This month's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a grey basalt Osiris-Canopus jar. The vase represents a form of the Egyptian god Osiris depicted as a jar topped by a human head known as Osiris-Hydreios, or commonly Osiris-Canopus, because it was originally exclusively connected to the Canopic region of Egypt. It was discovered in the middle… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Osiris-Canopus jar
This month’s sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa are a pair of marble herms whose heads are traditionally identified as Tragedy and Comedy. According to the Italian archaeologist Giovanni Battista Visconti, both herms were found in 1735 by the owner of the Villa, Giuseppe Fede, near the entrance of the Greek Theatre. It was acquired in 1777 by Conte… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Herms of Tragedy and Comedy
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 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
This month's sculptures from Hadrian's Villa are portraits of Roman emperors and empresses who rose to power after Hadrian. After the death of Hadrian in 138 AD, the Villa was occasionally used by his various successors. Busts of the emperors Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Septimius Severus and Caracalla have been found on the… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Imperial portraits of Hadrian’s successors
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 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
This month’s sculpture from Hadrian’s Villa is a red-marble statue of a satyr, the so-called "Fauno rosso" (red faun). The Fauno rosso depicts a satyr follower of Dionysus, the god of wine. He is depicted entirely nude, apart from a nebris (faun skin) knotted on the right shoulder and hanging down over his left shoulder.… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Statue of a satyr in red marble
This month's sculpture from Hadrian's Villa is a marble head of Antinous, one of the ten marble images of Antinous found there. This portrait of Antinous is conserved in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome. It is related to a coin type minted in the city of Adramyttium in Mysia (modern Edremit, Turkey) by… Continue reading Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble head of Antinous
