The Boston Counterpart of the ‘Ludovisi Throne’

Extract

The counterpart of the well-known ‘Ludovisi Throne’ now that it is exhibited in Boston, and has been admirably published in the Berlin Antike Denkmäler, is accessible to study and criticism, and has naturally attracted a great deal of attention. All further discussion must be based upon that published by Prof. Studniczka, who gives an accurate and sympathetic description, a full quotation of illustrative material, and a judicious and convincing criticism of earlier theories. There is, however, one aspect of the matter which he passes over very lightly, and this is the question of the genuineness of the new portion now in Boston, as a portion of the same structure with the Ludovisi relief in the Terme at Rome. He refers, indeed, to some doubts that had been expressed; but he thinks they are not to be taken seriously, and are sufficiently refuted by his general discussion of the monument: he regards them, in fact, as on a level with the doubt at first expressed by some authorities as to the genuine archaic character of the Ludovisi relief. The question cannot, however, be dismissed so lightly. The beauty and simplicity of the Ludovisi relief have almost universally impressed artists and amateurs as well as archaeologists; and these qualities are conspicuously absent from the Boston portion, their place being taken by an affected and complex composition and a mingled collection of types, some of them archaic, some of them showing the influence of later art. The artistic impression produced is so different that it seems worth while to analyse its sources; and it is particularly to be noted that Prof. Studniczka's learned and exhaustive study fails to produce any very close parallels to the subject and character of the work.