Clemente Marconi

Clemente Marconi is an Italian and American archaeologist and art historian specializing in ancient Mediterranean Art and Archaeology. He holds academic appointments both in the United States and in Italy, serving as the James R. McCredie Professor of Greek Art and Archaeology and University Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and as Full Professor (Professore Ordinario) of Classical Archaeology in the Department of Cultural and Environmental Heritage at the University of Milan (Università degli Studi di Milano "La Statale"). Marconi also directs the Institute of Fine Arts–New York University and University of Milan excavations on the acropolis of Selinunte.

Academic career

Marconi earned his Bachelor of Arts in Classics and Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology from the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1990. In 1997 he completed his PhD in Classical Art and Archaeology at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, where he was trained by Salvatore Settis. His academic training emphasized an interdisciplinary approach to the ancient world, blending historical, philological, archaeological, and art historical methodologies. ^[1]

After earning his PhD at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Marconi taught, from 1999 to 2006, Greek Art and Archaeology in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. In 2006, he left Columbia University to join the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, where he teaches Greek Art and Archaeology. ^[2] In 2010–2011 Marconi has been Elizabeth A. Whitehead Professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Since 2017, he also teaches Classical Archaeology at the University of Milan. ^[3] In 2019, he was visiting professor of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens. Since 2006, Marconi has directed the Institute of Fine Arts—New York University's excavations at Selinunte. ^[4] In addition to teaching and fieldwork, Marconi initiated the Seminar on Ancient Art and Archaeology at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University in 2012. The seminar aims to critically explore new methodologies and theoretical approaches in the study of ancient art and architecture. ^[5] In 2021 he became a member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei ^[6] and of the Academia Europaea. ^[7]

Research

Marconi's research focuses on ancient Mediterranean Art and Archaeology. His hermeneutic approach emphasizes context and interdisciplinarity, and the integration of different perspectives, from historiography to anthropology, to examine the form, meaning, and social function of images and monuments.

He has published books and articles and curated exhibitions on a variety of topics including ancient Greek art and archaeology, Greek settlement in the western Mediterranean; ^[8] the art and archaeology of ancient Sicily (co-curating the exhibition “Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome,” held at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2013); the history of archeological research in Sicily (such as publishing and commenting the minutes of the Commissione di Antichità e Belle Arti in Sicilia, and the critical edition of Jacob Ignaz Hittorff’s drawings of ancient Greek and Roman monuments in Sicily); and the modern and contemporary reception of ancient art (including curating the exhibition on “Picasso and Antiquity” held at the National Archaeological Museum, Naples in 2023 ^[9] and collaborating with Francesco Vezzoli on the exhibition “Teatro Romano” at MoMA PS1 in 2014). ^[10] Additionally, he has been involved in matters concerning cultural property and the repatriation of artifacts to Sicily, like the acroliths and the Goddess from Morgantina. ^[11]

Besides editing the Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture, Marconi is the editor in chief of The Journal of Ancient Architecture ^[12] and is a member of the editorial boards of Hephaistos, ^[13] Prospettiva, the Rendiconti della Classe di Scienze Morali of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, ^[14] Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, the Rivista dell’Istituto Nazionale d’Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, and Sicilia Antiqua.

Since 2006, Marconi has directed the Institute of Fine Arts–New York University excavations on the acropolis of Selinunte, one of the most significant sites for Greek and Punic archaeology in Italy. His work at Selinunte, in partnership with the local Archaeological Park and, since 2017, the University of Milan, sees the collaboration of a considerable number of specialists affiliated with many European and American academic and research institutions. His work yielded important discoveries regarding the site's main urban sanctuary and historical development and the archaeology of Greek religion in the Archaic and Classical periods. ^[15] The finds from Temple R, one of the earliest monumental cult buildings at the site, completely sealed in its Archaic and Classical levels, have significantly contributed to the opening, in 2017, of the local museum in the Baglio Florio. ^[16] Similarly, Marconi’s research on the metopes of Selinunte and the work of the Selinunte project on Temple B in the main urban sanctuary have led to a new display of the finds from Selinunte in the Museo Archeologico Regionale “Antonino Salinas” in Palermo, where he was appointed as consultant for the museum’s renovation between 2009 and 2015. ^{[17] [18]}

Selected Books

• C. Marconi. Selinunte: Le metope dell'Heraion (Panini, 1994) ^[19]
• C. Marconi, ed. Greek Painted Pottery: Images, Contexts, and Controversies (Brill, 2004) ^[20]
• C. Marconi. Temple Decoration and Cultural Identity in the Archaic Greek World: The Metopes of Selinus (Cambridge University Press, 2007) ^{[21] [22] [23]}
• C. Lyons, M. Bennett, and C. Marconi, eds. Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome (Getty Publications, 2013) ^[24]
• C. Marconi, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture (Oxford University Press, 2015) ^[25]
• A. Bellia and C. Marconi, eds. Musicians in Ancient Coroplastic Art: Iconography, Ritual Contexts, and Functions (Fabrizio Serra, 2016) ^[26]
• C. Marconi, M. Kiene, and L. Lazzarini. "Sicile Ancienne": Hittorff and the Architecture of Classical Sicily (Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln, 2017)
• K. G. Bosher, Greek Theater in Ancient Sicily, edited by Edith Hall and Clemente Marconi (Cambridge University Press, 2021) ^[27]
• C. Marconi, ed. Picasso e l'antico: L'incontro con le opere del Museo Archeologico di Napoli. (Electa, 2023)
• G. Colzani, C. Marconi, and F. Slavazzi, eds. Greek and Roman Small Size Sculpture. (De Gruyter, 2023) ^{[28] [29]}

