MASSIMO PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (seventh part)

Seventh Room - Divine Figures

Spectacular “Thetis sitting on the throne with a little merman” in Greek marble

Maybe inspired by the model of the Hellenistic Tyche of Antioch, personification of the city, the work of the Eutychides in about 290 BC

According to Filippo Coarelli it is a Hellenistic work of the second century BC: Thetis, mother of Achilles has just left the weapons his son requested and she is now about to take flight

The son Achilles would be the so-called Ares Ludovisi in Palazzo Altemps with which this statue formed a single group that adorned the Temple of Neptune in today's Jewish ghetto in Rome

Both statues were placed on a pedestal identified with the Altar of Domitius Enobarbus fragments of which are now both in the Louvre and in Munich

Extraordinary “Dionysus from the Tiber” second century AD in bronze, copy of the original of the fifth century BC maybe by the workshop of Phidias known as Woburn Abbey type

It was found in the Tiber in 1885 during the foundation of a pylon of the Garibaldi Bridge

“The pose of the body is still under the influence of Polycleitos, while the slight movement of the head and the sinuous contour line of the flanks reveal the knowledge of works by Praxiteles. (...) Zanker believes it is derived from the so-called 'athlete of Stephanos', a classicistic Roman creation of the first century BC to which the hairstyle was added with long locks of wavy hair. The work would be therefore an eclectic creation of the imperial period, a reflection of the classical tastes of the time” (Brunella Germini)

“Sleeping Hermaphrodite” copy from the original by Polycles found in the area of the Opera Theater

Hermaphrodite was born from the union of Hermes and Aphrodite, and was loved by the nymph Salmacis who, once she was rejected, prayed to the gods so that they would be indissolubly united: the prayer was answered literally and they were merged into one being half man and half woman

“The complex twisting movement of the figure is a compositional motif typical of the figures of the late Hellenistic period. Another aspect revealing of the period of composition of the work is its visual impact, i.e. the possibility to be understood in different ways depending on the point of view” (Brunella Germini)

“Apollo Chigi” second century AD from Castelporziano

“It is recognizable as a classical type of work that is inspired by a Greek original in bronze, dating from the fourth century BC. The presence of adult and ephebic features and the contrast between the sharp forms of the body and the chiaroscuro hair in curls are to be considered variations experimented within the eclectic style. As a whole, these features occur in the statues of Antinous and are likely to date the work to the second century AD” (Eleonora Ferrazza)

“Black acrobat” from Via Nomentana

Two “Eros bending the bow” second century AD from an original in bronze by Lysippus, one of which from Gabii in Parian marble

“Marching Diana with quiver” second century AD from the Villa dei Quintili

“Headless Athena”

“Statuette of an actor dressed as a woman” second century AD

“Papposilenus” mid-imperial reworking of the so-called Resting Satyr by Praxiteles (about 395/326 BC)

“Relief with maenad and goat” of the early second century AD, found in 1921 in Via Statilia, where the Horti Lamiani used to be

“Relief with sacred-idyllic landscape” of the second half of the second century AD, found in 1906 in Via del Quirinale

A bucolic scene beautifully frames Pan with his flute near a small temple with a statue of Diana the huntress and the myth of Actaeon attacked by dogs represented in the pediment

“Two Satyrs flutists”

“Dionysus Sardanapalus” from the Appian Way formerly brought to Weimar by the Nazis to make the icon of Nietzsche-Dionysos conceived by the philosopher Walter Otto and returned to Rome in 1992

“The type, of which more than ten replicas are known, derives its name from the inscription 'Sardanapalus' visible on the Vatican replica, inscribed by the rich owner of the villa in which it was found. He probably associated this sumptuous image of the God to the one of the rich Sardanapalus, Assyrian king famous for his opulent and dissipated costumes, as well as the fact that he used to wear women's clothes” (Brunella Germini)

“Headless Apollo playing a lyre” second century AD from the Villa dei Quintili

MASSIMO PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (sixth part)

First Gallery - Portraits from Villa Adriana in Tivoli

“Marcus Aurelius”

“Crispina”

“Caracalla”

