In view of the COVID-19 public health situation, this lecture is taking place online, free of charge, instead of at The Asia Society Hong Kong Center as originally planned.

According to legend, on this date, April 21st, 753 BCE, the semi-divine twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, founded the settlement that was to become the majestic city of Rome. This event spawned a mighty empire and nurtured a visual culture that left a lasting imprint on the subsequent civilizations and (art) histories of the western hemisphere. What better way to acknowledge such a birthday than to investigate and interrogate its continued legacy? Today, some 2,772 years later, remnants of Roman art and architecture are still being discovered meters below the modern cities of Europe, Africa and the Near East, as well as in the deserts and forests of over 40 countries whose modern borders now fall within the territory once controlled from Rome. With a particular focus on wall paintings, this talk details some of these recent discoveries so as to introduce revitalized assessments of “Classical” art for the new millennium. 

Art and its Histories: Scholars in Lecture is a series of public lectures organized by the Department of Fine Arts, HKU and presented in collaboration with Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Friends of Hong Kong Museum of Art, and The University of Hong Kong Museum Society. The programs aim to deliver current art-historical thinking in an accessible manner presented by specialists in the field. The series is part of the Fine Art Department’s broader dedication to promoting the importance and relevance of art history in Hong Kong. 

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Susanna McFadden is Assistant Professor and M.A. coordinator in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania and specializes in the art, architecture, and archaeology of the Roman and late antique Mediterranean, with a particular emphasis on the medium of wall painting. She has been a fellow in residence at the American Academy in Rome (2009-2010) and the Getty Research Institute (2016) and since 2005 has been a member of the New York University sponsored team excavating the late Roman site of Amheida in Egypt's Dakhleh Oasis. Recent publications include essays on the wall paintings from Amheida and a multi-disciplinary exploration of the Tetrarchic era wall paintings in Egypt, The Art of Empire: The Roman Frescoes and Imperial Cult Chamber in Luxor Temple (Yale University Press, 2015), which won the 2017 Archaeological Institute of America’s James R. Weisman Book Award. 

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