Sala delle Muse
1782 by Michelangelo
Simonetti (1724/87) who also used sixteen columns of marble from Carrara
In the vault frescoes and paintings “Scenes and characters of Greek mythology”
1782/86 by Tommaso Maria Conca (1734/1822) who
was a pupil of his uncle, the great Sebastiano Conca
Most of the sculptures here come from the
excavations carried out in the years 1773/79 in the so-called Villa of Cassius in Pianelle of Carciano at
Tivoli except Euterpe Muse of lyric and Urania muse of astronomy that are
modern
FIRST VESTIBULE
On the right wall “Relief with Pyrrhic dance” Roman art of the
late-Republican period, based on an Attic relief of the fourth century BC
The Pyrrhic dance was probably of Cretan
origin. During the performance each soldier would hit with his sword the shield
of the soldier next to him
On the left wall “Relief with the birth of Dionysus” early
second century AD from an Athenian original of the second half of the fourth
century BC
Dionysus was born from the thigh of Zeus.
Hermes welcomes him with a panther skin to give him to the nymph Nysa who will
raise him in the mountains
“Sophocles” from an original of the fourth
century BC
“Statue of Silenus” with a bunch of grapes and
all the appearance of being drunk
The head is of the first century AD, the
body of the second century AD, but both are derived from a model maybe of the
circle of Lysippus of the early Hellenistic period with the Silenus accompanied
by a panther
OCTAGONAL ROOM
“Belvedere Torso” first century BC signed by Apollonios the son of Nestor, an Athenian belonging to
the followers of the neo-Attic style
It influenced Michelangelo's and others'
(Auguste Rodin) sculpture, so much that Michelangelo proclaimed himself “student
of the Torso” and was inspired by his “master” for the “Nudes” in the Sistine
Chapel. It was an object of worship by the Renaissance artists
It maybe represents Hercules or, according
to recent German studies, Ajax contemplating suicide
It was found before 1432, perhaps on the
Quirinal Hill, but the exact date and place are unknown. Not even the date of
its entry in the Vatican collection is certain
Around the walls “Nine Muses and Apollo Musagete” second century
AD
The word musagete means leader of
the muses
“The series of discoveries in Tivoli, plus
the muses from Villa Adriana and the Villa of the Quintili, suggest the
creation of a series of sculptures that influenced the decorative choices of
rich residences of the mid-imperial period, located in Latium region. Hadrian
has been considered as the client, who would have entrusted artists educated in
the Greek tradition, able to standardize already well known iconography - not
exclusively related to muses - and borrowed from different stylistic currents”
(Eleonora Ferrazza)
Herms of poets and philosophers, including:
“Herm of Plato” from original by Silanion
The broad forehead that earned him the
nickname Plato is here covered by a thick bangs
“Head of Euripides” first half of the second
century AD
“Homer's Head” end of first or early second
century AD from original of the mid-fifth century AD. It was however a portrait
of reconstruction not contemporary of Homer
SECOND VESTIBULE
“Herm of Aspasia” from an original of the fifth
century BC
“Herm of Pericles” from an original of the
fifth century BC by Kresilas
“It wasn't a portrait statue, inconceivable
at the time, but of an ideal image, exemplary embodiment of a political
ideology that would be democratic and egalitarian. Ethical values still take
precedence over individual characterization” (Marina Castoldi)
“Statue of seated woman, so-called Sappho”
maybe representing, in fact, a deceased woman with not pertinent head of the
Augustan period
“Herm of Periander” from an original of the
fourth century BC
“Herm of Bias” copy of the second century AD
from an original of the fourth century BC
Bias of Priene was an orator and poet who
lived in the sixth century BC, mentioned by Plato in the list of the seven wise
men
The Greek inscription on the herm was his
motto: men for the most part are bad
“Statue of man, so-called Lycurgus or Lysias”
about 160/170 AD
The body is inspired by
an iconography which is often found in the representations of emperors, while
the name of the character represented in the not pertinent head, even though it
is known from other copies, has not been identified with certainty
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