In no other period of Western art history was the creation of copies from great masterpieces of the past as important as in late Republican Rome and throughout the Imperial Age. Certain Greek and Roman sculptures were established as canonical, their prestige so high and their acquisition so impossible that their reproductions—even on a small, portable scale—became sought-after commodities among the well-read populace of ancient Rome and modern Europe. With almost 400 duotone illustrations, a wealth of explanatory and groundbreaking scholarship and beautiful, delicate paper changes,
Serial / Portable Classic
examines this culture of the copy. Published to accompany the Fondazione Prada exhibitions
Serial Classic
in Milan and
Portable Classic
in Venice, whose display has been conceived by OMA/Rem Koolhaas, it is bound to be treasured by the student of art history and casual reader alike.