It is evident that in a society like that of Rome and an artistic1 milieu2 such as we have tried to depict3, comprising a few good collectors among a whole hoard4 of fools setting up as full-fledged connoisseurs6, deception7 and fakery must have been rampant8. The large profits promised by a trade in sham9 art must have helped to perfect those enslaved Greeks in methods of taking an artistic revenge upon their oppressors. Romans, especially in art matters, must have seemed to them mere10 parvenus11. The practised eclectic qualities and adaptability12 of those græculi delirantes (crazy paltry13 Greeks), so active in Rome, must have helped matters. In time there was nothing they could not produce for the benefit of their patrons, and often to such perfection as to deceive even keen-eyed connoisseurs. As a consequence, already in Rome the imitation of art and curios produced a certain perplexed14 feeling even among people who claimed to be acquainted with the business of buying art and antiques. Pliny, who was somewhat of a connoisseur5, more especially in bronzes, writes to a friend that he has bought a charming statuette of Corinthian bronze, and in confessing that he likes it, “no matter whether modern or antique,” seems to reveal the cautious attitude of a man who does not wish to be caught in error, a fear and uncertainty15 that very able forgers had created in Rome.
Beyond a few hints and gibes16 about certain collectors and art lovers and a few comments of Pliny and others we have58 no detailed17 account of the part that imitation and faking played in Rome, but it is to be presumed that the latter especially found numerous and ever-ready clients, and that it was able and prosperous beyond the dreams of modern art duping.
According to Pliny the favourite article, the one to which fakers and forgers gave their utmost care and attention, was the article that was in vogue18 at the moment and therefore promised the biggest return. Thus murrhines did not escape this fate, they were imitated with obsidian19. Pliny also adds that all kinds of precious stones were imitated in Rome, not only by coloured glass but also by a selection of stones that, though rare, were of less value comparatively than the types they imitated.
The most esteemed20 kinds of sardonyx were counterfeited22 by joining various pieces of the cheaper jaspers or onyx, cleverly alternating red, white and black, and joining the pieces in such a manner that it was most difficult, Pliny tells us, for a connoisseur to detect a fraud. The same writer, who gives valuable hints on the imitation of precious stones, says that in his time there were even books from which one could learn the art of counterfeiting24 precious stones, that all of them could be imitated, topaz, lapis lazuli, and amethyst25; that amber26 could be coloured, obsidian used to counterfeit21 hyacinths, sapphires27, etc. Speaking of the sardonyx, more especially, Pliny says, “no fraud brings so much money as this.”
In this line there were also other kinds of fraud. One of the most profitable was the imitation of precious stones with paste ones. There are some imitation cameos that are a puzzle even to-day. Commenting upon this fraud, Winkelmann benevolently28 points out that we owe to this unscrupulous commerce of false cameos the preservation29 of the casts of some precious originals now lost. The marvellous part of these imitation cameos is that the faker was not only able to imitate the plain stone of the original but all its characteristic veining30 and peculiarities31.
59 With regard to bronzes and other metal works it is to be presumed that not only could the Nobilis ærugo of Horace be easily counterfeited, as it is to-day, but the work as well. Pliny the Younger gives us valuable hints about the perplexity that fakery had generated among the connoisseurs of his time.
The Greek artists in particular showed themselves most versatile32, they reproduced in Rome the most esteemed originals and could to a certain extent imitate the most appreciated types of art. Zenodorus, for example, copied for Germanicus a cup by Calamis in such perfect imitation of the chiselling33 that the copy could not be told from the original.
Fraudulent masterpieces of painting and sculpture, often with the forged signature of some great artist, as at present times, were already on the market in Cicero’s time. His “Odi falsas inscriptiones statuarum alienarum” is eloquent34 enough.
Phœdrus seems to complete Cicero’s information about Roman art faking.
“It is in this way,” he says, speaking of faked paintings and sculpture, “that some of our artists can realize better prices for their work: by carving35 the name of Praxiteles on a modern marble, the name of Scopas on a bronze statue, that of Myron on a silver-piece, and by putting the signature of Zeuxis to a modern painting.”
We do not intend to confound fakers with honest restorers of works of art, but in Roman times, as is often the case in our own, faking learned no small lesson from the deft36 hand of the restorer. The same may be said for imitators and copyists who even in ancient Rome followed their trade openly with no intention of cheating. Copyists in particular were very active and their work was certainly appreciated by a certain class of citizens. The fact is proved by the numerous copies of Greek masterpieces that have been unearthed37 in Rome and elsewhere. When an original was not to be had, a copy was often ordered. Lucullus sent an artist expressly to Athens to60 make a copy for him of a work by Pausias, the portrait of Glycera, the artist’s lady love.
