VATICAN MUSEUMS - ROOM OF THE CHARIOT

SALA DELLA BIGA
 

1786/94 Giuseppe Camporese (1763/1822) with walls covered in Carrara marble

Camporese was a pupil of Pasquale Belli and member of an important family of architects working in Rome and Lazio

At the age of 23 he was appointed papal architect and when a year later, in 1787, Michelangelo Simonetti died, he replaced him as the Chamber Architect of Pius VI

He also designed in the 1786 the ATRIO DEI QUATTRO CANCELLI (Atrium of the four gates) downstairs, which used to be the place of access to the Vatican Museums

In the center “Marble chariot” 1788 by Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734/1818) who adapted and completed the horse on the right and the chariot of the first century AD

The chariot was maybe originally part of a votive offering and it was used as the Episcopal throne in the Basilica of St. Mark

“Five sarcophagi for children” II/III century with cupids racing chariots in the circus

From the right:

“Bearded Dionysus aka Sardanapallos” first century AD from original of the end of the fourth century BC by an artist of Praxiteles' circle

The Greek inscription dates to a later period

“Young Bacchus”

“Statue of naked warrior, maybe Alcibiades”

“Statue of an old Roman man toga-draped and sacrificing” by a Greek artist of the Hadrian's period (117/138 AD) with Roman head first century BC not relevant

“Apollo with the lyre”

“Discus thrower preparing to launch” early imperial period from a bronze original by Nausides, son of Polykleitos of Argos

“Hermes” from an original of the fifth century BC with head not relevant, copy of a portrait of late fifth or early fourth century BC of the Greek strategist Phocion

“Discus thrower throwing the disc” of Hadrian's period from the original by Myron of Eleutherae (about 500/440 BC), from Hadrian's Villa

“Based on a reproduction of the statue with an inscription 'Hyakinthos' in a gem, now preserved in the British Museum, Lippold wanted to acknowledge in the discus thrower the Spartan hero loved by Apollo, whom he accidentally killed while training in the discus throw. The hypothesis, however, more credited nowadays, is Fuchs' according to which the discus thrower would not be a mythical figure, but only a victorious athlete in this event, to whom his polis (city) would have dedicated a statue, according to a widespread custom in Greece” (Brunella Germini)

“Sextus of Chaeronea” stoic and teacher of Marcus Aurelius with head not relevant

Below “Sarcophagus with the contest between Pelops and Oenomaus” about 160

“Charioteer of the Circus”

“Diana huntress”

VATICAN MUSEUMS - PIUS CLEMENTINUS MUSEUM - Room of the Animals

Sala degli Animali

 

Opened at the time of Pius IV Medici (1559/65) and duplicated in about 1776 by Michelangelo Simonetti (1724/87) for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99) with animal sculptures made from scratch or imaginatively and wantonly restored by Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734/1818) from Carrara

“He excelled both in the subjects of new inventions and in those inspired by the reinstatement of ancient fragments, of which he often changed the whole original aspect, giving them strongly realistic and almost obsessive and self-indulging connotations. This drama and paroxysm seems to spring from the suggestive reading of the treatise 'On the nature of the animals' by Claudio Eliano. Franzoni's work is unequaled in the achievements of sculpture of all time. The Animal Room was configured as a sort of ghostly bestiary made with a sample of the most rare colored stones from antiquity, in the spirit of encyclopedic cataloging, and ended up being, with his eccentric collection, one of the highlights of the museum, the pride of Pius VI, the generous promoter” (Caterina Napoleone)

In the floor of the middle passage “Black and white mosaic with a hawk devouring a hare”

In the floor of the side wings “Two colorful mosaic” with still lives in panels of the fourth century AD

LEFT WING

“Meleager with dog and boar's head” about 150 AD from the original of the fourth century BC by Skopas

“Colossal head of a camel” formerly the mouth of a fountain

Extraordinary group “Marine Centaur with nereid and cupids” maybe a late Hellenistic original

“Torso of the Minotaur”

RIGHT WING

“Group of Mithras slaying the bull” second century AD

On the wall two small mosaics with micro tiles of exceptional quality from Villa Adriana in Tivoli: “Bulls attacked by a lion” and “Browsing goats”

“Crab” in rare green porphyry marble