Matthew Rampley Art History And The Politics Of Empire Summary

In, “Art History and the Politics of Empire,” Matthew Rampley argues that the prevailing narrative surrounding the influence of the Vienna School on the discipline of art history, has been one that links the genesis of the school to the creation of the “Austrian Historical Research” in 1854; an event which, according to proponents of this narrative, would spur the first generation of Viennese scholars like Rudolf von Eitelberger, and Moritz Thausing . In this mythos, the intrinsic value of the Vienna School lays in its agitation for a paradigmatic shift in the discipline, moving from questions of aesthetic and taste, to an art historical analysis that relied almost exclusively on historiographic sources. However, Rampley challenges this understanding of the Vienna School’s impact, instead proposing that one should consider how the context in which the scholarship of the Vienna School was derived directly impacted the knowledge it produced . For Rampley, works such as Riegl’s Late Roman Art

In his argument, he cites the writings of St. Augustine, in order to construe the psychic space in which the late Roman artist occupied. The work of St. Augustine, he argues, is reflective of late Roman thought regarding “ground” and “space” – the newfound consideration of the former, serving as a key distinguisher between late antiquity and previous epochs . Setting aside the validity of his evidence, one should note that Riegl’s choice of a philosopher, not as a means of building upon a prior philosophical claim regarding aesthetics, but to provide evidence for the way in which subjects of the era imagined the material world, is unique for this time. Riegl writes extensively about how Augustine conceived of beauty, in particular emphasizing Augustine’s understanding of unity and rhythm. Comparing Augustine principles of rhythm to those of Aristotle he