Provides a thematic and regional survey of Hellenistic sculpture, focusing on its main elements and its innovations.

In this beautifully illustrated volume, Burn (Keeper of Antiquities, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) introduces the Hellenistic world to students and readers interested in ancient Greek society. After a brief political and cultural overview, Burn identifies several distinctly Hellenistic artistic developments emerging in fourth-century Macedon. She then examines representations of royal and private individuals; the design, furnishing and appearances of cities, sanctuaries, houses and tombs; and the characteristic themes of Hellenistic iconography.

For the general public and specialists alike, the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) and its diverse artistic legacy remain underexplored and not well understood. Yet it was a time when artists throughout the Mediterranean developed new forms, dynamic compositions, and graphic realism to meet new expressive goals, particularly in the realm of portraiture. Rare survivors from antiquity, large bronze statues are today often displayed in isolation, decontextualized as masterpieces of ancient art. Power and Pathos gathers together significant examples of bronze sculpture in order to highlight their varying styles, techniques, contexts, functions, and histories. As the first comprehensive volume on large-scale Hellenistic bronze statuary, this book includes groundbreaking archaeological, art-historical, and scientific essays offering new approaches to understanding ancient production and correctly identifying these remarkable pieces. Designed to become the standard reference for decades to come, the book emphasizes the unique role of bronze both as a medium of prestige and artistic innovation and as a material exceptionally suited for reproduction. Power and Pathos is published on the occasion of an exhibition on view at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from March 14 to June 21, 2015; at the J. Paul Getty Museum from July 20 through November 1, 2015; and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from December 6, 2015, through March 20, 2016.

Now available in paperback, this rigorous and challenging book questions the Hellenistic dating of many famous monuments, based on careful examination of evidence. "Fluently written, clearly organized, and thoroughly and impeccably documented. Anyone who has a serious interest in Hellenistic art will want to read it and refer to it."--Jerome J. Pollitt, Yale University

She finds that figural sculptures adorn structures at every level from the ground to the roof, and display a wide variety of motifs on such architectural elements as columns, walls, entablatures, pediments, and cornices. 142 illustrations of Hellenistic monuments - temples, altars, cult buildings, heroa, theaters, bouleuteria, stoas, gymnasia, and houses - and their sculptured adornment complement the author's descriptions and analyses.