This month's sculptures from Hadrian's Villa are a pair of dark-grey marble statues of centaurs. The sculptures became famous due to their sculptors' outstanding workmanship and the rarity and high quality of their materials. The group was carved in bigio morato marble from the quarries of Göktepe near Aphrodisias in Caria (modern-day Turkey). The statues… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: The Furietti Centaurs
This month's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a fragment of a dark grey marble panel with depictions of a centaur and a herm of Hercules. Formerly the property of the duke Braschi in Tivoli, the relief was acquired by the National Roman Museum in 1913 from Giorgio Sangiorgi, a well-known antique dealer whose gallery was in the… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Fragment of a marble panel with Dionysiac subjects
This month's masterpiece from Hadrian's Villa is a series of heavily restored mosaic panels depicting bucolic scenes with animals. The first panel depicts a rocky landscape with a flock of goats peacefully grazing by a stream. A bronze statue dressed in a long tunic is standing on a rock. It holds a bunch of grapes… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Three mosaic panels with bucolic scenes
The Arch of Constantine, dedicated on 25 July AD 315, stands in Rome between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill at what was once the beginning of the Via Triumphalis. Its attic inscription commemorates Constantine's victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October AD 312 over the tyrant Maxentius who had ruled… Continue reading The Hadrianic Tondi on the Arch of Constantine
This month's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a headless statue of Athena of the Vescovali-Arezzo Type made of Luna marble. The goddess is depicted wrapped in a himation (cloak). She wears her aegis bordered with small snakes over the shoulders. She stands with her left hand resting on her hip and would have carried a spear… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Headless statue of Athena
This month's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a dark grey limestone relief decorated with mythological scenes. The relief was unearthed in 1769 during excavations undertaken by the art dealer and archaeologist Gavin Hamilton who sold it to Lord Lansdowne. The latter was an avid collector of antiquities who owned a fine collection of classical sculptures… Continue reading Art and Sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: The Lansdowne Relief
This month’s masterpieces from Hadrian’s Villa are the larger-than-life-size marble theatrical masks that once decorated the scaenae frons (stage-building) of the odeon of the villa. The theatre and theatrical performances were particularly popular in Graeco-Roman art. We find many depictions of theatrical scenery, actors and masks in almost all kinds of art, from sculptures to… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: The marble theatrical masks
This month's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a marble statue of a dancing female figure, thought to be a portrait of Praxilla of Sikyon. Praxilla was a female poet writing in the mid-fifth century BC. She came from Sikyon, a city situated on a fertile coastal plain beside the Corinthian Gulf in the northeast Peloponnese… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble statue of a dancing female figure
Once a thriving port city on the island of Cyprus, the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, Salamis offers a tantalizing glimpse into the island's vast history. The ruins of the ancient city occupy an extensive area (one square mile) extending along the seashore against the backdrop of dunes and a forest of acacias. According to ancient Greek… Continue reading Wandering along the colonnade of the Gymnasium of Salamis, Cyprus
During a recent trip to Rome, I paid a long overdue visit to the Centrale Montemartini, an annexe of the Capitoline Museums located on the Via Ostiense just beyond Porta San Paolo. Centrale Montemartini was Rome's first electrical power station when it opened in 1912, and was later converted into a museum of ancient Roman… Continue reading When in Rome… a visit to the Centrale Montemartini
