The Art of Ancient Macedonia and the Hellenistic Kingdoms

We consider the complex period of the fourth to first centuries BC: the Macedonian kingdom of Philip II and Alexander and the subsequent Hellenistic world. Public and private patronage continued visual culture of the old Greek world reinterpreting it for changing political, geographical and philosophical contexts. New styles portrayed traditional subjects in more extreme ways: intense emotion, realism, dynamic movement and portraiture that conveyed inner thought. Opulent finds and paintings from the Royal Tombs at Vergina reveal Macedonian wealth. Hellenistic kingdoms such as Pergamon became vibrant artistic centres, where great public monuments used Greek myths to proclaim power. It is a crucial period for understanding how Greek art was reinterpreted in ways that would influence the Roman world and Renaissance Italy.

The five sessions will cover the following subjects:

1. Ancient Macedonia
   Philip II and Alexander and the new patrons of Greek art. The Royal Tombs at Vergina and other recent discoveries.
2. Sculpture in the Hellenistic Kingdoms
   dramatic depictions of human motion and emotion; public monuments in the ‘baroque style’.
3. Sculpture in the Hellenistic Kingdoms
   innovative studies of human diversity and the development of portraiture.
4. Late Hellenistic art
   …and its legacy in the Roman world.
5. The luxury arts
   goldwork, metalware, mosaic, glass, cameos and terracottas.

Suggestions for reading (some only available from libraries or second hand):

Lucilla Burn, Hellenistic Art from Alexander the Great to Augustus, British Museum Press, 2004.

J.J. Pollitt, Art in the Hellenistic Age, Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Andrew Stewart, Art in the Hellenistic World: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 2014.