Article Critique of Spolia of the Arch of Constantine by Holloway

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The Article The Spolia of the Arch of Constantine by Robert Ross Holloway consists of many different hypothesis and statements of how the sets of spolia came to be on the Art of Constantine. There are three sets of spolia present on the Arch of Constantine, the Trajanic Frieze, the eight circular Hadrianic reliefs and eight rectangular panels from the monument of Marcus Aurelius. Holloway discusses in this article the histories and argues the different ways these sets have come to reside on the Arch of Constantine. The article starts with Holloway’s thesis statement of identifying the sets of the spolias and discussing their origins. He states that the purpose of the article is to argue that Rome is most likely not the source of these sculptures. The sculptures might be from other cities of the empire. He then discusses the historical backgrounds of the nation, based on the sculptures themselves, that each spolia comes from. His main hypothesis is that these sculptures were made and displayed far from Rome. Holloway is very passionate in his argument of where each piece comes from. As you read the article is it clear that Holloway has an issue with the spolias not receiving credit for their original purpose and stories. He frames the article into four sections. He first starts with the chronological timeline for each spolia and narrows down where they could have come from. He then discusses the sets of the spolias starting with the Trajanic Frieze, then the Hadrianic reliefs, and he concludes with the eight rectangular panels from the monument of Marcus Aurelius. In each section, he opens with a hypothesis for each sculpture, gives an informed argument, and concludes under his own paradigm. Holloway uses what each spolia depicts and why they were created to make his argument that these sculptures came from different lands. In each section of the article,

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