Report on the Aeginetan Sculptures

With Historical Supplements

Johann Martin Wagner, F. W. J. Schelling, Louis A. Ruprecht Jr.

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781438464800, 9781438464817
• eBook ISBN: 9781438464824
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Art General
• Index: History

The controversial removal of the Parthenon sculptures from Greece to England in the first decade of the nineteenth century by Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, sparked an international competition for classical antiquities. This volume tells a lesser-known chapter of that story, concerning sculptures from the Temple of Aphaia on the Greek island of Aegina. Discovered in 1811 as the Parthenon project was nearing its completion, these ancient sculptures were acquired at auction by Johann Martin Wagner (1777–1858) on behalf of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria. The sculptures turned out to be significant in a number of ways, offering important evidence for a transitional period of Greek art between the archaic and classical eras, for the existence of an independent Aeginetan school that was the equal of Athenian art at the time, and for Greek sculptures having been elaborately painted and adorned. Originally published in 1817 and presented here for the first time in English, this book reproduces the report commissioned by the crown prince that was written by Wagner and edited by F. W. J. Schelling and contained richly detailed descriptions of the sculptures. In addition, Louis A. Ruprecht Jr. provides a comprehensive historical introduction featuring a constellation of intellectual figures, an afterword, notes, appendices, and more than forty images to tell the fascinating story of the sculptures and their legacy from excavation to the present day.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• A Note on This Translation
• Translator’s Acknowledgments
• A Brief Timeline for the Aegina Marbles
• Translator’s Historical Introduction
• The Text Report on the Aeginetan Sculptures in the Possession of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Bavaria
• Translator’s Historical Afterword
• Appendix One: The Chronology of Charles Cockerell’s Grand Tour (1810–1817)
• Appendix Two: Itinerary of Johann Martin Wagner’s Greek Journey (1812–1813)
• Appendix Three: Schelling’s 1815 Lecture “On the Deities of Samothrace” as the Prelude to His Work on the Aegina Marbles
• Appendix Four: Theories on the Relationship between Egyptian and Greek, or Aeginetan, Art
• Appendix Five: On Polychromatic Greek Art
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover