Mili Rajic and Dave Howarth. Hollis Croft: A Matter of Time (Milton Keynes: Wessex Archaeology/ Internet Archaeology, 2021, 82pp. 70 illustr. in colour, pbk, ISBN 9781911137214, https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue56/4/comic.html)

Abstract

plied here is detailed and international. One could ask where were contemporary Egyptian artists, but that would be an anachronistic question, because the reception of ancient Egypt in visual arts of modern Egypt comes mostly later, with the twentieth century ‘pharaonism’ reflected both in literature and in visual arts. Some information is recontextualised repeatedly throughout the volume: the intense ‘display’ culture of the late nineteenth century that focussed interest on visual presentation, the national(ist) agendas, the circulation of and access to the artefacts. However, that is to an advantage. The book can be read cover to cover, but thanks to its structure, it also allows for a reader’s choice of ‘dipping’, for example into the work of a particular author or a specific period of art production. Painting Antiquity is setting a new standard in the level of detail and insight; both in description of the sources and in their analysis. Most of all, it achieves its aim to marry historical analysis with the experience of art. The art that was and is to be enjoyed and understood with sensitivity to its historical context.