Ralph Van Deman Magoffin

“ The decoration of monuments is the general subject of part II., and in thirteen chapters, portraits—ideal for divinities, idealized for emperors, and realistic for other persons—genre subjects, decorative relief, and bas-relief of several sorts, lamps, stucco and ceramic reliefs, are handled in much detail, but with conservative judgment. The authors do not allow the Romans any creative credit beyond the wax masks of the atrium. Less than justice seems to have been done the Romans in historical relief work, perhaps to counteract the over-enthusiasm of several recent writers on Roman art. ”

“ But the differences are as important as the likenesses, and practical reasons inspired enough variations in form to qualify decidedly the Greek-inspired dictum as to Roman slavishness of imitation. The temples, the various buildings for athletic and theatrical spectacles, the baths, libraries, camps, honorary and funeral monuments, all have their share of attention. Perhaps monuments that have been lately discovered or that have escaped general notice get at times something more than their due share. ”

“ The things one sees in all the books are reproduced as a matter of course, but it is a pleasure to find illustrations of new monuments, especially from Africa, where the French have been doing so much good archaeological work these past fifteen or twenty years. ”