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The Invention of Art History in Ancient Greece: Religion, Society and Artistic Rationalisation by Jeremy Tanner (Paperback, 2009)

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In this book contemporary perspectives in the sociology of art are brought to bear on a series of fundamental questions in the history of Greek art. It is argued that artists sought to enhance their status and autonomy in the classical period by writing theoretical treatises and producing works of art intended for purely aesthetic contemplation. This ultimately gave rise to the practice of art history writing, and the development of art collecting. The Greeks, however, developed their own very specific ethos of connoisseurship.

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The ancient Greeks developed their own very specific ethos of art appreciation, advocating a rational involvement with art. This book explores why the ancient Greeks started to write art history and how the writing of art history transformed the social functions of art in the Greek world. It looks at the invention of the genre of portraiture and the social uses to which portraits were put in the city state. Later chapters explore how artists sought to enhance their status by writing theoretical treatises and producing works of art intended for purely aesthetic contemplation, which ultimately gave rise to the writing of art history and to the development of art collecting. The study, which is illustrated throughout and draws on contemporary perspectives in the sociology of art, will prompt the student of classical art to rethink fundamental assumptions about Greek art and its cultural and social implications.