The Florentine Accademia del Disegno (founded in 1563) and the Roman Accademia di San Luca (founded c. 1593) were the first official art academies in Europe. In their early years these institutions performed a variety of functions, which included the organization of...
As Rome’s most notorious opponents on Italian soil, the Samnites have always occupied a special position in scholarship on ancient Italy and early Roman imperialism. The prominence of the Samnites in classical studies can be traced directly to Livy’s detailed account...
This collection of essays addresses the question of the recruiting power of Christianity within the Roman Empire, seen through the lens of the material and visual culture of the city of Rome. Its making was inspired by the exhibition Rome: The Dream of the Emperor...
Between c. 1629 and 1641, the Dutch-born Herman van Swanevelt lived and worked in Rome. Here he developed into a highly successfull landscape painter, a leader in the new genre of the pastoral landscape. Swanevelt created a novel form of backlighting and atmospheric...
The Iseum Campense, the impressive sanctuary for Isis and the Egyptian gods on the Campus Martius and arguably one of ancient Rome’s most notable absent presences, is a monument central to various debates. It was the largest temple for the Roman cults of Isis in the...