2007
Penelope Davies
- Associate Professor
- University of Texas at Austin
![Picture of Penelope Davies](https://www.acls.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/5F9B503F-F9A4-DB11-8D10-000C2903E717.jpg)
Abstract
This proposal is to finish a book on the public art of Republican Rome. It has two aims: to explore the intersection of visual culture and politics from post-regal times to the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE; and to trace urban and artistic developments, with an assessment of technological advances and social contexts for change. It argues for a sophisticated and ideological exploitation of early Roman art by politicians. Its premise is that the governmental system exerted a profound effect upon artistic and architectural production, deliberately preventing the kinds of blanket urban intervention that kings and emperors could achieve, while implicitly encouraging experimentation and innovation.