Two Bronze Herms Questions of Mass Production in Antiquity

• Published in: Art journal (New York. 1960) Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 53 - 59
• Main Author: Mattusch, Carol C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, etc Taylor & Francis 01.07.1995; College Art Association; College Art Association of America; College Art Association, Inc
• Subjects: Alloys; Antiquity; Art history; Bronzes; Curl; Dionysian mysteries; Greek civilization; Greek language; Hair; Head; Sculpture; Shipwrecks; Statues; Turbans; Waxes
• ISSN: 0004-3249; 2325-5307
• DOI: 10.1080/00043249.1995.10791692

We are all familiar with the idea that there was a Greek "original" and a Roman "copy." When the "original" no longer exists, we attempt to discover it through literary references and its "copies," which we consider in its place. Yet it has traditionally been asserted that the "copy" is not as good as the "original," even when the Greek sculpture no longer exists for comparison. One distinction between the two has been explained as "a certain hardness of execution [which] generally differentiates the copy from the more delicately rendered Greek original... ." 1 But when we lack the "original," we tend to substitute the "copy," forgetting that there is a distinction between the two. In fact, the "copy" is often not even made of bronze, whereas we know that the lost "original" was.