£115
Robert Austin:
Ex Libris - Eugénie STRONG
Unmounted (ref: 8467)
Signed with initials in plate
Print from cancelled plate
5 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. (13.4 x 8.2 cm)
Tags: Robert Austin print allegory landscape religion
Provenance: The Artist's Estate; Private collection
Austin was the Rome Scholar in Engraving for 1922. The Ex Libris plate designed for the renown Classics scholar Eugenie Strong depicts the Elephant and Obelisk sculpture by Bernini.(1667), from the Piazza della Minerva in Rome.
Eugenie Strong (1860-1943) was the first woman admitted to the British School in Athens. She published Roman Sculpture from Augustus to Constantine, in 1907, which was to become her most famous book. A two-volume Art in Ancient Rome from the Earliest Times to Justinian appeared in 1929. She was assistant director of the British School at Rome from 1909-1925, working alongside Thomas Ashby. When frictions became pronounced, the School's board in England terminated the contracts of both Ashby and Strong in 1925.
After her retirement Strong continued to live in Rome, where her flat in the Via Balbo became an intellectual and social centre for scholars and students. She remained in Rome throughout World War II and an ardent supporter of Benito Mussolini, largely because of his archaeological policies. Her eccentricities and support for fascism marred her reputation for years after her death.