When Neapolitans speak of 'the museum' they are referring to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Among the marvels that make it the world's greatest collection of classical art, the Alexander mosaic was, from the moment it was brought to the museum in 1843, the 'great mosaic.' Although it is evident that the Pompeian mosaic reproduces a painting, since it was discovered in the House of the Faun on 24 October 1831 the identity of the original has been the subject of an intense debate among scholars. On being shown a drawing of the mosaic, Goethe wrote, 'The present and the future will not succeed in commenting correctly on this artistic marvel, and we must always return, after having studied and explained it, to simple, pure wonder.' Two centuries of archaeological inquiry have not exhausted the profundity of the picture and have not given wholly satisfactory replies to the principal questions regarding it, namely, which episode is being represented here, whether the painting was executed during Alexander's reign or later, and to whom it should be attributed. A new series of photographs-- allowing the most important aspects of the scene to be shown in vivid detail-- facilitates the expounding of a hypothesis that until recently would have seemed improbable, but is justified by a close examination of the literary sources and archaeological finds, as well as by unexpected evidence in the original paintings that have come to light in Macedonia: the attribution to Apelles, the most famous painter of antiquity, whose revolutionary impact is fully described in this fascinating account.
Paolo Moreno was born in Udine in 1934. A pupil of Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli in Rome and of Doro Levi inAthens, he was Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Bari, where he founded the series entitled "Studi sull'antico" (1-7, Bari, 1975-85), then he became Professor of the History of Ancient Art at La Sapienza University, Rome. Since 1992 he has been Professor of Greek and Roman Art at the Universita di Roma Tre.
Formerly on the editorial staff of the "Enciclopedia dell'arte antica" at the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, he has contributed to the" Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae," numerous journals in Italy and abroad and the series: "Fonti per la Storia dell'arte,"" Monumenti della Pittura antica scoperti in Italia,"" Storia e civilta dei Greci,"" I grandi Musei,"" Guide pratiche,"" Civilta del Mezzogiorno,"" Itinerari de l'Espresso,"" Saggi di Archeologia," "Grandi Libri," "Archivi di Arte antica."
He has made an important contribution to the new direction in the history of ancient art with a continuous series of publications on fundamental themes: the links between the Severe style and Classicism ("I Bronzi di Riace," "Il Maestro di Olimpia e i Sette a Tebe," Milan, 1998; "Les Bronzes de Riace," Paris, 1998; "La bellezza classica," "Guida al piacere dell'antico," Turin, 2001); the original paintings found in Macedonia ("Pittura greca, Da Polignoto ad Apelle," Milan, 1987; "Pintura Griega," Madrid, 1988; "Elementi di pittura ellenistica," Rome, 1998); the greatest Greek bronze sculptor, Lysippus ("Testimonianze per la teoria artistica di Lisippo," Treviso, 1973; "Lisippo," Bari, 1974; "Vita e arte di Lisippo," Milan, 1987; "Lisippo, L'arte e la fortuna," exhibition catalogue, Milan, 1995); the most famous Greek painter, Apelles("Apelle, La Battaglia di Alessandro," Milan, 2000); an analysis of a complex period ("Scultura ellenistica," I-II, Rome, 1994); the transition to Imperial art ("Sabato in museo, Letture di arte ellenistica e romana," Milan, 1999); an overview from the Geometric period to Late Antiquity, in "Arte, Storia universale," Milan, 1997 (also published in installments by the newspaper "La Repubblica," 1997: "Arte, Enciclopedia universale"); observations on those responsible for creating the present archaeological collection at the Galleria Borghese in Rome (in "Galleria Borghese," Milan, 2000, Eng. ed. "The Borghese Gallery").