Rachel Kousser
Biographic Data
| ID | 1238709 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rachel Kousser |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rachel |
| FAMILY NAME | Kousser |
| SIGNATURE | KOUSSER R |
| AFFILIATIONS | City University of New York |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 5 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 5 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Augustan Aphrodites
This chapter focuses on the autonomy of images from the domestic realm, and on the specifically private meanings they might have. It explains why classicizing mythological images had such a hold on Roman viewers, so that they filled their homes, their gardens, and eventually their tombs with Aphrodite, Dionysos, and other Greek deities. For such viewers, classicism offered not simply an impressive, politically acceptable visual style, but a seduc…
A sacred landscape
Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture
In this book, Rachel Kousser draws on contemporary reception theory to present an approach to Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculpture. She analyzes the Romans' preference for retrospective, classicizing statuary based on Greek models as opposed to the innovative creations prized by modern scholars. Using a case study of a particular sculptural type, a forceful yet erotic image of Venus, Kousser argues that the Romans self-consciously employed such …
Mythological Group Portraits in Antonine Rome
This article reexamines a series of Antonine mythological group portraits frequently identified as imperial commissions. Drawing on new archaeological evidence as well as sources for their findspots and restoration histories, I argue that they were private portraits suitable for the commemoration of married couples in house and tomb. The sculptures juxtaposed idealized divine bodies based on Greek statue types of Ares and Aphrodite with descripti…
Creating the Past
This article reexamines the well-known Hellenistic statue of Aphrodite from Melos (the Vénus de Milo), drawing on recently published archaeological evidence and archival sources relating to its excavation to propose a new reconstruction of the sculpture's original appearance, context, and audience. Although scholars have often discussed the statue as a timeless ideal of female beauty, the Aphrodite was in fact carefully adapted to its contemporar…
Mythological Group Portraits in Antonine Rome
This article reexamines a series of Antonine mythological group portraits frequently identified as imperial commissions. Drawing on new archaeological evidence as well as sources for their findspots and restoration histories, I argue that they were private portraits suitable for the commemoration of married couples in house and tomb. The sculptures juxtaposed idealized divine bodies based on Greek statue types of Ares and Aphrodite with descripti…
Creating the Past
This article reexamines the well-known Hellenistic statue of Aphrodite from Melos (the Vénus de Milo), drawing on recently published archaeological evidence and archival sources relating to its excavation to propose a new reconstruction of the sculpture's original appearance, context, and audience. Although scholars have often discussed the statue as a timeless ideal of female beauty, the Aphrodite was in fact carefully adapted to its contemporar…
Creating the Past
This article reexamines the well-known Hellenistic statue of Aphrodite from Melos (the Vénus de Milo), drawing on recently published archaeological evidence and archival sources relating to its excavation to propose a new reconstruction of the sculpture's original appearance, context, and audience. Although scholars have often discussed the statue as a timeless ideal of female beauty, the Aphrodite was in fact carefully adapted to its contemporar…
Mythological Group Portraits in Antonine Rome
This article reexamines a series of Antonine mythological group portraits frequently identified as imperial commissions. Drawing on new archaeological evidence as well as sources for their findspots and restoration histories, I argue that they were private portraits suitable for the commemoration of married couples in house and tomb. The sculptures juxtaposed idealized divine bodies based on Greek statue types of Ares and Aphrodite with descripti…
Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture
In this book, Rachel Kousser draws on contemporary reception theory to present an approach to Hellenistic and Roman ideal sculpture. She analyzes the Romans' preference for retrospective, classicizing statuary based on Greek models as opposed to the innovative creations prized by modern scholars. Using a case study of a particular sculptural type, a forceful yet erotic image of Venus, Kousser argues that the Romans self-consciously employed such …
Augustan Aphrodites
This chapter focuses on the autonomy of images from the domestic realm, and on the specifically private meanings they might have. It explains why classicizing mythological images had such a hold on Roman viewers, so that they filled their homes, their gardens, and eventually their tombs with Aphrodite, Dionysos, and other Greek deities. For such viewers, classicism offered not simply an impressive, politically acceptable visual style, but a seduc…
A sacred landscape
Art (5 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (5 works) · Art history (4 works) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History (3 works) · Classics (3 works) · History (3 works) · Archaeological Research and Protection (2 works) · Archaeology (2 works) · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome (2 works) · History (2 works)