In the art of the Greek cities of South Italy, beautiful bodies are everywhere. The norms were subverted, though, when it came to representing the comic theatre, where the players are all shown as physically grotesque. There were many more vase-paintings which depicted comedy made in South Italy than in any other part of the Greek world, and several outstanding examples are in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria.
This lecture will seek to explain their conventions, and understand why depictions of unbeautiful bodies were so common in South Italy, even on vases that were used as grave-offerings.
Dr Robinson will also launch the first Trendall Centre publication, Myth, Drama and Style in South Italian Vase Painting (ed. Ian McPhee).
Dr Ted Robinson is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Sydney and was previously Assistant Curator of the Nicholson Museum (1985-1996). He has conducted extensive archaeological work in South Italy, including at Masseria del Fano, a Bronze Age/Iron Age site in Puglia, Alezio (Puglia) and Tolve (Basilicata). He is currently involved in an ARC-funded project “The expansion of theatre outside Athens” and is also an expert on the iconography and archaeometry of South Italian red-figure vases. His recent publications include The Italic People of Ancient Apulia. New Evidence from Pottery for Workshops, Markets, and Customs (eds T.H. Carpenter, K. M. Lynch, and E. G. D. Robinson, Cambridge/New York 2014).
Date: Saturday 24 September 2020 2:30pm
Venue: Clemenger Auditorium, NGV International
More details of the 2016 Trendall Lecture are available here.