VATICAN MUSEUMS - GALLERY OF THE CANDELABRA (third part)

Section III
 

12 Extraordinary “Mosaic with still-life” second century AD from Tor Marancia on the Via Ardeatina, the place where most of the works in this section were found

Inserted in the walls “Ten fragments of frescos” with flying figures of satyrs and nymphs of the second century AD from found in the area of Tor Marancia between 1817 and 1823

They are equipped with attributes that connect them to their suburban agricultural context

The No. 44 is identified with a satyr with the little Dionysus on his shoulders

13 “Statue of Apollo on a base of Semo Sancus” second century AD archaic-classical from a Magna Graecia (Southern Italy) original in bronze of the fifth century BC

29 and 46 “Two statues of Dionysus” of the second century AD from Tor Marancia near the Temple of Liber Pater

33 “Hypnos god of sleep or Thanatos genius of death” mid-second century AD inspired by the work of Praxiteles

It was found in 1774 in the so-called Villa of Cassius at Tivoli, and it has been restored by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

38 “Sarcophagus with cupids on chariots” about 160/170 AD from Tor Marancia

Race with four chariots representing the four factions (teams) of the Roman circus characterized by strong competitive excitement

It is possible to see the eggs and the dolphins used as laps counters, a column with the Winged Victory and an obelisk-fountain in the spina, the central part of the circus

40 “Satyr with Dionysus as a child” much restored. It was found in 1854 at the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) in St. John Lateran

47 “Cover of cista (pail) with snake” second or third century AD from Tor Marancia

It was used during the Dionysian rites, during which steam used to come out from the small hole in the mouth of the snake

“Two candlesticks from the Basilica of St. Agnes” early second century AD

Section IV

 

20 “Roman Matron” composed of the head end of the first or beginning of the second century AD and body in the pose of the so-called Little Herculaneum Girl

30 “Sarcophagus with Dionysus and Ariadne” about 220 AD maybe from Palestrina. A procession of maenads, satyrs and centaurs with Dionysus in the middle finding Ariadne asleep in the island of Naxos

37, 40 “Two small satyrs looking at their tail” from Hellenistic originals

“Statuette of Nike with a not relevant head of Athena” from a Greek original of the second century BC

“Sarcophagus with Bacchic scenes” end of the second century AD

38 “Statue of an old fisherman” second century AD from an original of the third century BC maybe in bronze

It was found in Anzio during excavations in the Pamphilj property and it was purchased in 1773

66 “Child strangling a goose” copy from bronze original of the fourth century BC by Boethos. It was found in the Villa Quintili in 1789

48 “Statue of Saturn” second century AD a variant of the representation of the god of the fourth century BC

The native god was the Italian equivalent of the Greek Cronus, father of Zeus

49 “Tyche of Antioch” second century AD from original by Eutychides, student of Lysippus, of the beginning of the third century BC

It is a personification of the city with under her feet a young personification of the River Orontes. It was found in 1780 along the Via Latina in the Quadraro area

“The personification of a city in a female figure and the allegorical content of the work are a novelty, like the composition that has three main perspectives arranged as a pyramid” (John Griffiths Pedley)

55 “Alabaster amphora from Orte” second half of 1700s from a single block of alabaster

It is not a true pitcher in that the body is full and it's just decorative

60 and 71 “Two statuettes of sitting actors” second century AD from originals of the Hellenistic period

They both have the mask of the elder slave, a character typical of the so-called New Comedy

85 “Sarcophagus with the massacre of the Niobids” about 150/160

97 and 98 “Vase and base” with, in the vase, relief of Dionysus' retinue, and in the base of the end of third or early fourth century AD, goddess Rome enthroned, Sicily with the triskeles (the three legs of the Trinacria symbol) on her head and Annona, or public administration, who distributed grain produced mostly in Sicily, the granary of Rome