Galleria delle Statue
Two-thirds derived from the Palace of
Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92) of about 1487 by Giacomo
da Pietrasanta, and one-third built for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99)
“Traces of decorations” on the walls originally
made by artists of the school of Bernardino di Betto
aka Pinturicchio (1454/1513)
Front half of the vault frescoed with “Round and fake carvings in grisaille style” (a
method of painting in gray monochrome, typically to imitate sculpture) by Cristoforo Unterberger (1732/98) from Trent at the
time of Pius VI in imitation of the old half
Unterberger directed the work for the
copying of the Raphael's Loggias in the Great Hermitage in St. Petersburg for
Empress Catherine II
RIGHT SIDE
“Eros from Centocelle” or Genius of the
Vatican, more likely to be a statue of Thanatos (the god impersonating
death) from an original of the fourth century BC
“Athlete” with head not relevant by an artist
of the school of Polykleitos of Argos (about 490/425 BC)
“Bust of a marine merman or centaur”
Hellenistic art of the second century BC
So-called “Penelope” seated, in Severe style of
sepulchral image with head not relevant
Voluptuous and languid “Apollo Sauroctonus” (lizard killer) from the
bronze original of the fourth century BC by Praxiteles (about 395/326 BC)
“It represented probably Apollo Alexikakos,
freer from disease, the latter symbolized by the little lizard on the trunk. As
in his other works, the leaning of the figure on an external element allows for
a rotation that highlights the suppleness of the body, accentuating the grace.
Knowing how to capture a moment of special grace, apparently secondary in the
performance of the myth, in a natural setting, is one of the main features of
Praxiteles” (Giorgio Bejor)
“Amazon” from Villa
Mattei, maybe from an original by Phidias (about 490/430 BC). It is
badly restored, and the head is not relevant
“Muse” badly restored from Tivoli. It is part
of the same number of her 'colleagues' in the Hall of the Muses
“Posidippus”, comic poet of the third century
BC, and maybe “Menander or Plautus” Roman copies of Greek
statues coming from the so-called Area Candidi
in Via Cesare Balbo
LEFT SIDE
“Apollo Citharoedus” (playing the harp) with
eyes still painted, maybe Peloponnesian art of the beginning of the fifth
century BC
“Opellius Macrinus” (217/218), the only
authentic portrait of the Emperor who maybe killed Caracalla
“Aesculapius and Hygeia” in Hellenistic style
from Palestrina
“Fragment of a group of two Niobids” from an
original of the second century BC
“Satyr at rest (Anapauòmenos)” from the original
of about 340 BC by Praxiteles
SHORT END OF THE GALLERY
At the center “Sleeping Ariadne” from an original of the
second century BC
At the sides the two extraordinary “Barberini Candelabra” of the second century AD
from Villa Adriana: in the one on the
right relief with “Mars, Minerva and Venus” in the one on the left “Jupiter,
Juno and Mercury”
“Hermes Ingenui” (Innocent) of the second
century BC maybe so called because the name of the sculptor was Ingenui
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