Fifth Room - Sculptures from Imperial Homes

Two copies of the marvelous “Venus before the bath” from the original maybe in bronze of the second century BC by Doidalsas exhibited, according to Pliny, in the Portico d'Ottavia: one from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, the best of many existing copies and one in Parian marble found in 1913 in Via Palermo, near the Viminal Palace

“It is in the wake of the changes introduced by Lysippus and Praxiteles: it inherits from the first the rhythm sought in the apparent instability, from the second the delicate sensuality. Typical of Asia Minor, from which Doidalsas came, however, is the full and prosperous softness” (Elena Calandra)

“Headless Ephebe” first century AD from the Villa of Nero in Subiaco maybe a Niobid with traces of ganosis, the wax-like substance which was used to imitate complexion

“Head of a Young Girl Asleep” first century AD from the Villa of Nero in Subiaco, maybe a dead Niobid

“Dancing Girl” from Hadrian's Villa

It's amazing how a statue with most of the limbs missing would still be able to express so intensely movement, sensuality, music and joy

“Statue of Dionysus” and “Statue of Athena” of the Vescovali-Arezzo type from Hadrian’s Villa

“Maiden of Anzio” third century BC in white Greek marble of two different types of which the finer it is used for the flesh

“Figure of intense expressiveness, caught in a complex pose, enriched with light and shadow play, thoughtful and melancholy” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“The slender figure must be connected to the school of Lysippus, while the overall approach reminds of Praxiteles' compositional schemes. The twist of the figure shows instead the beginning of Hellenism. On the other hand the use of two different qualities of marble connects it to workshops of Asia Minor and also the adoption of the heavy roll of folds around the waist is of Greek and Eastern European origin” (Elena Calandra)

“Apollo of Anzio” mid-first century AD from an original of the fourth century BC of the school of Praxiteles. It was found by the Anzio-Ardea state road

“Headless amazon on horse fighting a barbarian” Antonine period from Anzio. It is a copy of a Hellenistic original

“Head of an Amazon” from Hadrian's Villa

“Headless statue of Heracles” first century BC from the Villa of Voconio Pollio in Ciampino from a Greek original of the fourth century BC

“Statue of Hermes”

“Crater with cranes and snakes” in Pentelic marble from Hadrian’s Villa

“Portrait of Antinous”

“Two heads of Apollo Lyceus” from the original by Praxiteles (about 395/326 BC)

“Apollo from the Tiber” neo-attic work in Parian marble

Sixth Room - Statues from Gymnasiums

“Lancellotti Discus Thrower” found in 1781 in the Villa Palombara where Piazza Vittorio is today and kept in Palazzo Lancellotti

It was bought in 1939 by Hitler for 5 million lira and was taken to Munich. It was retrieved after the war

“Discus Thrower of Castel Porziano”

Both statues are copies from a bronze original of about 450 BC by Myron of Eleutherae (about 500/about 440 BC)

“The body is caught in the moment of its maximum tension. But the effort is not reflected in the face, which expresses only a measured concentration of determination and intelligence. Strong and harmonious the twisting of limbs, in a wheel composition, with the gestural rhythm of the hands on which attention inevitably focuses” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Ephebe of Monteverde” first half of the first century AD

“Three heads of athletes” from originals of Skopas, Polykleitos of Argos (about 490/about 425 BC) and Lysippus

MASSIMO PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (fifth part)

SECOND FLOOR - Statues of the Imperial Period

First Room - Room of the charioteers

“Eight herms of charioteers” from the Shrine of Hercules Cubans (hypothetical attribution), in the area of Viale Trastevere

Second Room - Period of Trajan (98/117) and Hadrian (117/138)

“Two figures with breastplate”

“Plotina” about 120, Trajan's wife, from the Baths of Neptune in Ostia

“The personality of Plotina influenced a lot the formation of Hadrian and, according to sources, even his rise to power: linked to Hadrian with an almost maternal deep friendship if not a love affair, she would have reached the point of falsifying the last will of her husband in his favor. The belated evidence of gratitude from Hadrian shown on coins from the year 134 for the woman who had opened the doors of power for him, giving him also her niece Sabina - daughter of Matidia, sister of Trajan - as wife, was probably due to his intent to minimize the rumors about their alleged relationship” (Elena Calandra)

“Statue of Trajan-Heracles”

