Christine Kondoleon – författare

Built on the southwestern coast of Cyprus in the second century A.D., the House of Dionysos is full of clues to a distant life—in the corner of a portico, shards of pottery, a clutch of Roman coins found on a skeleton under a fallen wall—yet none is so evocative as the intricate mosaic floors that lead the eye from room to room, inscribing in their colored images the traditions, aspirations, and relations of another world. In this lavishly illustrated volume, Christine Kondoleon conducts us through the House of Dionysos, showing us what its interior decoration discloses about its inhabitants and their time.Seen from within the context of the house, the mosaics become eloquent witnesses to an elusive dialogue between inhabitants and guests, and to the intermingling of public and private. Kondoleon draws on the insights of art history and archaeology to show what the mosaics in the House of Dionysos can tell us about these complex relations. She explores the issues of period and regional styles, workshop traditions, the conditions of patronage, and the forces behind iconographic change. Her work marks a major advance, not just in the study of Roman mosaics, but in our knowledge of Roman society.

If this monumental second-century Roman statue could speak, she would tell of travels from a theatre in ancient Rome to the gardens of an Italian prince’s villa—and then across the Atlantic to a suburban garden, where she endured for a century before finding a home at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Although standing 13 feet tall and weighing some 13,000 pounds, this colossal statue has a long history of hiding in plain sight. Now, stylistic evaluation, historical research, and technical examination have revealed connections with five other “sister” statues, all carved of Carrara marble, that were part of an Augustan renewal of Rome. Despite losing her head (and gaining a new one), and suffering damage and repairs, she has continued to be admired throughout two millennia. As the largest classical sculpture in North America, newly restored and protected from the elements at last, she has just begun to share her secrets.