Honors

• Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (since 2021) ^[6]
• Member of the Academia Europaea (since 2021) ^[7]
• Visiting Professor: Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (2019) ^[30]
• Corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute (since 2015)
• Elizabeth A. Whitehead Professor, American School of Classical Studies at Athens (2010–2011) ^[31]

References

1. "Architecture of Sicily and Magna Graecia". Oxford Bibliographies.
2. Bezzone, Francesca (13 December 2022). "Selinunte, the Italian heart of the ancient Greek world". L'Italo-Americano.
3. "Marconi Clemente". Unimi. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
4. "Clemente Marconi Joins NYU's Institute of Fine Arts". NYU. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
5. "Faculty at the Institute: Clemente Marconi". Institute of Fine Art. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
6. "Marconi, Clemente". Accademia Dei Lincei.
7. "Marconi Clemente". Academy of Europe.
8. "Sceptre, mermaid finds shed new light on ancient Selinunte". Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata. 23 July 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
9. "Picasso e l'antico|mann napoli". National Archaeological Museum of Naples.
10. Swanson, Carl (28 October 2014). "Francesco Vezzoli Paints Up Ancient Roman Busts". The Cut.
11. "Sneak Preview Into New Archeological Finds in Selinunte". La Voce di New York. 23 July 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
12. "The Online Integrated Platform of Fabrizio Serra editore, Pisa-Roma". LibraWeb. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
13. Schwenn, Fabian. "Hephaistos" (in German). Universität Hamburg. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
14. "Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Morali Storiche e Filologiche | Accademia Dei Lincei". Accademia Dei Lincei. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
15. Altuntas, Leman (9 August 2024). "A small temple discovered in the ancient city of Selinunte, one of the largest and most important ancient Greek cities in southern Italy". Arkeonews. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
16. "Acropolis of Selinunte: ruins unearthed dating to the first years of the Greek colony | La Statale News". Unimi.it (in Italian). 3 August 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
17. "All the contradictions of the Catania Charter: no to hasty abdication to the private sector". Finestre sull'Arte.
18. "Depositi culturali: materiali di studio o avanzi di magazzino ?". Pressenza (in Italian). 13 December 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2025.{{cite web}}: |first1= missing |last1= (help)
19. Pedley, John Griffiths (July 1996). "Selinunte: Le metope dell 'Heraion. By Clemente Marconi" . American Journal of Archaeology. 100 (3): 624–625. doi:10.2307/507049. ISSN   0002-9114. JSTOR   507049.
20. "Review of: Greek Vases: Images, Contexts and Controversies. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition, 25". Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
21. "Review of: Temple Decoration and Cultural Identity in the Archaic Greek World: The Metopes of Selinus". Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
22. Stieber, Mary (2009). "Temple Decoration and Cultural Identity in the Archaic Greek World (review)" . Classical World. 102 (2): 189–191. doi:10.1353/clw.0.0070. ISSN   1558-9234.
23. Wescoat, Bonna D. (1 December 2008). "Review: Greek Architecture and its Sculpture , by Ian Jenkins and Temple Decoration and Cultural Identity in the Archaic Greek World: The Metopes of Selinus , by Clemente Marconi" . Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 67 (4): 600–603. doi:10.1525/jsah.2008.67.4.600. ISSN   0037-9808.
24. Antonaccio, Carla (June 2014). "Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome ed. by Claire L. Lyons, Michael Bennett, Clemente Marconi (review)" . Classical World. 107 (4): 561–562. doi:10.1353/clw.2014.0045. ISSN   1558-9234.
25. Pausan, Xenia (1 December 2015). "Clemente Marconi (Ed.), the Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture". Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology. 2 (4). doi: 10.14795/j.v2i4.147 . ISSN   2360-266X.
26. "Review of: Musicians in Ancient Coroplastic Art: Iconography, Ritual Contexts, and Functions. Telestes: Studi e ricerche di archeologia musicale nel Mediterraneo, 2". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
27. Gibert, John (October 2021). "GREEK THEATRE AND SICILY - †(K.G.) Bosher Greek Theater in Ancient Sicily. Edited by Edith Hall and Clemente Marconi. Pp. xiv + 233, b/w & colour ills, maps. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Cased, £75, US$99.99. ISBN 978-1-108-49387-1" . The Classical Review. 71 (2): 542–544. doi:10.1017/S0009840X21001116. ISSN   0009-840X.
28. Bell, Sinclair (8 April 2025). "Greek and Roman Small Size Sculpture" . American Journal of Archaeology. 129 (3): E074 –E076. doi:10.1086/735888. ISSN   0002-9114.
29. "Review of: Greek and Roman small size sculpture". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
30. "The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens Bulletin" (PDF). 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-06-29.
31. "One Hundred and Thirtieth / One Hundred and Thirty-First - Annual Reports, 2010–2011 and 2011–2012" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-05-09.