Connoisseurship and Ancient Artifacts

   

The Art of Preservation Strategies and Ancient Artifacts

The preservation of ancient works is daunting at best.  They need to be conserved, but their age presents numerous and often conflicting challenges.  Science provides methods for their restoration and preservation, but it is unable to answer why works should be restored, or to what degree.  Should they be restored to their original grandeur, or should degradation remain to reflect the passage of time?  Both approaches have equal merit, and they center on the interpretations that best represent the object’s relative meaning.  These conflicts are present in modern times, but they are amplified for ancient works, as their cultural context and provenance have been lost, and their relationship to us is open for interpretation.  Exploring these elements emphasizes the difficulties in the connoisseurship of ancient artifacts, and it reveals the underlying dilemma of their restoration and preservation.

Albert France-Lanord writes that the first question applied to ancient works should be “why and how should it be conserved?” (245).   Why and how a work should be conserved is derived from the object, its original significance and its relationship with modern culture.  Unfortunately, ancient cultural context and significance have been lost due to the passage of time.   Davies describes cave paintings as raising more cultural questions than answers (1).  Sister Wendy articulates several diverse cultural theories of the cave paintings that range from mystical applications to simple documentation.   Cultural context has been lost, and no single theory can be applied with confidence.  Uncertainties arise, and they convolute future decisions of restoration, preservation and presentation.   

Provenance, in the form of discovery, has also proved problematic.  Many artifacts are discovered, cleaned and sold without the documentation of their discovery.   Their provenance is absent, and any clues to their cultural context are lost.  Davies uses Aegean “Frying Pans” and figurines from the Cyclades to illustrate this point.  He writes, “The greatest obstacle to determining their function is our general ignorance about their provenance, that is, where and how they were found and their subsequent history” (83).   Whether poor archeological practices or outright plundering of artifacts, the lack of documentation diminishes historical and cultural insights.

Often times, particularly in the case of Greek and Roman sculptures, provenance is complicated due to copied works.  John Pope-Hennessy is clear that sculptures must be understood from the originals, as they possess the unique traits of each artist.  Davies writes that Roman copies of Greek works are not reliable replications of the originals (103).  Copies were made with artistic interpretations, or patrons may have requested modifications (103).  Copies of works, in their own way, unintentionally cloak the intent of the original work.  Before a connoisseur can evaluate an ancient sculpture, they first have the laborious and problematic task of determining a work’s provenance.

The most significant aspect of preservation is the potential damage to ancient artifacts from non-professional connoisseurship.  France-Lacord believed objects should be returned to their original significance.  However, Giovanni Carbonara was concerned about changes to the original; “We would not have the monument of old but a monument that emerges anew – an independent architectural expression…” (245).   Should ancient works be viewed as physical objects, or as figurative expressions (245). Carbonara was concerned that artifacts would be restored to reflect modern views of the past, rather than original expressions as represented through the passage of time.   He was concerned that the ease of scientific restoration would become favored against the difficulties of investigating and preserving the past (245).   Carbonara’s writing reveals a balance between the physical object, its original expression and its relationship to modern culture.  In essence, each artifact requires evaluation on its merits, but the tendency is to form rote procedures, from non-professionals, that can systematically change and destroy ancient cultural meaning.

There are no easy answers to the restoration and preservation of ancient artifacts.  The loss of their cultural context can objectify them and make them susceptible to modern interpretations.  However, efforts are underway to improve and fuse the fields encompassed by Technical Art History.   Better education, collaborative studies and increased publications are all in play to enhance preservation (Ainsworth).   

Art forms meaning through relationships, and ancient art forms bridges across time.   It is human nature to classify and search for specificity in answers.  However, the problems associated with ancient artifacts create more mysteries than answers, and they reveal how important connections are to the distant past.  Effective connoisseurship of ancient artifacts improves human understanding by preserving the past for the future, and sometimes the preservation of the questions are just as important as preserving the answers.

Works Cited

Aisnworth, Maryan. “From Connoisseurship to Technical Art History: The Evolution of the Interdisciplinary Study of Art.”  Art 561. Tiffin University. N.d. Web. February 5, 2014

Carbonara, Giovanni. “The Integration of the Image: Problems in the Restoration of Monuments.” Art 561. Tiffin University. N.d. Web. February 5, 2014

Davies, Penelope J.E., Walter B. Denny, Frima Fox Hofrichter, Joseph Jacobs, Ann M. Roberts, and David L. Simon. Janson’s History of Art: the Western Tradition.  8^th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2011. Print.

France-Lanord, Albert. “Knowing How to ‘Question’ the Object before Restoring it.” Art 561. Tiffin University. N.d. Web. February 5, 2014

Pope-Hennessy, John. “Connoisseurship.” Art 561. Tiffin University. N.d. Web. February 5, 2014

Sister Mary. “The Mists of Time.” DocuWatch. Web. Feb 8, 2014. http://art.docuwat.ch/videos/sister-wendy/sister-wendys-story-of-painting-01-the-mists-of-time/?channel_id=0&skip=0