BMCR 2008.10.21, Margaret M. Miles, Art as Plunder

Margaret M. Miles, Art as Plunder: The Ancient Origins of Debate about
Cultural Property.  New York:  Cambridge University Press, 2008.  Pp.
xiii, 426.  ISBN 9780521872805.  $90.00.

Reviewed by Silke Knippschild, University of Bristol
([email protected])
Word count:  1380 words
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Table of Contents
(http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0720/2007024636.html)

Margaret Miles takes Cicero's Verrines as the focal point in a study of
art and its fate during war or occupation by a foreign power in times
of peace. She opens her discussion with a brief overview of historical
precedents in ancient Western Asia and Greece, merging into a
discussion of Roman policies and perceptions up to Verres' plunder of
Sicily as addressed by Cicero. The main part of the book deals with the
context of Verres' trial and Roman perceptions of the cultural and
social role of art. Following this, Miles looks at the Roman display of
art and changing attitudes to collecting and displaying art in Late
Antiquity. Her last chapter addresses the afterlife of the Verrines,
especially their influence on European attitudes toward plundering and
returning art during and after wars. An appendix with published
translations of ancient authors and Early Modern sources addressing the
subject, an extensive bibliography, and a useful index complete the
volume.

The book is written in an entertaining, easily readable style, which is
further helped by the relatively large print. The rather sizeable
chapters are subdivided into smaller sections with catchy subtitles.
Miles takes little previous knowledge for granted and explains
technical terms such as quaestor, haruspex, or virtus succinctly in
parentheses. Footnotes helpfully supply further reading, although this
often extends only to standard books on the subject in English. The
volume also contains an illustrative selection of maps, plans, and
images. In general terms, the book is suitable for undergraduates and
the interested public as well as for advanced students and scholars.

In chapter 1, "Art as Roman plunder", Miles addresses Western Asian and
Greek antecedents, choosing a small range of notorious instances of
plunder in order to provide the reader with a general picture. She
keeps it simple, although in the view of this reviewer Miles sometimes
oversimplifies historical processes[[1]] and addresses Western Asian
customs from a understandable but perhaps not quite fitting modern
Western viewpoint. Nevertheless, she does get the job done. Once Miles
reaches the Roman record, she analyses instances of plunder like the
sack of Syracuse by Miles Claudius Marcellus in greater depth and
detail, comparing the different ways in which cities along with
inhabitants and their possessions could be handled after a conquest.
The treatment of sanctuaries receives special attention. Miles
describes general points in the Roman approach to plundering and the
acceptance or critique of plunder with a view to the Verrines.

In chapter 2, "The Roman context of Cicero's Prosecution of Verres",
Miles introduces the reader to Sicily in Greek and Roman times. The
first settlements of Greeks on the island in the eighth century BC form
the starting point of her short history. In the section on Rome, Miles
goes quickly in medias res, discussing Verres' uncommonly long
praetorship in the context of the Spartacus Revolt and the Sicilian
Slave Wars. She goes on to describe the Roman legal system relevant for
cases of foreigners accusing magistrates of extortion and Cicero's
preparation for the trial. Miles follows the career of the defendant as
depicted by Cicero during the trial, his flight into exile with much of
the plunder, and his subsequent death. As a final step towards
contextualising the Verrines, she details their publication and
reception in Rome, remarking on the ways in which they came to
influence concepts of morality and right behaviour.

Chapter 3, "Cicero's views on the social place of art", deals with the
objects Verres took from Sicily and the breach of normative ethics the
extortion constituted both politically and socially. Roman attitudes
towards art and the appreciation of art, especially Greek art, are also
highlighted. Miles considers Cicero's classification of art into public
and private and emphasises its social functions. Further, she
elucidates the legal situation and Cicero's approach towards
classifying the plunder (age, monetary value, artist, provenance,
aesthetic quality). The violation of shrines and temples, such as the
sanctuary of Ceres in Henna, features prominently and in detail. The
author also focuses on the function of communal art displayed in
sanctuaries, on its misuse by the defendant as adornments of his
private house, and analyses art in different spheres of the domus
(e.g., dining). The chapter closes with a discussion of Cicero's own
ideas about the appropriate uses of art.

