Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

Pausanias: Travel Writing in Ancient Greece
seem to assume a familiarity with individual artists’ styles as well as a
more general idea of the development of Greek art. 15
This assumption of a knowledge about art that all educated Greeks
shared is implicit in the Periegesis, but Lucian’s Eikones (Images or
Pictures) illustrates just how much could be expected. Lucian evokes the
image of an ideal woman by assembling aspects of well-known statues and
paintings: this creative exercise in art connoisseurship could achieve its
full effect only if readers could draw on their own knowledge of these works
to recreate the image in their minds. 16 An expertise in art history and a
familiarity with different artists’ styles can be acquired only by comparing
and analysing many examples. In the absence of cheap, easily transportable
reproductions such as photographs, aspiring art experts had to rely
on originals or high quality copies. The locations of famous masterpieces
were therefore on the itinerary for an aspiring pepaideumenos who was
travelling to increase his knowledge. Surviving examples of ancient sculpture
suggest that copies of classical statues were common, at least in Italy,
and there were also replicas of celebrated paintings. 17 It is likely that in
the large cultural centres it would have been possible to find good copies
of many well-known works of art, although there is no evidence of systematic
collections for educational purposes.
There is also a sanctuary of Apollo which is very old, as are the sculptures
on the pediments. The wooden image (xoanon) of the god is also ancient; it
is nude and of a very large size. None of the locals could name the artist, but
anyone who has already seen the Herakles of Sikyon would assume that the
Apollo of Aigeira is a work by the same artist, namely Laphaes of Phleious. 18
(Paus. 7.26.6)
Pausanias was confident of his own expertise in assessing art. His extensive
travel and detailed research in many Greek sites are likely to have
resulted in a knowledge of Greek art well beyond the most famous masterpieces.
In the passage above a comparison between two similar statues is
used to identify the artist of an uncredited work. 19 Pausanias could draw
on many comparative examples and he realised that stylistic analysis is
useful to categorise works of art. Such a judgement relies on the assumption
that artists have individual styles which can be identified by an
experienced viewer. He describes styles in terms that were probably
generally recognised, for example the name of the architectural orders,
and regional styles of sculpture such as Attic or Aeginetan. 20
The
criteria that allow the identification of a particular style are never fully
explained, and the closest he comes to discussing the characteristics of
a specific style is when he states rather vaguely that Daidalos’ works
are ‘rather unshapely to look at but nevertheless the divine is manifest
in them’. 21
It is likely that Pausanias knew literature about art and artists, al-
108