|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alexander the Great. 2000 years
of Treasures On November 24, 2012 in Australian Museum the exhibition “Alexander the Great. 2000 years of Treasures” was opened. In 2007 the exposition was prepared and submitted by the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg, in 2010-2011 in the Hermitage Amsterdam Exhibition Centre. “Alexander the Great. 2000 years of treasures” is the largest Russian exhibition ever presented in Australia. Exhibition is devoted to Alexander the Great, his campaign to the East and subsequent influence of Hellenism on the world artistic culture. The exposition covers a time span of over two and a half thousand years, from the 5th century B.C. to the 20th century. None of the rulers of ancient times ever boggled the imagination of people as Alexander the Great (356 B.C. - 323 B.C.), no other image was copied in the arts so often. Alexander of Macedon marked the beginning of a new era. His conquests dramatically changed the political map of the world, brought profound changes in the consciousness of the Western European and Eastern nations. The Eastern campaign of Alexander is the most distant military expedition in history - it led to the destruction of the Persian Empire, the most powerful Empire of the East, opening the borders of Greek civilization. The main result of king’s actions was the creation of cosmopolitan culture that united achievements of classical Greece, half-barbarian Macedonia and countries of Central Asia and the Near East. Alexander had unprecedented influence on political and social sphere, on development of town-building, religion, art, science and natural history. During the Eastern campaign king founded more than one hundred cities, established many new cults, put into practice the intravitam deification of the ruler. During his life Alexander was perceived not as a mortal but as the deity or the mythological hero. In Hellenistic art of Greece, Italy and Eastern and Asian countries one can find facial features of Alexander everywhere - in portraits of rulers and generals, statues of gods and heroes, statuettes, private portrait and even in decorative art. The image of the great king, resulting in mixture of traditions and cultures survived antiquity. Life history of the Macedonian forever entered the repertoire of art for succeeding ages. The myth about Alexander was popular in both "high" art and rhyparography: in Western European medieval miniatures Alexander was depicted as a knight-errant, and in Russian popular print of 17th-18th centuries as an adventurous hero. In 14th-15th centuries at the East Alexander-Iskander is the ideal hero and a formidable warrior, in the art of the Renaissance he is a wise ruler. Special topicality “History of Alexander” acquired during the period of absolute monarchies, in the arts flourished at the courtyards of the rulers of France, England, Spain, Russia. Comparison of the valours of the ruler with the fame and fortune of Alexander became common place artistic allegories. Image of the ruler who united the peoples was topical the entire 20th century both in Western countries and in the countries of the East. The main theme of the exhibition is the myth about Alexander, East campaign and its implications for the West and the East. The exhibition shows the way the great civilizations met - Hellenic world, ancient empires of the East and the world of nomads; everywhere where Alexander was, the process of hellenization began, everywhere spread Greek architecture and art, Greek language and way of life. This influence has affected a vast territory from Greece to India all the way to Mongolia and other countries outside of the Ecumene (that world which the Greeks knew). The focus is the historical role of Alexander for the fate of Western Europe, Russia and the Orient, Hellenism as a global process of interaction between civilizations and cultures. The first section of the exhibition is the myth about Alexander in the art and culture of Western Europe of the modern age. Among the works of the 16th-19th centuries telling about the life, deeds and triumphs of impressive ruler, works by Sebastiano Ricci (Apelles Paints Campaspe), weapons and armour, made as imitation of antiquity are exhibited. Further the viewer is immersed in the atmosphere of antiquity that brought up the young conqueror. The story begins with the art of classical Greece in the period prior to the Great Eastern campaign. There are italic and attic vases with scenes from the Iliad on display, it served Alexander as a “guide of heroism". Colossal statues of Hercules and Dionysus are especially spectacular, they are mythological heroes that were a “guiding light” for Alexander. A separate section is devoted to the Balkan culture. The exhibits demonstrate the way of life of Macedonians, weapons and funerary equipment. For European audience works of the Northern nomads are of special interest – another powerful political force of the era: the famous gorytos from burial mound Chertomlyk, parts of horse harness. Taken together, these monuments give an idea of the cultural, political and artistic environment which formed the identity of the great king and military leader. The following exhibition sections, sequence of which repeats the route of Alexander are devoted to the Eastern campaign of Alexander that represented the idea of Greek culture expansion. These are works of art of Asia Minor, ancient Egypt of the age of the Ptolemies, the monuments representing the ancient tradition in the Christian art of Coptic Egypt. Among the masterpieces are “Alexander in the image of Zeus” at gemma of the 4th century B.C., Alexander’s image on coins and his marble miniature portrait, portraits of Hellenistic kings Mithridates VI Eupator and Ptolemy, the famous Gonzaga cameo, fresco from Nymphae depicting ship of Isis, possibly ambassadorial ship from Egypt on the Bosporus, the works of Hellenistic jewelry. A small section of the exhibition acquaints the viewer with the art of Achaemenid of Iran of Alexander era. Syria of Hellenistic time is presented by a group of coins with portraits of rulers. Many exhibits in section “Hellinistic East” are unique, they are monuments of Central Asia, Parthia and Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. During the Hellenistic era Greek artistic style became universal - it was perceived by the various peoples, regardless of their religion or political system. So, the idea of the cultural unity of the world, which was the main consequence of the Eastern campaign of the Macedonian king was born and was embodied to life. Heritage of Alexander the Great is the last section of the exhibition. Reliefs from Palmyra, dating back to the 2nd-3rd centuries A.D. prove just how sustainable Greek influence remained outside the country. This fact is confirmed by Egyptian papyri with Greek inscriptions that were made prior to the 9th century A.D. On the other hand, Byzantine culture continues the antique traditions – the last Hellenistic state that created on ancient foundations the new Christian world. In the 15th-16th centuries Alexander in the image of Iskander plays a significant role in Persian literature. In the 18th-19th centuries “History of Alexander” became part of the Russian culture - education, political thought, art and literature. Exhibition curator - Anna Trofimova, Ph.D. in History of Arts, Head of the Department of Classical Antiquities of the State Hermitage Museum. |
|
||||
Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
