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Sensual Otherness: Ancient Baths in 19th-century Art

Baths were among the most distinct and widespread types of Roman buildings and their iconic remains sparked the imagination of artists, architects, and antiquarians since their rediscovery by Renaissance humanists. This paper will investigate the reinterpretation of these ancient structures by European visual artists between the late 18th and early 20th centuries, with a focus on their sensory and sensual implications. Moving from the technical concerns of 18th-century antiquarian reconstructions (e.g. Charles Cameron’s views of the imperial thermae in Rome (1772)) to the exuberance of late neo-classical paintings (e.g. Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s Favourite Custom (1909)), I will look at how different trends and cultural influences (e.g. Orientalism) affected the way artists engaged with Roman baths and the antique body.

In particular, the female body played a central role in the majority of these depictions, its erotic charge only partially attenuated by the historical setting. This chronological separation can be compared to the geographical distance that allowed nudity to be portrayed in 19th-century representations of hammams and harems. In both these forms of exoticism, olfactory triggers were alternatively employed by artists to enhance or diminish the perception of otherness in the mind of the viewer. The aromatic smoke rising from fancy braziers and the oddly-shaped bottles of perfumed oil that appear in many 19th-century portrayals of Roman baths contrasted with the gentle and familiar scent of flowers that we often see scattered near the pools. The aim of this paper is then to survey these and other sensory elements that recreated the deeply synesthetic environment of ancient baths and to establish their relationship with the sensual rendition of antique bodies by 19th century visual artists. In so doing, I will address issues of reception and idealisation of Classical Antiquity, highlighting the ambiguous attitude typical of this period towards the exotic and the otherness.