ROOM NEAR
THE STAIRS
Fragments
of frescoes with “Fishes” and “Navigation scenes” about 130 AD from Lungotevere
Pietra Papa
First
Gallery
Colorful and Black and White Mosaics of the
Imperial Period from the Lazio Region
“Mosaics
with geometric designs” first century BC from a Villa of Casale S. Basilio
“Èmblema
with landscapes and masks” second century AD from Priverno
“Mosaic coffered
floor with Nikai and Dionysian Masks” end of the first century BC from Villa
Ruffinella in Tuscolo
“Geometric mosaic
floor with still life” beginning the first century AD from Grotte Celoni on Via Casilina
“Mosaic floor with
Nilotic landscape” early second century AD from the Cellae Vinariae Nova et Arruntiana
on Lungotevere della Lungara
First
Room
Frescoes
from Via Graziosa on Esquiline Hill with “Scenes from the Odyssey”
Frescoes
from a columbarium on Esquilin Hill of the gens (family) of Statilii
Tauri:
“War between Rutulians
of Turnus and Trojans - Scenes of the foundation of a city - Indoor scene with
female figures - Truce between Ascanius and Mesenzius - Battle of the River
Numicus and apotheosis of Aeneas - Stories of Rhea Silvia with Lupercal and
abandonment of the twins on the banks of the River Tiber” paintings of the end of the first
century BC
“Various
iconographic and compositional models are used, the selection of which is
motivated by the need for immediate readability of images; thus if the fight
scenes are dependent on patterns of the high Hellenistic period, the bucolic
images derive stylistically instead from landscape paintings, while the figures
of the individual gods and personifications recall classical statuary types.
The episode of the masons at work to erect the walls of the city is reminiscent
of the realistic genre scenes. The political message that informs the entire
composition well fits the Augustan propaganda that every Roman citizen is
called upon to feel part of the legendary history of Rome” (Lucio Fiorini)
Villa
of Livia Ad Gallinas Albas
Frescoes
from the Villa of Livia (Augustus’ wife) at Prima Porta known as Ad Gallinas Albas with “Garden of the Villa
of Livia” of
the years 30/20 BC, measuring 11.7 x 5, 9 m (38.3 x 19, 3 feet)
It is a
room that used to be half buried to avoid the summer heat and it was called paradeisos
(paradise). Incredible decoration painted with 23 species of plants and 69
of birds
The villa
was so called because of the event of the fall from an eagle in the lap of
Livia, during her marriage with Augustus, of a white hen with a sprig of laurel
in her mouth
“Following
the incident and on the recommendation of the auruspici, the hen and all of her
offspring was brought up and a grove of laurels was planted around the villa,
from which the branches used for imperial triumphs were gathered. Suetonius
notes that the drying of a plant was considered an omen of death and that at
the death of emperor Nero all the wood burned down to the roots and all the
hens died” (Elena Calandra)
Discovered
in 1863 and detached in 1952. The painted plaster was applied on a wall
composed of a coating of tiles arranged in five rows, detached from the wall so
as to create a cavity that would isolate from moisture
It is a
painting of a kind that, as Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli remarked, “can't be
found anywhere else”
Villa
Farnesina
Discovered in
1879 while working on the construction of the banks of the River Tiber. About
half of it was discovered in excellent condition. It was formed by at least two
floors, of which only the lower was preserved
It was
probably built, according to Hans Gustav Beyen, for the wedding of Julia, the
only daughter of Augustus, with his cousin Marcello (son of the sister of
Augustus, Octavia) who died at age 19 in 23 BC
The villa
was later used by Giulia for her second marriage with Agrippa in 21 BC
In
reality the exceptional quality of the frescoes is not in itself a sufficient
argument in favor of demonstrating that it was an imperial home. Perhaps it was
painted by Studius (or Ludius) who, according to Pliny, was specialized in this
type of paint even though his typological schemes were more extensive
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