This month’s sculpture from Hadrian’s Villa is a marble head of a companion of Odysseus, copied after a famous work of the Hellenistic period. This head shows the face of a man that probably belonged to a multi-figure group depicting Odysseus with his twelve companions blinding the one-eyed giant and the most famous of the Cyclopes,… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble head of a companion of Odysseus
Category: Italy
Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Statue of the young god Hermes, known as ‘Capitoline Antinous’
This month’s sculpture from Hadrian’s Villa is a marble statue of a young nude, the so-called 'Capitoline Antinous'. It was found in 1723/24 during the time when Giuseppe Fede was undertaking the earliest concerted excavations at the Villa Adriana. However its exact provenance within the Villa is unknown. Considering that this work was found at… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Statue of the young god Hermes, known as ‘Capitoline Antinous’
The Hadrianeum and the personifications of provinces
Just a short walk from the Pantheon, in Piazza di Pietra, are the majestic remains of the Temple of the deified Hadrian (Hadrianeum) built by Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's adopted son and successor. Of the original temple, only eleven columns with capitals and the cella wall are still visible today. In 1696, during the pontificate of… Continue reading The Hadrianeum and the personifications of provinces
Roman frescoes on show in Toulouse (France)
Last weekend I travelled to Toulouse to visit the fabulous exhibition on Roman frescoes being held at the Musée Saint-Raymond. The exhibition, entitled 'L'Empire de la couleur - De Pompéi au sud des Gaules' ('Empire of colour - From Pompeii to Southern Gaul'), opened last November and runs through March 2015. The majority of Roman… Continue reading Roman frescoes on show in Toulouse (France)
Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Black-and-white mosaics with geometric and floral motifs
This month’s masterpieces from Hadrian’s Villa are the black-and-white mosaics with geometric and floral motifs from the Hospitalia (guesthouse). The Hospitalia (guesthouse) was a two-storey building. It contained ten T-shaped bedrooms (cubiculae) on the first floor which were located on each side of a long and wide central hallway, at the southern end of which… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Black-and-white mosaics with geometric and floral motifs
A journey to Terracina on the Riviera of Ulysses
Following my visit to Minturnae (see previous post here), I continued my journey north along the Appian Way to reach Terracina, a picturesque town on the Tyrrhenian coast situated approximately half-way between Rome and Naples. Legend has it that Odysseus sailed here on his travels and surrendered to Circe's enchantment. Circe is said to have… Continue reading A journey to Terracina on the Riviera of Ulysses
Exploring Minturnae, a forgotten ancient city on the Appian Way
On a recent trip to Italy, I visited the Archaeological Area of Minturnae, a little-known but impressive archaeological site along the Appian Way. Minturnae was originally an Auruncian city (of which no archaeological traces have been found), one of the three towns of the Aurunci which allied themselves with the Samnites and made war against… Continue reading Exploring Minturnae, a forgotten ancient city on the Appian Way
The Painted Tombs of Paestum
With its three magnificent large Doric temples, Paestum became a well-known site thanks to the 18th century engravings by Piranesi and Goethe’s impressive descriptions in his Italian Journey. However Paestum is also renowned for its tombs decorated with painted scenes. During excavations in the 1960s, around 200 richly painted tombs from the Lucanian period (4th century… Continue reading The Painted Tombs of Paestum
The Hadrianic reliefs from the Arch of Portugal (Arco di Portogallo), Rome
About halfway along today's via del Corso, once called via Lata, a large arch of Roman age spanned the street up to the mid 17th century. It was earlier known as the Arcus Hadriani, but from the sixteenth century it was called Arco di Portogallo (Arch of Portual) because it adjoined the residence of the Portuguese ambassador,… Continue reading The Hadrianic reliefs from the Arch of Portugal (Arco di Portogallo), Rome
Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble statue of Flora, goddess of flowers and the season of spring
"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 season of spring. While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble statue of Flora, goddess of flowers and the season of spring