Restorers of works of art were, in Rome as elsewhere, the nearest relatives of fakers; their ability to imitate antiquity38 must have proved a great temptation, and the enormous sums paid for certain objects, and the gross ignorance of some of the buyers, must have paved the way to more than one passage from honesty to dishonesty.
There were many restorers’ workshops in Rome, and one has been discovered near the Forum39, where apparently40 new limbs and heads were provided for damaged statues. Many an antique statue has come down to us already repaired. Evander Aulanius, says Pliny (XXXVI, 5), restored the head of Diana, in the temple of Apollo, on the Palatine. Like modern restorers, their forefathers41 of Rome had not always the delicate hand needed for such operations. When the Prætor Julius ordered the cleaning of the paintings in the temple of Apollo it was done in such a rough manner that all the charm of the works disappeared. A fact that may have induced some good connoisseur to advise leaving untouched the Venus Anadyomene of Apelles, the masterpiece placed by Cæsar in the temple of that goddess, and to let it be damaged by age rather than allow the sacrilegious hand of a restorer to maim42 the divine painting of the Greek artist.
From what we have been perusing43 we may conclude that the Roman artistic world was not entirely44 different from the artistic world of to-day. Certainly the city must have been of a magnificence of which no conception is given by its grandiose45 ruins. But the artistic life, and the narrow path of the collector, were somewhat similar to those of to-day. Some of the characters we have quoted would seem to be alive to-day, a change of name and a milieu of more modern colouring and they would provide ground for an action for libel. We feel quite familiar, in fact, with the characters described by Seneca. Even to-day the world possesses collectors of rusty46 nails and other worthless objects—mere61 cult23 of fetishism. We feel no less acquainted with some of the other types to whom Martial47 pays his attention. The man who gathers ants fossilized in amber, the collector of relics49 who glories in owning a fragment of the Argonauts’ ship, might both be alive to-day. So might Lycinius the demented, Codrus the penurious50 and dissatisfied, Eros the enthusiast51 and dreamer. They still exist and are well represented in their various shades of foolishness down to that Mamurra who used to upset all the shops of the Roman antiquaries without buying a single thing. Would you resuscitate52 Tongilius to our modern society just substitute a bright motor-car for his rich and cumbersome53 lectica and, for a certainty, the name of some modern collector of art, some up-to-date Mæcenas, will come to your mind.
Of course, though Mr. Cook had not yet alighted to relieve itinerant54 humanity from many troubles, tourists existed even at the time when Rome did not possess the modern type of traveller. According to Titus Livius many foreigners used to visit the temples of Porta Capena, regular museums of art. The tourists of that time followed a routine, as we can gather from Pliny and other writers. They were taken to the Palatine, to the Via Sacra to admire the temple of Apollo with its peristyle of fifty-two columns, adorned55 by the simulacra of the Danaides and fifty equestrian56 statues, one of the finest sights in Rome and which inspired Horace with an ode. This temple of Luni marble with ivory doors, surmounted57 by a quadriga in gilded58 bronze carrying the god, was also a museum, containing among other things a fine collection of gems59, and a room lined with silver in which the Sibylline60 Books were kept. The Domus Aurea, the paintings of Apelles exhibited in the Forum of Augustus, the temple of Venus, one of the finest emporiums of art, that of Ceres which contained the celebrated61 “Bacchus” of Aristides of Thebes, the “Marsias” in the temple of Concord62, and in the Capitol the “Theseus” of Zeuxis, in Pompey’s portico63 the “Soldier” by Polygnotus, in the temple of Peace the “Hero” by Timante and another famous work by Protogenes.
62 There were of course foolish tourists who, like to-day, insisted on being fed with more or less authentic64 anecdotes65 of relics of an impossible character, who believed the unbelievable. Thus, according to Procopius, who evidently believed the genuineness of the relic48, many tourists went to see the boat, still moored66 in the river, from which Æneas had landed in Italy, etc. This kind of tourist must have inspired Lucian with the comment that Greek guides in Rome might have starved but for the nonsense and legends with which they enriched their descriptions of the city. “But what of that,” remarks Lucian, “visitors like to hear such things, and do not seem interested in the truth even if offered to them free of charge.”
The revival67 of the past needed this slight touch to show that the artistic world of two thousand years ago was not, after all, dissimilar to that of our enlightened days.
Need we repeat that the phenomenon of art faking for the benefit of foolish lovers of art generally appears when the passion for collecting takes that Byzantine attitude which makes it ripe for decay and degeneration, when mania68, fashion and snobbery69 chiefly hold the ground instead of taste and genuine love of art, in fact when the parvenus or the lunatic submerge the intelligent collector. It follows consequently that the decline of Collectomania heralds70 the decline of Forgery71. The latter, its errand over with the cessation of the demand for antiques and curios, disappears to await a fresh chance. But the fake-festival and carnival72 will revive, phœnix-like, with the awakening73 of a new artistic world—just as though faking at certain moments answered to a sore need of society.
