Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History , 2024
The late-eighteenth-century Swedish intellectual C. A. Ehrensvärd visualised his life and relatio... more The late-eighteenth-century Swedish intellectual C. A. Ehrensvärd visualised his life and relationships in drawings that often represent their modern protagonists as ideal figures from classical art. In his literary works Ehrensvärd argued that ancient Greeks had led their lives in accordance with human nature and had thereby acquired objectively true taste as displayed in their art. In the drawings discussed in this article Ehrensvärd reveals the discrepancy between his vision of the perfect, masculine, virtuous Greeks, and the allegedly corrupt, feminised Northern Europe of his own time. This conflict is often represented humorously, making use of the abundant iconographic layers of classical art, which could load an image with misogynistic, comic, or heroic overtones. These allusions were expected to be recognised and appreciated by the drawings’ intended audience, Ehrensvärd’s friends, such as the sculptor J. T. Sergel. Ehrensvärd’s view of the empirical truth of human nature, embodied in ancient art, left little room for artistic individuality and subjective choice. Yet, by appropriating the authority of the classical nude, Ehrensvärd could portray himself as an individual in defence of real human potential, as opposed to its modern travesty.
Baths played an essential role in the formation of the ideal Roman male. As a locus of demonstrat... more Baths played an essential role in the formation of the ideal Roman male. As a locus of demonstrating one's belonging to the Roman citizenry through a collective act of cultus, in the face of public nudity and against the threats of mollifying luxury and superstitious beliefs, baths intensified the negotiation regarding the norms of masculinity. The decoration of the tepidarium of the Forum Baths in Pompeii can be read in light of these tensions. It presents two sets of naked male figures from different eras: burly telamon statues from a republican phase of the baths and stucco reliefs of sexually attractive youths from the last decade before Pompeii's destruction in 79 CE. In this study, I attempt to look at the decoration from the point of view of the Roman bathers, and I contextualize the decoration both archaeologically and iconographically to determine the frames of its reception. I analyze how Roman masculinity was constructed in the process of identification with the normative ideal through the images. From this perspective, two main tensions emerge: one between self-control and the fertile force of the irrational embodied by the telamones, another between homoerotic desirability and heroism represented by the stuccoes. The bathers stood in the midst of these tensions,
Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History , 2024
The late-eighteenth-century Swedish intellectual C. A. Ehrensvärd visualised his life and relatio... more The late-eighteenth-century Swedish intellectual C. A. Ehrensvärd visualised his life and relationships in drawings that often represent their modern protagonists as ideal figures from classical art. In his literary works Ehrensvärd argued that ancient Greeks had led their lives in accordance with human nature and had thereby acquired objectively true taste as displayed in their art. In the drawings discussed in this article Ehrensvärd reveals the discrepancy between his vision of the perfect, masculine, virtuous Greeks, and the allegedly corrupt, feminised Northern Europe of his own time. This conflict is often represented humorously, making use of the abundant iconographic layers of classical art, which could load an image with misogynistic, comic, or heroic overtones. These allusions were expected to be recognised and appreciated by the drawings’ intended audience, Ehrensvärd’s friends, such as the sculptor J. T. Sergel. Ehrensvärd’s view of the empirical truth of human nature, embodied in ancient art, left little room for artistic individuality and subjective choice. Yet, by appropriating the authority of the classical nude, Ehrensvärd could portray himself as an individual in defence of real human potential, as opposed to its modern travesty.
Baths played an essential role in the formation of the ideal Roman male. As a locus of demonstrat... more Baths played an essential role in the formation of the ideal Roman male. As a locus of demonstrating one's belonging to the Roman citizenry through a collective act of cultus, in the face of public nudity and against the threats of mollifying luxury and superstitious beliefs, baths intensified the negotiation regarding the norms of masculinity. The decoration of the tepidarium of the Forum Baths in Pompeii can be read in light of these tensions. It presents two sets of naked male figures from different eras: burly telamon statues from a republican phase of the baths and stucco reliefs of sexually attractive youths from the last decade before Pompeii's destruction in 79 CE. In this study, I attempt to look at the decoration from the point of view of the Roman bathers, and I contextualize the decoration both archaeologically and iconographically to determine the frames of its reception. I analyze how Roman masculinity was constructed in the process of identification with the normative ideal through the images. From this perspective, two main tensions emerge: one between self-control and the fertile force of the irrational embodied by the telamones, another between homoerotic desirability and heroism represented by the stuccoes. The bathers stood in the midst of these tensions,
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