“Two portraits of Sabina” wife of Hadrian, one from the Victor Emmanuel Monument area with significant traces of colors and one from the Appian Way

“Hadrian” about 117 from S. Bibiana

“The fact that Hadrian used to wear a beard, expression of his philhellenism and function connoting the concept of sapientia (knowledge), plays a crucial role also from a formal point of view. Along with the curly and plastic locks of hair, it works as an element of vivid chiaroscuro contrast with the smooth and bright surfaces of the face. In a solidly classical composition is introduced therefore, albeit still mildly, an idea of plasticity and baroque exuberance that will find a strong emphasis in later portraits” (Gian Luca Grassigli - TMG)

“Antinous” from the Magna Mater field at Ostia with the faces of two unidentified people in the diadem, perhaps Nerva and Hadrian and traces of red in his hair

It is believed that at least 2,000 statues of Antinous existed in ancient times of which only about 115 are currently extant

“Relief of Antinous Silvanus” from Lanuvio

“Funerary relief of the Decii” from the Via Ostiense

Third Room - Period of Antoninus Pius (138/161)

“Heroic Antoninus Pius” from Terracina with chlamys buckled on the shoulder maybe like the Diomede Cuma-Monaco type of the fifth century BC widely used by public figures and Roman emperors

“Two portraits of Antoninus Pius” one from Formia and one from an unknown location

“Statue of Faustina Minor” wife of Marcus Aurelius with head maybe not relevant, of the so called praying type perhaps a reworking of a type created for Livia

“Two friezes of Provinces” (maybe Thrace and Egypt) from the Temple of Hadrian

Fourth Room - Period of Marcus Aurelius (161/180) and Commodus (180/192)

“Statue of Lucilla” sister of Marcus Aurelius

“Portrait of Crispina” wife of Commodus

“Lucius Verus”

“Two bearded philosophers”

MASSIMO PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (fourth part)

Seventh Room - Exceptional Bronzes from Via IV Novembre

“Boxer” about 100/50 BC

“The realism of the representation deliberately enhances the contrast between the realism of the Hellenistic boxer with the heroic ideals of classical athletes. His body and face swollen and bruised depict a grim reality even if not an annihilating one, which is contrary to the simplicity of the pose and to the beard and hair orderly styled in linear curls reminiscent of the classic styles. Figures like this show that the continuing interest for features of the Hellenistic Baroque style merges with limpid classical reminiscences” (John Griffiths Pedley)

“Hellenistic Prince” about 150 BC

“The eclecticism of the composition is apparent on one hand in the polykleitos matrix expressed in the weight and solidity of the body, on the other hand in the obvious reminiscences of Lysippus seen in the structure, size and character of the head, in the rhythm of the work that cites the 'Alexander with the Spear' and in the gesture of the right hand resting on the buttock, in direct allusion to the 'Erakles at Rest' of the sculptor from Sicyon” (Mario Torelli, Mauro Menichetti, Gian Luca Grassigli)

Eighth room - Neo-Attic statuary production and decorations

“Aphrodite demure” first century BC signed by Menophantos from the Botanical Gardens on Celium Hill, connected to the tradition of Aphrodites started with the Aphrodite of Cnidus by Praxiteles

“Unlike the Cnidian one, the Aphrodite of Menophantos shows traits closer to the human sphere, as revealed by the fearful expression of the face that doesn't have anymore the godly detachment of the Praxiteles' model. Compared to other replicas, original elements remain in this case the toiletries box at the feet of the goddess and the resumption of the theme of the towel held on the womb, which seems to even want to emphasize the modesty of the creation of Praxiteles or, rather, a form of ambiguous game that attracts the viewer's eye on the covered areas” (Brunella Germini)

“Headless Athena” from Celium Hill echoing the Athena Parthenos by Phidias

“Cylindrical base with Maenads dancing” first century BC in Pentelic marble from the Sciarra Collection

“Muse” perhaps Melpomene of the Melpomene Farnese type

“Neo-Attic basin” early first century BC in Pentelic marble from Lungotevere in Sassia with transport of weapons of Achilles forged by Hephaestus after Thetis' request

