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Gurstein, Rochelle. "The Elgin Marbles, Romanticism & the Waning of 'Ideal Beauty.'"

Daedalus, 131. 4 (Fall, 2002), pp. 88-100. Stable URL: [30 Mar 2012]

The bringing of the Elgin Marbles to the British Museum was intended to herald in a new era of neoclassical art but instead, the unexpectedly vital and lifelike images depicted on the Marbles caused many emerging British artists to rethink how they had conceptualized the classical era as one of idealized, static perfection.

The Elgin Marbles were one of the most controversial acquisitions of the House of Commons. The Marbles were purchased for the British Museum from Lord Elgin in 1816, who had amassed a vast array of treasures from Greece, including the famous friezes torn off from the surface of the Parthenon. In doing so, the House of Commons was viewed by many, even at the time, as being complicit in a crime of national theft and vandalism. The action was justified as a way of inspiring the art of British artists, who would have greater access to the Marbles. Yet, rather than inspiring a revival of neoclassicism, the Marbles came to the Museum during the time period when neoclassicism was waning, and the interest in French Impressionism was growing. New artists were chafing at restrictions that forced them to embody the artistic ideals of the classical era in their works. Artists were inspired by the human-like rather than the idealized versions of ancient life embodied in the Marbles and felt justified in ignoring the static standards of beauty trumpeted by art critics of the neoclassical era. The Romantic Era of art was facilitated, rather than inhibited, by the display of the Marbles.

Q3a. Critique:

The author offers a contrarian view of the Elgin Marbles, which were once thought to embody British acquisitiveness and fascination with the Grecian past. Artists from the era are quoted, citing how gazing upon the Marbles challenged their views of ancient art: "I foretold that they would prove them selves the finest thing on the earth, that they would overturn the false beau-ideal, where nature was nothing, and would establish the true beau-ideal" wrote one of the admiring artists of the exhibition (Gurstein 2002: 91).

Q3b. Strengths of the article:

The author makes intellectual history come to life, demonstrating how concepts of art during the pre-Romantic neoclassical era were profoundly different from our own. What was considered 'individual' was once viewed as grotesque, given that it deviated from a symmetrical ideal. What was classical was considered 'good,' but the 'real' art of ancient Greece differed from the static conception of 18th century art theorists. When the Marbles were shown many were shocked that the Greeks depicted their gods with veins upon their flesh (Gurstein 2002: 92).

Q3c. Weaknesses:

Little more than passing attention is given to the morality of the acquisition of the Marbles, and there are no visual examples to illustrate the concepts of the author.

Q3d. An audience analysis:

This article is directed, in its language and assumptions about common knowledge, to a general academic audience. Art historians, historians of intellectual history and the Victorian era, and social historians would all find interest in the author's analysis of changing concepts of beauty and the right to create individualistic art.