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… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble relief depicting a youth with his horse
This month's masterpiece from Hadrian's Villa is a mosaic depicting a group of doves around an ornate bowl, known as the Capitoline Doves. - The mosaic is made of thousands of tiny tesserae in a dazzling range of colours called opus vermiculatum, the most sophisticated mosaic technique. It depicts four doves on the rim of… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Mosaic of the Doves
From today, the Villa Adriana's Antiquarium is hosting an important new exhibition: "Hadrian and Greece. Hadrian's Villa between Classicism and Hellenism". Fifty masterpieces have arrived at Villa Adriana on loan from Greek museums (from Athens, Marathon, Piraeus and Corinth and Villa of Herodes Atticus in Loukou), many of them never exhibited in Italy before. The… Continue reading Exhibition: ‘Hadrian and Greece’ at Villa Adriana, from 9 April to 2 November 2014
As she talks, her lips breathe spring roses: I was Chloris, who am now called Flora. Ovid This week's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a marble statue of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and the spring season. While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses,… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble statue of Flora, goddess of flowers and the season of spring
This week's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a marble statue of Venus, the goddess of love, crouching at her bath. The statue is modelled after the Crouching Aphrodite type, attributed to the 3rd century BC sculptor Doidalsas of Bithynia. --- Venus crouches with her right knee close to the ground, turns her head to the… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble statue of a crouching Venus
This week's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a marble statue of Apollo (Apollo Citharoedus). It was found on the site of the round Temple of Venus (tholos) by the 18th-century owner of the Villa, Conte Giuseppe Fede. The god is depicted with his attributes: the lyre and the sacred snake Python. The tree trunk around which… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble statue of Apollo holding a lyre
This week marks the start of a new set of posts called "Art and Sculptures from Hadrian's Villa". Hadrian was the greatest patron of the arts. His imperial villa at Tibur was adorned with the very best of what the Roman empire had to offer in terms of works of art and building materials. Hundreds… Continue reading Art and Sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Mosaic, Pair of centaurs fighting wild cats
From The Telegraph "Italian archaeologists have discovered a hidden tunnel beneath Hadrian’s Villa near Rome, part of a network of galleries and passageways that would have been used by slaves to discreetly service the sprawling imperial palace. The newly-found tunnel was large enough to have taken carts and wagons, which would have ferried food, fire… Continue reading Archaeologists discover hidden slave tunnel beneath Hadrian’s Villa
From Italy Magazine "Archaeologists have unearthed five monumental buildings at the Villa Adriana (Hadrian’s Villa) at Tivoli, near Rome.[...] Italian newspaper ‘Il Messaggero’ reports that archaeologists have discovered five buildings decorated with large statues. Hadrian designed the complex of structures to creating an idealised landscape garden. Researchers from the Sapienza University of Rome carried out… Continue reading Excavations Uncover Five Buildings In Garden At Hadrian’s Villa
The temple dedicated to the Venus of Knidos is a small circular temple with doric columns situated in the Temple Valley at Hadrian's Villa. It belongs to the second building phase of the villa, between AD 125-134. The circular plan of the central structure, the use of the Doric order, and the discovery of a… Continue reading Picture of the day: The circular temple dedicated to the Venus of Knidos, Hadrian’s Villa (Tivoli, Italy)
