Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

9. Pausanias and his Readers
is essentially a lexicon of artists, engineers and architects as well as
patrons of the arts, presented in alphabetical order. In the theoretical
parts of his work Iunius relied mainly on ancient authors who dealt with
art in a systematic way, for example Pliny’s chronological overview of the
development of Greek art, 12 and a number of ancient authors who discuss
art and style, such as Vitruvius, Quintilian, Cicero, Frontinus, Athenaios
and Philostratos. 13 Pausanias is used extensively, especially in the Catalogue,
mainly as a source of information about particular art works and
artists.
In the eighteenth century more original ancient works of art became
known, and the study of Greek and Roman art could start in earnest. At
the same time, the influence of ancient art on contemporary art became a
matter of discussion, and therefore the study of original works was relevant
beyond a merely antiquarian interest. 14 In France, Caylus, who had
a special interest in the theory of art and style, published seven volumes
on ancient art. These collections of engravings depicted hundreds of
ancient art works to make them available for comparison and analysis.
Caylus’ commentary shows that, since Iunius’ work, attitudes to ancient
art had shifted considerably. The artefacts were now the centre of attention,
and wherever possible texts supplied only additional information. In
fact, Caylus suggests that ancient artefacts could clarify details that were
not sufficiently explained in the literary sources, and add to the incomplete
understanding of antiquity that could be achieved through the texts. 15 He
was one of the earliest art critics to move away from tracing developments
through individual artists’ biographies and to concentrate on the changes
in what we would call style. 16
He talks of his aim to understand the
characteristic ‘taste’ (goût) of ancient peoples which changes over time,
and in his view these changes in national ‘taste’ can be traced by the
careful analysis and comparison of surviving works of art. 17 The examples
in his collections are therefore presented in separate sections for Egyptian,
Etruscan, Greek, Roman and Gallic remains. Caylus’ highest admiration
is reserved for the elegance of Greek art, although he concedes that there
were comparatively few original examples. 18
This problem was exacerbated
by the fact that the numerous Greek vases which had been found in
Etruria were yet to be classified as imports from Greece. 19
Now that art critics had started to base their judgements about technique,
expression and style on their own observations, they were no longer
exclusively dependent on descriptions of lost masterpieces or ancient art
theory. At the same time, it became more important to understand the
meaning of ancient art works in their original context. Caylus leaves no
doubt about his main source: for him ‘nothing is more capable of corroborating
our ideas about the magnificence of the Greeks and about their
manner in which they cultivated the arts than Pausanias’ report.’ 20 Where
other ancient authors, especially Pliny, document only the admiration for
classical Greek art, often outside its original context, Pausanias described
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