Ma thèse a pour objet l’étude des couleurs du mobilier d’apparat en bronze dans le monde gréco-romain, produit entre le IIe s. av. n. è. et le IIe s. de n. è. en Méditerranée. Elle place au cœur de sa démarche historique la caractérisation des couleurs, leur analyse technique et l’étude de leurs valeurs symboliques, associées à des contextes de production et de réception précis. Redonner en effet aux couleurs toute leur place dans l’ameublement de luxe en bronze, en conduire l’étude typologique, iconographique et technique, les replacer dans leur contexte de réception permet de comprendre non seulement l’impact visuel recherché par le maître de maison, mais aussi et surtout leurs valeurs spécifiques dans l’élaboration du discours des élites à destination de leurs semblables et des autres classes de la société. Pour identifier et comprendre cette polychromie, une démarche interdisciplinaire combinant des méthodologies archéologiques, archéométriques et sociologiques a été appliquée. 538 pièces de mobilier en bronze à décors polychromes sont ainsi recensées et réparties dans diverses catégories. Ces multiples données sont réunies et mises en relation grâce à la création et l’utilisation d’une base de données relationnelle nommée « Iris ». La convergence de ces méthodes et de ces angles d’attaque du matériel étudié vise à un seul but : apprécier la valeur des couleurs et des autres traitements de surface de ces objets de luxe d’inspiration grecque dans le processus général d’acculturation des populations et provinces romaines au modèle gréco-romain, un modèle défini par Paul Veyne comme propre à un Empire où « la culture y était hellénique et le pouvoir était romain ». / My thesis aims to study the colours of bronze ceremonial furniture produced by the Greco-Roman world between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE in the Mediterranean. The main objective is to characterize of colours, their technical properties, and symbolic values associated with specific production and reception contexts.Consequently, by using archaeological contexts, techno-typological and iconographic studies, the objective of this research is to characterize the specificity and originality of the use and visual impact of bronze in the elaboration of the discourse of the Greco-Roman elite, owner of this ostentatious furniture; this discourse is also aimed at this elite as other classes of Roman society.My thesis explores as much the history of techniques as that of arts and mentalities. It combines archaeological, archaeometric, and sociological methodologies for an interdisciplinary approach. 538 pieces of bronze furniture with polychrome decorations are identified and divided into different categories. Furthermore, these multiple data are also collected and linked through the creation and use of a relational database named “Iris”.The convergence of these methods has a single purpose: to appreciate the significance of colours and to investigate other surface treatments on Greek inspired luxury furnishings. The gradual acculturation of “the Greek world” as a result of Roman expansion is evident in a study of this furniture, its colours, and other treatments using the same historical perspective as defined by Paul Veyne as: an Empire where “la culture y était hellénique et le pouvoir était romain”.

Ce projet de thèse de doctorat, portant sur Les religions de l’Antiquité classique dans l’œuvre de Voltaire : réception et instrumentalisation, vise à mettre en perspective la démarche critique dont procède Voltaire pour dénoncer les abus de la religion. Bien qu’elles soient dépréciées au XVIIIe siècle, et loin d’être données comme modèle à imiter, les religions de l’Antiquité sont utilisées par le philosophe des Lumières en tant que témoignages dans un cadre philosophique contemporain. C’est dire qu’elles sont délibérément instrumentalisées dans la mesure où elles lui servent de contre-exemples référentiels dans son combat idéologique contre l’extrémisme outrancier des grandes religions monothéistes : judaïsme, christianisme et islam. Investies au profit d’une fin polémique, elles constituent pour Voltaire le principal argument dans sa lutte philosophique contre les idées fallacieuses des religions modernes et les dérives qui peuvent en découler. Aussi conviendra-t-il de replacer ses références aux religions grecque et romaine dans le contexte culturel du XVIIIe siècle sur la base de la polémique philosophique des Lumières et du triomphe de l’esprit nouveau sur les crédulités anciennes. Quoiqu’il procède par une étude comparative et critique des religions de l’Antiquité classique, Voltaire cherche à relativiser les prétentions universalistes du christianisme contemporain. / This doctoral research proposal investigates The Reception and Instrumentalisation of Classical Religions in Voltaire’s Philosophy. Its aim is to contextualise the critical approach used by Voltaire to attack the negative effects of religion. Other 18th Century writers did not see the merit of ancient religions, nor see them as a worthy ideal, but Voltaire discussed them in order to probe the philosophical questions of his time. He did so deliberately, using them as points of reference and counter examples in his ideological fight against the brazen extremism of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Indeed, the ancient religions are Voltaire’s main argument in his polemical struggle against the false notions and corrupting effects of the monotheistic religions. Should Voltaire’s references to the Greek and Roman religions be situated in the cultural context of the 18th Century? Given the Enlightenment’s polemic philosophy and the triumph of the new spirit of rationality over ancient superstition, this may prove fruitful. Although his approach is to compare and critique the religions of Classical Antiquity, Voltaire seeks to put the universal pretensions of contemporary Christianity into perspective.

From the viewpoint of classical reception studies, I am asking what contemporary British art (by, for example, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, and Mark Wallinger) has to do with the classical tradition – both the art and literature of Greco-Roman antiquity. I have conducted face-to-face interviews with some of the leading artists working in Britain today, including Lucas, Hirst, Wallinger, Marc Quinn, and Gilbert & George. In addition to contemporary art, the thesis focuses on Greco-Roman art and on myths and modes of looking that have come to shape the western art historical tradition – seeking to offer a different perspective on them from that of the Renaissance and neoclassicism. The thesis concentrates on the generation of artists known as the YBAs, or Young British Artists, who came to prominence in the 1990s. These artists are not renowned for their deference to the classical tradition, and are widely regarded as having turned their backs on classical art and its legacies. The introduction asks whether their work, which has received little scholarly attention, might be productively reassessed from the perspective of classical reception studies. It argues that while their work no longer subscribes to a traditional understanding of classical ‘influence’, it continues to depend – for its power and provocativeness – on classical concepts of figuration, realism, and the basic nature of art. Without claiming that the work of the YBAs is classical or classicizing, the thesis sets out to challenge the assumption that their work has nothing to do with ancient art, or that it fails to conform to ancient understandings of what art is. In order to do this, the thesis analyses contemporary works of art through three classical ‘lenses’. Each lens allows contemporary art to be examined in the context of a longer history. The first lens is the concept of realism, as seen in artistic and literary explorations of the relationship between art and life. This chapter uses the myth of Pygmalion’s statue as a way of thinking about contemporary art’s continued engagement with ideas of mimesis and the ‘real’ which were theorised and debated in antiquity. The second lens is corporeal fragmentation, as evidenced by the broken condition of ancient statues, the popular theme of dismemberment in western art, and the fragmentary body in contemporary art. The final chapter focuses on the figurative plaster cast, arguing that contemporary art continues to invoke and reinvent the long tradition of plaster reproductions of ancient statues and bodies. Through each of these ‘lenses’, I argue that contemporary art remains linked, both in form and meaning, to the classical past – often in ways which go beyond the stated intentions of an artist. Contemporary art continues to be informed by ideas and processes that were theorised and practised in the classical world; indeed, it is these ideas and processes that make it deserving of the art label.