This month’s masterpiece from Hadrian’s Villa is a bas-relief representing a boy with a horse, probably Castor taming his horse, accompanied by a dog.
This marble slab was carved using the ancient flat style in the manner of Greek works of the 5th century BC. It was found in an area of Hadrian’s villa known as the Pantanello (little swamp) by Gavin Hamilton in about 1769 and subsequently formed one of the Townley Marbles collections bought by the British Museum. The discoveries at the Pantanello were considerable. Many sculptures and architectural fragments now in major international collections were found, including a colossal head of Hercules and two busts of Hadrian.
My father gave me a plaster cast of this frieze which he bought in the 1970s from the British Museum. I love it. Does it have any value for insurance purposes? GDL