Statue of a Goddess, known as the Hestia Giustiniani, first half of 2nd century CE
Roman, Imperial Period. Torlonia Collection. © Torlonia Foundation. Photo by Lorenzo De Masi
The exhibition Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection features many superb representations of gods and goddesses from the Greco-Roman pantheon. In this discussion, exhibition co-curators Lisa A. Çakmak and Katharine Raff explore themes of classical mythology in artworks from the show and the Art Institute’s collection.
Their discussion will move across time, considering the era when these deities were worshipped as part of a living religious tradition as well as the centuries long after, when artists of a different age were inspired by the power and poetry of ancient myth.
Whether you’re a lifelong fan of Greek and Roman mythology or looking for a refresher on the subject, this program will present new perspectives on these perennially fascinating stories.
This program is generously supported by the Mary Soleiman Lecture Fund.
About the Speakers
Lisa Ayla Çakmak is the Mary and Michael Jaharis Chair and Curator of Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium at the Art Institute of Chicago. Prior to joining the museum in 2020, she spent 10 years at the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM), most recently as their Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Associate Curator. Lisa has lectured and published widely on an extensive range of scholarly and professional topics, including the roles of women, hybridization, and identity in the Hellenistic world, as well as on museum professional training and career paths.
Katharine A. Raff is the Elizabeth McIlvaine Curator, Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has worked since 2011. Her research focuses on ancient Roman art, with a particular emphasis on sculpture, including portraits, ideal sculptures, and funerary monuments, and the contexts in which such objects were made, used, and viewed over time.
Her recent projects include the reinstallation of the Art Institute’s permanent gallery of Roman art (2024); and Collecting Stories (2019), an installation on ancient artworks and their modern afterlives. Katharine was the editor and primary author of the 2017 digital scholarly catalogue Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (2017), and she has also published on the museum’s holdings in Greek, Etruscan, and Byzantine art. She holds a PhD from the University of Michigan and has received fellowships from the United States Fulbright Program and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
If you have any questions about programming, please reach out to museum-programs@artic.edu.
Closed captioning will be available for this program. For questions related to accessibility accommodations, please email access@artic.edu.
