Diana E. E. Kleiner, The Great Friezes of the Ara Pacis Augustae. Greek Sources, Roman Derivatives, and Augustan Social Policy, p. 753-785.
Three problems concerning the Ara Pacis Augustae are discussed. It is suggested that the Parthenon frieze was not the sole formal source for the processional friezes of the Ara Pacis precinct wall, but that the family groups of the Augustan altar were based upon comparable groups on late classical Greek grave stelai in Athens. It is argued that the Ara Pacis frieze in turn influenced the composition of Augustan funerary reliefs in Rome commissioned by freedmen and their immediate descendants; the Altar of Peace thus had an impact on art produced outside the Imperial circle. Finally, it is suggested that the Ara Pacis frizes must be viewed in connection with the augustan social policy of encouraging marriage and the raising of children.
Ciriaco d'Ancona and Giuliano da Sangallo shared with many of their 15th-century contemporaries a passionate interest in the antique world. Both avidly recorded the remains of classical monuments, but they did so in distinct manners. The diversity of their approaches reflects the shifting focus of Renaissance antiquarians. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pages of Athenian monuments which Giuliano copied from Ciriaco's commentaria. Giuliano subtly, but significantly, transformed Ciriacan drawings of the Parthenon, the Tower of the Winds and the Monument of Philopappos to conform to his own notion of "good" architecture, rather than copy what he found on Ciriaco's pages. In effect, Giuliano, who had never seen the Athenian monuments, redesigned them on the pattern of Roman antiquities known to him from his travels in Italy and southern France. This process of conscious transformation was precisely the type of exercise which Alberti encouraged architects to undertake. Giuliano's manner of simultaneously copying and reshaping drawings of classical monuments parallels his own practices as an architect.
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