ABSTRACT

This book explores the ways in which statues have been experienced in public in different cultures and the role that has been played by statues in defining publicness itself.

The meaning of public statues is examined through discussion of their appearance and their spatial context and of written discourses having to do with how they were experienced. Bringing together experts working on statues in different cultures, the book sheds light on similarities and differences in the role that public statues had in different times and places throughout history. The book will also provide insight into the diverse methods and approaches that scholars working on these different periods use to investigate statues.

The book will appeal to historians, art historians and archaeologists of all periods who have an interest in the display of sculpture, the reception of public art or the significance of public monuments.

chapter 1|31 pages

Statues and Public Space

An Introduction

chapter 3|25 pages

Portrait Statues in the Athenian Agora in the Roman Period

The Archaeological Evidence

chapter 4|21 pages

Populating Public Palmyra

The Display of Statues and Their Impact on the Perception of Public Space in Roman Palmyra

chapter 5|19 pages

The Statue in Byzantium

Some Questions and Cases

chapter 6|26 pages

Looking Up in Judgement

How to See the Early Modern Statue Through the Late Medieval Crucifix in Italy

chapter 7|29 pages

When Venus Mocked the Pope

Ancient Sculptures in the Possessi of Renaissance Rome

chapter 8|18 pages

Monumentalising Burghers of the Low Countries

Living Statues in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Joyous Entries

chapter 10|31 pages

From Empires Past to Nation State

Figurative Public Statues in Istanbul