“Figurative late Hellenistic language inspired from models of Pergamon. The functionality of the basin as a fountain which, in all likelihood, was destined to be part of the decoration of the garden of a wealthy Roman villa, was assured by a median hole, through which water ran to be poured from the rim, so as to make more naturalistic the decoration with the marine cortege” (Brunella Germini)

“Neo-Attic frieze with Nike and bull” about 60 BC inspired by the reliefs of the Temple of Athena Nike in Athens

“Altar with archaistic Graces” end of first century BC from the Appian Way

STAIRCASE

Statues of “Zeus”, “Apollo” and “Dionysus”

MASSIMO PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (third part)

Second Gallery - Imperial Cult

“Headless statue of emperor with breastplate” of the Antonine period

“Two altars for the imperial cult” of the Augustan period

Fourth room - Images of the Julio-Claudian Family

“Gaius Octavius” father of Octavian Augustus

“Drusus”

“Germanic”

“Tiberius”

“Small bust maybe of Caligula” from the River Tiber near Via Giulia

“Octavia”

“Livia” with her typical hairstyle with nodustypus conservative reaction to the complicated Hellenistic hairstyles

“Agrippina the Younger” from Ostia

“Agrippina the Elder”

“Girl from Ostia as Artemis” of the Flavian period, when it was common to the identify individuals with gods in funerary depictions, in this case Diana, symbol of chastity and beauty for a girl

Fifth Room - Augustan Period

“Augustus as Pontifex” from Via Labicana

“Altar of Mars and Venus” early second century AD from the Square of the Guilds in Ostia with representation of the twins Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf and supervised by the eagle symbol of Jupiter and Rome

Third Gallery - Portraits of Greeks

“Socrates” from a bronze original by Lysippus of 350 BC in the version of the so called type B with features less Silenus like than the version of the so called type A

“Hesiod”

“Portrait of a bearded man” first century AD in Greek marble from a Greek original of the early second century BC. It is probably the portrait of a philosopher

“Philip V of Macedonia”

“Boxer” from the Villa of Genazzano

“Herm of Herodotus”

“Herm maybe of a poet with genitals”

“Strategist”

Bronze portrait of “Alexander the Great” with hair arranged with the anastolè

“Marble portrait of Alexander the Great” I sec. A.D. from the Temple of Hercules at Tivoli with fourteen holes maybe a crown maybe an original by Lysippus

“Mosaic émblema with cat and ducks in opus vermiculatum” first century BC from Via Ardeatina

Sixth Room – Greek Originals

“Niobid from the Gardens of Sallust” Greek original about 440 BC in Parian marble from Via Collina perhaps from the pediment of the Temple of Apollo Daphnephoros at Eretria: the myth of Niobe was the hubris (arrogance) inevitably punished

“Peplophoros” maybe Greek original from Piazza Barberini

MASSIMO PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (second part)

First Gallery - Anonymous Republican Portraits

“Priest of Isis” about 50 BC

“Elderly Woman” Augustan period (27 BC/14 AD) from Palombara Sabina

“This hairstyle, attested for the first time in Octavia, later became the official hairstyle of Livia, since when she assumed the title of Augusta. Here it is represented in its simplest form, without the division in the middle, and it highlights, in the eclectic combination with the lifelike features of the face, the phenomenon of Zeitgesicht (face of the period), that is, the conscious attempt by the lower classes of the population to homologate with the official iconographic model, through the quotation of hairstyles or facial features relevant to members of the imperial house” (Brunella Germini)

“Central part of a mosaic (èmblema) with Ila about to be abducted by nymphs” about first century BC from Tor Bella Monaca

First Room - Portraits of the Roman Ruling Class

“General from Tivoli” about 70 BC from the Temple of Hercules at Tivoli

“The typical traits of the tradition of the veristic Italic portrait contrast in a unique way with the powerful muscles of the body and the representation of the figure as a hero, which are rather based on late Hellenistic sculpture models” (Brunella Germini)

“Victorious General” II sec. BC

“Head of a young woman” end of the first century BC

“Fasti anziati (Calendar of Anzio)” 84/55 BC

It is the only example of the calendar of Numa Pompilius (the second king of Rome) with 355 days in 12 months dating back to the Republican age before the reform of Julius Caesar

Second Room - Evolution of the image during the periods of Caesar and Augustus

“Funerary stele of the Rabirii” about 40 BC with portrait on the right of Usia priestess of Isis reworked not before 40 AD