In chapter 4, "Roman display of art: From Lucullus to Lausos", Miles
addresses the shift in status display in the wake of the trial away
from antique statuary, with notorious figures like Lucullus as
examples. Such alternative displays include expensive pastimes (like
keeping fishponds and fine dining). She highlights how Verres'
behaviour became a negative model for the use of plundered art in the
private sphere, while making clear that he should not be considered
exemplary for Roman customs of acquiring Greek art--with the exception
of the emperors Caligula and Nero, whose appetites ancient sources
modeled on Verres. Miles makes clear that art in the public sphere
constitutes an entirely different issue by looking at displays of
plunder in triumphs and dedications in public spaces or temples as well
as private displays accessible to the public, such as Asinius Pollio's
garden-park. After a discussion of the Flavian period and collectors
such as Novius Vindex, whom she considers to be "true connoisseurs" (p.
263) and diametral opposites to Verres, Miles goes on to discuss the
shift in the treatment of art under Constantine. She demonstrates how
religious art especially became state property and fair game because of
the change in religion, focusing on examples like the collector Lausos,
an official under Theodosius II, whose collection included works of art
like the famous chryselephantine Zeus from Olympia.

The study of Late Antiquity leads to Miles's discussion of Early Modern
Europe in chapter 5, "Art as European plunder ". Her focus here is to
outline the development of the concept of cultural property protected
by national and international law. Miles sets out by describing the
survival and reception of the Verrines and the role of Sicily as travel
destination since the Renaissance. She continues with case studies of
the employment of the Verrines when defending cultural property, such
as Byron's and Edward Dodwell's criticism of Elgin for his despoliation
of the Athenian Acropolis by ripping apart the Parthenon in order to
get at the infamous Elgin Marbles. (Negotiations about the return of
these marbles, which were damaged by cleaning attempts whilst in the
care of the British Museum, continue.[[2]]) Miles goes on to depict
Napoleon's conduct in Italy and his brother Joseph's despoliation of
Spain. Here, we do have a happy ending for many of the works of art
abducted: they were returned under the auspices of the Duke of
Wellington.

Epilogue: "The continuing plunder of art" starts out with the first
legal recognition of a protected status for cultural property in war
drafted by Francis Lieber for President Lincoln and circulated as
General Orders No. 100, April 24, 1863. The Lieber Code is behind the
international agreements on cultural property of The Hague, 1907 and
1954. Miles comments on the plundering in Europe during WWII and
briefly mentions the looting in Iraq before moving on to the general
issue of ongoing art theft and the protection of cultural property in
times of peace. Miles closes her book with recent successes in the
repatriation of stolen art from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles
and Malibu, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts. Her last issue is the fate of the Parthenon Marbles and
the discussion about their return to Greece vs. their educational
function in the British Museum. This reviewer would like to join Miles
in hoping for a speedy return of this part of Greek cultural property.

Margaret Miles deals with the sadly timely issue of art as plunder
levelly and with sensitivity. Her study is not only well researched and
sound, but also a very good read and as such easily accessible not only
to scholars, but equally to undergraduates and a wider interested
public. Broaching much wider issues than the historical extortion of
Verres, the reception of concepts of art as cultural property and the
ways of dealing with plundered art across the centuries are today
highly pertinent and make this a very important book.

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Notes:


1.   To pick but one example, the killing of Hipparchos appearing as an
uprising leading to the foundation of a democratic constitution in
Athens (p.26). This may ultimately be the case, but the story is
clearly more complicated than this.

2.   See Snodgrass, A. M., "The Parthenon Marbles as an Archaeological
Issue", in: Brodie, N., Hills, C. (eds.), Material Engagements: Studies
in Honour of Colin Renfrew, Cambridge 2004, 115-124. Id., "The
Parthenon Marbles as an Architectural Issue", Medelhavsmuseet: Focus on
the Mediterranean 2, Stockholm 2005, 152-156. On the viewpoint of the
British Museum on the "cleaning", see Cleaning and Controversy: The
Parthenon Sculptures 1811-1939.