Sculptural Landscape in Ostia: Houses and Fountains

In recent decades, international research on ancient sculpture in the Roman Empire has increasingly focused on contextual studies, dealing with a comprehensive presentation of the sculptural material of an ancient site or city, or with sculptural finds from specific buildings, villas or residential houses. The project deals with the sculptural decoration of several representative villas and public fountains in Ostia antica. The project study will contribute to the reconstruction of a sculpture landscape in Ostia Antica, which remains a desideratum and will open up new and diverse insights into the significance, message and expressiveness of sculptures in the context of urban development, with regard to urban societies and the importance of sculpture in the imperial period and late antiquity. From a methodological perspective, approximately 19 residential buildings and ten public fountains are included in the study, based on the documented sculpture finds in the archives at Ostia. The project covers approximately 68 sculptures. The aim is to research iconography, models, comparisons, copies, production and exhibition, aspects of reworking and reuse, art markets, sculptural heritage, storage sites, lime kilns, sculpture relocations, representation, contexts of presentation in the house, self-presentation of the house owner, also within the urban structure and society. Furthermore, intensive studies will be undertaken in the archives of Ostia and on the sculptures in the Museum at Ostia antica. Evidence of the redesign of urban spaces (especially public fountains) and the effects on sculpture decoration with regard to reuse will be taken into account. In addition, a reconstruction of the production processes, the acquisition of sculptures and the contexts of their installation is planned. Innovative aspects of the pilot study aim to provide contextual documentation of the sculptural material found in villas and public fountains in order to obtain a representative picture of the history of various sculptural decorations. The focus is on the representative character of the sculptural decoration in terms of the client`s self-representation and educational aspirations, which also apply to the sculptural decoration of public fountains as examples of urban structures in public spaces. The importance of light as a means of representing sculptures in the private sphere and in urban spaces, including pathways especially for visitors in the home and sightlines, is taken into account. As an example, a 3D model is being created to reconstruct the sculptural decoration of a villa and a fountain.