OSSERVAZIONI SUL “NON-FINITO” E/O “NON-VISIBILE” NELL’ARREDO SCULTOREO NEL MONDO ROMANO. L’INFLUENZA DI COLLOCAZIONE E TIPOLOGIA SULLA PRASSI DEGLI SCULTORI

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the “unfinished” in Roman sculpture, and the link between the lack of refinement
of a statue and its location. A careful review of the statues placed in a number of public buildings
dating to the Imperial Age (Velleia, Olympia, Lupiae, Miletus) is a useful way to explore the “unfinished”,
due to the fact that on one hand these statues clearly received the probatio of the redemptor, but on the
other hand they were also usually left unfinished at the back, i.e. where nobody could see them, as can be
argued from their location. In this sense these statues were really exactae. In fact, the sculptors had carefully
planned the invisibility of the “unfinished” parts, interrupting their work on the back and on the sides
of the statues along precise lines. The same conclusion can be deduced from the examination of togate and
cuirassed statues. This phenomenon was mainly due to the evident savings in time (and money), and to the
consciousness that the reverse section was normally excluded from any form of storytelling about a statue.
Therefore, the act of not refining a statue must be interpreted as a sign of the desire to speed up and rationalize
the production time rather than a mark of negligence or an “artistic” choice.