“Portrait of a Man” beginning of the first century AD

It was found in the River Tiber and it perhaps represents Brutus, the exiled Agrippa Postumus or a private citizen combed and shown according to the canons of the Augustan portraiture

“Relief of limestone with curulis saddle” mid-first century BC from Torre Gaia

“The relief depicts a curulis saddle (a folding stool made of wood, ivory and leather, used by the senators and magistrates on official occasions) and, below this, a cylindrical container (capsa) for documents, resting on a base ( ...). Origin of luck and dissemination of this theme is the gift by the senators of a curulis saddle made of gold to Julius Caesar, on the occasion of his triumph of 50 BC. The seat also appeared as a result on some coins with symbolic value and evocative of the almost kingly prerogatives of the character and it was also used on private monuments as a symbol of the dignity of magistrates” (Vittoria Lecce)

“Figure wearing a toga from a funerary stele”

“Fasti Prenestini”

It is a calendar made by the grammarian Verrius Flaccus and it is a very important document showing the reform introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC

In the old Numan calendar the days were calculated according to their distance from three specific days of the month: the Calende (first crescent moon), the Nones (first quarter moon) and the Ides (full moon)

Under the Julian calendar any connection with the phases of the moon was abandoned even if the names were kept. A system of division of the days in groups of nine was introduced, similar to our weeks, as well as a definition of the days which could be fasti (activities permitted), nefasti (activities not permitted), comitiales (activities not permitted except political ones), endotercisi nefasti (nefasti at the beginning and end of the day but fasti in the middle) and so on

The Julian calendar was used until the late 1500s when the Gregorian Calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85)

MASSIMO PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (first part)

PALAZZO MASSIMO

Piazza dei Cinquecento 3

1883/87 Camillo Pistrucci (1856/27) in Neo-Renaissance style as home to a college for Jesuits until 1960, on the site of the Palace of Sixtus V at the Baths, the last building to be demolished of the large Villa Peretti Montalto which had become property of the Massimo family

The Italian state bought it in 1981 and had it restored to convert it into a museum by Costantino Dardi (1936/91)

The ground floor was opened to the public in 1995 and the whole museum in 1998

MUSEO NAZIONALE ROMANO

National Roman Museum

It is made out of five different museums in five different locations. The other four are Palazzo Massimo, Crypta Balbi, Museo delle Terme and Museo Palatino

Established in 1889 with headquarters in the Baths of Diocletian and then enlarged with the antiquities of the Kircher Museum and of the Ludovisi collection

GROUND FLOOR - Statuary of the Republican and Augustan period

Room of passage

“Colossal polychrome Minerva” of the Augustan period, from the Aventine Hill, perhaps near the site of the Temple of Minerva seat of the guilds

She is represented sitting as Minerva patron of craftsmen and of the children of school age

MARIGNOLI PALACE

PALAZZO MARIGNOLI

Via del Corso 184

1874/83 Salvatore Bianchi (1821/84)

FAÇADE ON VIA DEL CORSO 1888 Giulio Podesti (1857/1909) after the palace was moved back for the expansion of Via del Corso

Here the ARAGNO CAFÈ was established and became a meeting place for writers and journalists

It is the seat of the Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà or the insurance company Allianz-RAS

MANCINI PALACE

PALAZZO MANCINI

Via del Corso 270-272

1662 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for Filippo Giuliano Mazzarino Mancini Duke of Nevers and continued until 1690 by Sebastiano Cipriani (about 1660/1740)

Formerly known as Palazzo Salviati is now owned by the Bank of Sicily

Paolo Mancini and his wife Victoria Capocci established here the Academy of Humorists, a meeting place for artists and intellectuals, including G.B. Marino

In 1725 it was bought by the king of France, Louis XV, and was until 1803 the seat of the FRENCH ACADEMY, the most prestigious art school at the time, before it was moved to Villa Medici

The Academy was known as the only public place where it was possible to carry out studies of live nudes, in a period when strict decency was required especially in works commissioned by the papal state

In the GALLERY, a large hall with a barrel vault of 17 m (56 feet) in 1769 students of the French Academy practiced copying into detail the paintings of Raphael in the Vatican Loggia