Imitatio Alexandri in the Hellenistic Art

Anna Trofimova

• Publisher: L'Erma di Bretschneider
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN:
  9788891300553
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: African Art

...Yet, amazingly, to my knowledge this is the first comprehensive study of the impact of his uniquely rich portrait tradition on the vast landscape of ancient divine and heroic imagery... Andrew Stewart Departments of History of Art and Classics University of California at Berkeley For the first time in Classical studies, the author of this monographic research investigates the influence of Alexander the Great portraiture upon iconography of heroes and deities in the Hellenistic art. Historiography of Alexander's portraits and the "problem of imitation" are under consideration, the principal mythological characters that underwent the impact of Alexander's iconography being precisely studied - Achilles, Heracles, Dionysus, Helios, the Giants, and water deities. The author comes to a conclusion: Imitatio Alexandri was a natural stage in the development of Hellenistic artistic parlance. Imitation of Alexander's appearance embodied several key concepts: invincible, defender of the Greeks, king of the East, conqueror of Asia, liberator, founder of cities, king, or simply "the finest of the Hellenes". It was in the Hellenistic time - the final and the turning phase in the history of Classical artistic tradition - that the new myth-eidos found its mode of expression in mythological models simultaneously with the consolidation of new values and concepts. Anna Trofimova is an art historian, the Head of the Department of Classical Antiquities of the State Hermitage museum. Her works are devoted to the Hellenistic art, especially the portraiture of Alexander the Great. She curated exhibitions "Alexander the Great. March to the East" (St-Petersburg, 2007, Amsterdam, 2010, Sydney, 2012), "Greeks on the Black Sea. Ancient art from the Hermitage" (J. Paul Getty's museum, LA, 2007), "Antony Gormley. Still standing" (Hermitage, 2011), as well as permanent display of Classical antiquities at the Hermitage museum. She is directing a number of international projects, among them publication of the collections of ancient vases and sculpture (by L'Erma di Bretschneider), and the research and archaeological excavation of ancient Stabiae (RAS Foundation and the Hermitage).