The Research Group emerges from the renovation of the former Investigation Line, “History of Classical and Late Antiquity Art” (HCLAA) (2010-2013). It is now part of the new Investigation Line «Cultural transfers in a global perspective». As the renovated title suggests the Research Group will start by the study of the Roman legacy of ancient Hispania striving to achieve the global comprehension of the large cultural dimension of the Roman Empire privileging an international contextualization and a wide chronological overview.
Although ambitious, we are conscious that this significant self-enlargement of the perspective on the artistic production of Antiquity is not only possible but imperative and eventually inevitable (as previous studies have proved when needing a broader outlook which went beyond the limes of the Roman provinces of Gallaecia and Lusitania, as explained above)
This conscious global vision of the Art produced in the provinces of Rome is a chief guideline of the Research Group. It will allow a better assessment of the provincial techniques, stylistic characteristics, forms and iconography and its relation (proximity or distance) to the official production. On the other hand, it will permit to identify local specificities as well as Atlantic or Mediterranean influences in Classical and Late Antiquity and progresses in subsequent times.
The Research team is composed by nine PhD investigators and two PhD students. It is devoted to the scientific studies on History of Classical and Late Antiquity Art and to the expected diffusion of knowledge in academic circles or general public. It aims to study architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaic, decorative arts and also building methods in an interdisciplinary approach to sciences, humanities and new technologies. Actually, it is in a dynamic relationship with other disciplines that History of Classical and Late Antiquity Art is stated as an autonomous knowledge provided with an object of study, specific methods and his own scientific speech. This is especially obvious when comparing the results of the investigation processes of two quite akin disciplines such as History of Classical and Late Antiquity Art and Classical Archaeology (one is sometimes mistaken by the other and Classical Archaeology prevails very often). Indeed it is impossible not to recognize the evident distinction between these two sciences in terms of object of study and methodology. The History of Art Institute (FCSH-UNL) is a fortunate exception to this effort of disambiguation thanks to the pioneering work of Professor Bairrão Oleiro and Justino Maciel in the History of Art Department of this Faculty. Therefore, the History of Art Institute (IHA) has assured ab initio the presence and autonomy of the artistic studies on History of Classical and Late Antiquity Art. Hereinafter, the Research Group provided with a new international approach and a renovated historical perspective of continuity propitiating the diachronic evolution of forms will demonstrate the highly newsworthy of the aesthetics, iconographic and symbolic concepts of the Art of Antiquity.
