal with Polygnotos’ paintings in the Lesche (Clubhouse)
of the Knidians at Delphi and with the scenes on the Chest of Kypselos,
an exhibit in the Heraion of Olympia which probably dated to the seventh
century and featured a large number of images with mythical themes. 9
Pausanias’ descriptions in these cases are so elaborate that reconstructions
of the images have been attempted. 10 On both art works the depicted mythical
figures were identified by inscriptions. 11 Pausanias gives a long list of all the
people shown, with short remarks about their iconography and positioning
and a discussion of the meaning of individual scenes.
All these descriptions were written for a readership which was thoroughly
familiar with public art in Greek cities, but Pausanias could
probably offer information that was not widely known, such as references
to lesser-known works of famous masters, and details about unknown
artists: after all, he mentions 179 sculptors and 16 painters, and many
have more than one work to their credit. 12
In spite of persistent Roman
looting, Greece still offered fascinating examples of archaic or classical art,
sometimes tucked away in the dark corner of some temple and hardly
known to educated circles beyond the local community. Art connoisseurship
ranked highly as an élite pursuit, because it was part of the higher
education that marked the true pepaideumenos. For members of the
wealthy élite, however, an understanding of art was more than just an
academic subject, because they were also actively involved in the commissioning
of public art or buildings. 13
When Second Sophistic authors
displayed their expertise in art history they could confidently expect that
their readers would understand the subject. Pausanias uses complex
comparisons of style, material and technique to interpret works of art and
to determine relative dates. 14
He expects his readers to accept that it is
possible to identify the works of particular artists, and his descriptions
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