Sala degli Animali
Opened at the time of Pius IV Medici
(1559/65) and duplicated in about 1776 by Michelangelo
Simonetti (1724/87) for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99) with animal sculptures
made from scratch or imaginatively and wantonly restored by Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734/1818) from Carrara
“He excelled both in the subjects of new
inventions and in those inspired by the reinstatement of ancient fragments, of
which he often changed the whole original aspect, giving them strongly
realistic and almost obsessive and self-indulging connotations. This drama and
paroxysm seems to spring from the suggestive reading of the treatise 'On the
nature of the animals' by Claudio Eliano. Franzoni's work is unequaled in the
achievements of sculpture of all time. The Animal Room was configured as a sort
of ghostly bestiary made with a sample of the most rare colored stones from
antiquity, in the spirit of encyclopedic cataloging, and ended up being, with
his eccentric collection, one of the highlights of the museum, the pride of
Pius VI, the generous promoter” (Caterina Napoleone)
In the floor of the middle passage “Black and white mosaic with a hawk devouring a hare”
In the floor of the side wings “Two colorful mosaic” with still lives in
panels of the fourth century AD
LEFT WING
“Meleager with dog and boar's head” about 150
AD from the original of the fourth century BC by Skopas
“Colossal head of a camel” formerly the mouth
of a fountain
Extraordinary group “Marine Centaur with nereid and cupids” maybe a
late Hellenistic original
RIGHT WING
“Group of Mithras slaying the bull” second
century AD
On the wall two small mosaics with micro
tiles of exceptional quality from Villa Adriana
in Tivoli: “Bulls attacked by a lion” and “Browsing goats”
“Crab” in rare green porphyry marble
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