Cobbled Fictions

Abstract

This article interrogates the aesthetic and ideological frameworks that inform scholarly judgments of authenticity in classical art and material culture. Through three case studies – the so-called Barberini Togatus, the statue of Marcia Furnilla, and the Fonseca Bust – it explores how objects of dubious provenance and composite construction are nonetheless canonized as exemplars of Roman artistry. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Elizabeth Marlowe, and others, I argue that these artifacts are often accepted as “authentic” not because of empirical certainty, but because they conform to inherited narratives shaped by Romanticism, neoclassicism, and modern museum practices. These “cobbled fictions” reveal the extent to which aesthetic judgment is entangled with social distinction, ideological projection, and the desire for continuity with an imagined classical past. I ultimately call for a more critical and transparent engagement with the epistemological assumptions that undergird the study of ancient objects.