This book has been ten years, on and off, in the making. Over that time, I have been helped and supported by many friends, colleagues and generous institutions. My ideas took shape at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in Washington, DC, which hosted me (and provided a stunning office) while I was giving the A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts in 2011. My thanks to everyone there, especially Elizabeth Cropper, Peter Lukehart and Therese O’Malley, as well as Sarah Betzer and Laura Weigert (who introduced me to the magic of tapestry). Also in DC, I learned a lot from, and had fun with, Howard Adams, Charles Dempsey, Judy Hallett, Carol Mattusch and Alex Nagel (then of the Smithsonian).
The research for the project was begun, and a decade later—by a neat symmetry—finished, at the American Academy in Rome, which has on several occasions given me a precious chance to get on with my work in the best of all locations, with a well-stocked library, excellent food and expert company. As the dedication to the book gratefully acknowledges, my thanks go to all at the AAR, especially, on my most recent stay, to Lynne Lancaster and John Ochsendorf, and to Kathleen Christian, for sharing her ‘Caesarian’ knowledge. So also to friends and colleagues at Yale University. I gave the Rostovtzeff Lecture there in 2016 on some of the themes of this book, and benefitted hugely from a seminar afterwards, with Stephen Campbell, Michael Koortbojian, Noel Lenski, Patricia Rubin and (remotely) Paula Findlen. Later I spent a wonderfully productive month at Yale as guest of the Classics Department and of the Yale Center for British Art. I am especially grateful to Emily Greenwood and Matthew Hargraves, and to all those art historians and Renaissance scholars who then (and throughout this project) have welcomed a classical interloper into their midst.
The book would have taken even longer to complete if it had not been for two years research leave, made possible by a Senior Research Fellowship, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. I cannot thank this intellectually fearless organisation enough.
Many others have helped in different ways. I am especially grateful to Malcolm Baker, Frances Coulter, Frank Dabell, Philip Hardie, Simon Jervis, Thorsten Opper, Richard Ovenden, Michael Reeve, Giovanni Sartori (for help with Sabbioneta), Tim Schroder, Julia Siemon, Alexandra Streikova (for help in Slovakia), Luke Syson, Carrie Vout, Jay Weissberg, Alison Wilding, David Wille and Bill Zachs; and for help in tracking down an image of a chocolate Roman coin in the middle of a pandemic, to Andrew Brown, Debs Cardwell, Amanda Craven and Eleanor Payne. As he has done before, Peter Stothard read and improved the whole manuscript; Debbie Whittaker caught many errors with her eagle eyes and tracked down information I had written off as untraceable; Robin Cormack and the rest of the family joined me on any number of emperor hunts, and shared their own expertise, photographic and otherwise. (Not for the first time did I reflect on the pleasures and advantages of being married to a professional art historian!)
Finally, I owe great debts to those who gently guided the finished book into the world: Michelle Komie, Kenny Guay, Terri O’Prey, Jodi Price, Kathryn Stevens, Susannah Stone (who found some very elusive images), Francis Eave, David Luljak and the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript.
I could not have done this without any of you.