Awards
2007 Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize
Elizabeth Marlowe, “Framing the Sun: The Arch of Constantine and the Roman Cityscape” (June 2006)
Elizabeth Marlowe
Elizabeth Marlowe’s impeccably researched and lucidly written article, “Framing the Sun: The Arch of Constantine and the Roman Cityscape,” which appeared in the June 2006 issue of The Art Bulletin, takes on the daunting task of reassessing a canonical monument. Her special contribution is a subtle and sophisticated analysis of the placement of the Arch of Constantine in the complex and contested space of the Colosseum Valley. The author offers vivid reconstructive drawings that allow the reader to imagine the experience of approaching the monument in the fourth century. Through these models, Marlowe successfully argues that the arch was constructed in a manner that established an especially close visual and spatial relationship between it and the Colossus of Sol. This, in turn, provides the author with a pivot-point for shifting our understanding of the monument’s relief carving and inscriptions. An inscription on the arch that states that Constantine commissioned the arch on the basis of the “inspiration of the divinity” has often been interpreted historically as an affirmation of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. In light of the evidence of the arch’s unique connection to the Colossus, however, Marlowe argues convincingly that while the author of the inscription might have “striven for ambiguity in the description of Constantine’s divine support … in every other aspect of the monument, from its sculptural imagery to its setting, the favored deity is unambiguously Sol.” Her impressive powers of observation lead her to construct nuanced arguments on the basis of a rich variety of visual evidence. Among her other memorable contributions, Marlowe finds meaning in the early photographic record of the Constantinian monument, revealing its siting with respect to the Meta Sudans and the surrounding topography before the tragic destruction of many key remains in 1936, thereby expertly lifting the curtain on one more act of barbarism of the Fascist era.
Jury: Jonathan M. Reynolds, University of Southern California, chair; Carmen C. Bambach, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, Seton Hall University.
