The Diniacopoulos Collection in Québec: Greek and Roman Antiquities ed. by John M. Fossey, Jane E. Francis (review)

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS woman influenced by the hairstyle of Agrippina minor, was likely added later. The probable date of the theater in the 20S B.C. and the magnificent architecture built to showcase the two victorious commanders, who appear in military parade armor, suggest that the theater was built in homage to Augustus and in celebration of his victory at Actium in 31 B.C. At a time when the monument at Actium itself is becoming better known,? the theater at Butrint assumes even greater importance. In short, this is an important group of architectural sculptures. and it deserves a thorough study. In conclusion. this volume provides a most welcome presentation of the 1928-1930S work on the theater at Butrint, with contemporary updates . There has been some confusion in the scholarly literature as to where some of the sculptures were found. and this study helps settle those questions. With the full publication of photographs, plans. drawings . and archival materials, this well-preserved theater and its sculptures are now available for future study. MARY C. STURGEON DEPARTMENT OF ART UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL CHAPEL HILL, NC 27514 JOHN M. FaSSEY, JANE E. FRANCIS, eds. The Diniacopoulos Collection in Quebec: Greek and Roman Antiquities. Montreal : Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec, Concordia University, 2004. Pp. 144, 143 black and white illustrations. ISBN 2-89192-268-9 (Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal), 088947 -418-4 (Concordia University). A small exhibition catalogue, this volume consists of ten short essays and a brief catalogue of seventy-four objects formerly ·in the collection of the Canadian antiquities dealers Vincent and Olga Diniacopoulos. After amassing a collection of various objets d'art in the Middle East. Turkey. and Egypt, the couple emigrated to Montreal in 1951 and opened their gallery Ars Classica three years later. Following the death of Vincent in 1967, the Canadian government purchased the antiquities here catalogued which were then deposited at Laval University, while the rest of the collection was consigned to an international auction. The 7 K.L. Zachos. "The 'Tropaeurn' of Augustus at Nikopolis," JRA 16:1 (2003) 64-92 . BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS collection consists of 34 Greek vases, 15 glass vessels, 9 stone sculptures, 4 bronzes, 7 terracotta statuettes, 2 plaster funerary masks, 2 silver kantharoi , and a Roman clay urn. Of these, five are said to be fakes or modern reproductions, and one has to wonder why they were not omitted or at least relegated to a separate section of the catalogue. The bilingual catalogue is a mere checklist and the antiquities are not described in any detail. Discussion is left to the essayists. Some essays focus on a single object , such as that of Anne-Marie Knoblauch who examines a bearded male head wearing a combined laurel-and-ivy wreath that is unique to Cyprus. Marie-Odile Jentel discusses an Egyptianizing herm in giallo antico which finds its closet parallels at Pompeii. The editors of the catalogue focus on the two Greek funerary reliefs: Jane Francis discusses a fourth-century Attic stele of a young mother who is accompanied by her maid holding a newborn~ John Fossey traces the lineage of a family from Lamptrai in Attica with the aid of an inscribed marble lekythos. Other essayists treat groups of objects, such as Clifford Patterson on three Mycenaean stirrup jars, Beaudoin Caron on the Roman glass, and Eleni ZOltopoulou on the terracottas. Greek painted ceramics are treated in much greater detail. Karl Kilinski demonstrates Attic influence on two Boiotian black-figure cups, both of which show heroes capturing bulls. John Oakley's essay explicates eight ritual vessels, several of which are of considerable importance iconographically. Two are standard wedding vases, red-figure lebetes gamikoi, which feature the bride, and two are loutrophoroi or water vessels that portray the laying -out of the dead on the funeral bier. A white-ground lekythos by the prolific Reed Painter shows the grave site with a female mourner. Much rarer are a black-figure bail-handled oinochoe encircled by a cavalcade of five riders (illustrated in color on the front cover), and a red-figure amphora of Panathenaic shape that also portrays a grave...