Sarah Blake McHam
"尝补辞肠辞枚苍, or Pliny Vindicated"
The fourth annual 黑丝国产在线/Kress Italian Lecture Series was hosted on Tuesday, May 28 at the , , followed by a reception for all attendees.
On January 14, 1506, a discovery shook the artistic and antiquarian worlds of Italy. After decades of digging up unidentifiable fragments, a major over-life-size statue group was unearthed in Rome that was both almost complete and autographed. The subject matter, Laoco艖n and his two sons entangled by murderous sea serpents, was unusual enough to be readily recognized as the doomed Trojans Virgil had described (Aeneid 2.201-27). Furthermore, the marble was inscribed with the names of the collaborators, Hagesandros, Polydorus and Athenodorus. The sculpture鈥檚 subject and signatures allowed it to be readily matched to the Roman Pliny the Elder鈥檚 lengthy laudatory description in his Natural History (c. 77 AD). If Pliny鈥檚 notice confirmed the sculpture was the 尝补辞肠辞枚苍, then its discovery had the reciprocal effect of corroborating Pliny鈥檚 accuracy and reliability. As this paper will show, the Natural History solidified its status as a favorite reference source throughout the sixteenth century. The demonstrated unimpeachable nature of Pliny鈥檚 testimony influenced period developments in both Italian art and theory.