Still Life

Abstract

Abstract This essay explores the subtle interplay between sculptural bodies and animate bodies by exploring several “moments” in the history of classical and neoclassical aesthetics. These exemplary moments include the ancient Roman period (Pliny's reflections on Greek sculpture); the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Winckelmann's reflections on Greek sculpture and later Italian excavations at Pompeii); the twentieth century (Nazi adaptations of ancient Greek sculpture in Munich); and the twenty-first century (recurring discussion of polychromatic Greek art). Given that most of the art under discussion was “pagan,” this slippage between sculptural bodies and animate bodies highlights the presence of desire, specifically a desire for forbidden bodies.