点击收听单词发音
1 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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2 milieu | |
n.环境;出身背景;(个人所处的)社会环境 | |
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3 depict | |
vt.描画,描绘;描写,描述 | |
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4 hoard | |
n./v.窖藏,贮存,囤积 | |
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5 connoisseur | |
n.鉴赏家,行家,内行 | |
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6 connoisseurs | |
n.鉴赏家,鉴定家,行家( connoisseur的名词复数 ) | |
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7 deception | |
n.欺骗,欺诈;骗局,诡计 | |
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8 rampant | |
adj.(植物)蔓生的;狂暴的,无约束的 | |
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9 sham | |
n./adj.假冒(的),虚伪(的) | |
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10 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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11 parvenus | |
n.暴富者( parvenu的名词复数 );暴发户;新贵;傲慢自负的人 | |
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12 adaptability | |
n.适应性 | |
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13 paltry | |
adj.无价值的,微不足道的 | |
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14 perplexed | |
adj.不知所措的 | |
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15 uncertainty | |
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物 | |
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16 gibes | |
vi.嘲笑,嘲弄(gibe的第三人称单数形式) | |
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17 detailed | |
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的 | |
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18 Vogue | |
n.时髦,时尚;adj.流行的 | |
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19 obsidian | |
n.黑曜石 | |
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20 esteemed | |
adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 );敬重;认为;以为 | |
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21 counterfeit | |
vt.伪造,仿造;adj.伪造的,假冒的 | |
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22 counterfeited | |
v.仿制,造假( counterfeit的过去分词 ) | |
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23 cult | |
n.异教,邪教;时尚,狂热的崇拜 | |
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24 counterfeiting | |
n.伪造v.仿制,造假( counterfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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25 amethyst | |
n.紫水晶 | |
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26 amber | |
n.琥珀;琥珀色;adj.琥珀制的 | |
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27 sapphires | |
n.蓝宝石,钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 );蔚蓝色 | |
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28 benevolently | |
adv.仁慈地,行善地 | |
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29 preservation | |
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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30 veining | |
n.脉络分布;矿脉 | |
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31 peculiarities | |
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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32 versatile | |
adj.通用的,万用的;多才多艺的,多方面的 | |
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33 chiselling | |
n.錾v.凿,雕,镌( chisel的现在分词 ) | |
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34 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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35 carving | |
n.雕刻品,雕花 | |
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36 deft | |
adj.灵巧的,熟练的(a deft hand 能手) | |
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37 unearthed | |
出土的(考古) | |
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38 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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39 forum | |
n.论坛,讨论会 | |
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40 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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41 forefathers | |
n.祖先,先人;祖先,祖宗( forefather的名词复数 );列祖列宗;前人 | |
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42 maim | |
v.使残废,使不能工作,使伤残 | |
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43 perusing | |
v.读(某篇文字)( peruse的现在分词 );(尤指)细阅;审阅;匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览(某篇文字) | |
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44 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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45 grandiose | |
adj.宏伟的,宏大的,堂皇的,铺张的 | |
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46 rusty | |
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的 | |
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47 martial | |
adj.战争的,军事的,尚武的,威武的 | |
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48 relic | |
n.神圣的遗物,遗迹,纪念物 | |
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49 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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50 penurious | |
adj.贫困的 | |
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51 enthusiast | |
n.热心人,热衷者 | |
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52 resuscitate | |
v.使复活,使苏醒 | |
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53 cumbersome | |
adj.笨重的,不便携带的 | |
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54 itinerant | |
adj.巡回的;流动的 | |
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55 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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56 equestrian | |
adj.骑马的;n.马术 | |
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57 surmounted | |
战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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58 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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59 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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60 sibylline | |
adj.预言的;神巫的 | |
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61 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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62 concord | |
n.和谐;协调 | |
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63 portico | |
n.柱廊,门廊 | |
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64 authentic | |
a.真的,真正的;可靠的,可信的,有根据的 | |
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65 anecdotes | |
n.掌故,趣闻,轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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66 moored | |
adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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67 revival | |
n.复兴,复苏,(精力、活力等的)重振 | |
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68 mania | |
n.疯狂;躁狂症,狂热,癖好 | |
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69 snobbery | |
n. 充绅士气派, 俗不可耐的性格 | |
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70 heralds | |
n.使者( herald的名词复数 );预报者;预兆;传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 );宣布(好或重要) | |
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71 forgery | |
n.伪造的文件等,赝品,伪造(行为) | |
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72 carnival | |
n.嘉年华会,狂欢,狂欢节,巡回表演 | |
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73 awakening | |
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的 | |
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