Adrian Staehli (Department of Classics)
First-Year Seminar 33H (Spring Term) Enrollment: Limited to 12
Wednesday, 3-5 CANVAS SITE
This seminar will explore different historical practices of collecting and displaying Greek and Roman art and artefacts from the earliest periods of antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to most recent times, including the contemporary debate about cultural property, the acquisition policies of museums, and the repatriation of looted antiquities to their countries of origin.
The seminar will consider how various forms of collecting, archiving, and displaying – such as collections of war booty in ancient Rome, cabinets of curiosities in the European Renaissance, or modern art museums from the 18th century onwards – have shaped our knowledge and understanding of Greek and Roman culture and art, and, more generally, of the past, and how they have contributed to the emergence of new forms of aesthetic appreciation and new approaches to the understanding and interpretation of ancient art and material culture.
This seminar will be designed in connection and cooperation with the major exhibition on Celtic Art which will be staged by the Harvard Art Museums in Spring 2026 and will include frequent museum trips to the Harvard Art Museums as well as to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to study important art works relating to this class.