VATICAN MUSEUMS - GALLERY OF THE CANDELABRA (first part)

GALLERIA DEI CANDELABRI
 

Built in 1761 as an open loggia on both sides and closed in the years 1785/88 by Michelangelo Simonetti (1724/87) and Giuseppe Camporese (1763/1822) for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99)

80 m (262 feet) long

It was decorated in the years 1883/87 for Leo XIII Pecci (1878/1903) in the first three bays by the Roman Domenico Torti (XIX century) and Annibale Angelini (1812/84) from Perugia:

In the middle of the vault of the second bay:

“Arts pays homage to Religion” with curious inclusion of the allegory of Photography represented holding an old-fashioned camera

In the side areas:

“Canonization ceremony officiated by Pope Leo XIII”

“Jan Mateiko gives Leo the large painting with Vienna freed by Sobieski”

In the middle of the vault of the third bay:

“Triumph of History”

The remaining bays were painted by the Roman Ludovico Seitz (1844/1908), son of the German Nazarene painter Alexander Maximilian Seitz, who continued the work after the death of Torti and Angelini

In the middle of the vault of the fourth bay:

“St. Thomas Aquinas teaches Philosophy”

“Four ideas from the encyclicals of Leo XIII: Christian Marriage, praise of the Third Franciscan Order, condemnation of Freemasonry and agreement between religious and secular authorities”

In the side areas:

“Agreement between Religion and Science”

“The Rosary and the Battle of Lepanto”

“Union of Pagan and Christian art”

 

“Grace of God expressed in the Sts. Clare of Montefalco, Benedict Labre, Lawrence of Brindisi and G.B. De Rossi”

The spectacular inlaid marble floor has been put together by Luigi Medici, his son Paolo Medici and Giuseppe Rinaldi under the direction of the architect Cav. Mannucci for Leo XIII using marbles found during excavations at the ancient trading port of the Tiber River in Testaccio

The “Coat of arms of Pope Leo XIII” in the middle of the gallery was made using precious lapis lazuli the cost of which in ancient times was comparable to that of gold as the only known mines were those of Sar-e-Sang in Badakhshan, a region of Afghanistan, also mentioned by Marco Polo

The gallery takes its name from the pairs of ancient marble candlesticks placed in the arches

“In the history of collecting and evolution of places for collections, the gallery reflects the shift from humanistic introspection, well represented by the 'private space' of the studiolo (little studio), to the late-Renaissance taste for exposure that results in the creation of a 'public' and representative environment intended to mark a path of self-celebration of the patron. In Italy the galleries were born in the mid-sixteenth century and the first in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to be built was that the one of the maps” (Andrea Pomella)

VATICAN MUSEUMS - PIUS CLEMENTINUS MUSEUM - Greek Cross Room

Sala a Croce Greca

 

Completed in about 1780 by Michelangelo Simonetti (1724/87)

It was called Greek Cross Room for the Greek Cross plan

It was the entrance of the Museo Pio Clementino at the time of Pius VI Braschi (1775/99): when Michelangelo Simonetti died in 1787, Pius VI gave the job of finishing the project to Giuseppe Camporese (1763/1822), who reversed the museum route with a new access from the Greek Cross Room. That's why over the portal to the Round Room there is the sign Museum Pium

On either side of the portal “Two Roman telamons” imitation of Egyptian ones, maybe from the Canopus in Hadrian's Villa, restored by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

Above the portal “Bas-relief with gladiators and wild beasts” highly integrated, of the second half of the first century AD

In the floor “Color mosaic” of a shield with a bust of Minerva and phases of the moon, of the third century AD, found in 1741 at Tusculum (Frascati). It was heavily restored

“Two sphinxes of pink granite” about first century AD

On the right “Sarcophagus of Constantina” of the fourth century AD in porphyry, from the Mausoleum of S. Constanza. She was the daughter of Constantine (306/337)

On the left “Sarcophagus of St. Helena” mother of Constantine in porphyry from Torpignattara, maybe prepared for the “companion” (they never married) Costantius Chlorus (305/306) or more probably for his son Constantine

“The Eastern workers employed sculpted a very high relief, in which there is very lively naturalistic analysis of the bodies of Roman soldiers and of the fallen and captive barbarians. The figures, however, are located in an area completely devoid of landscaping elements and in an environment that refuses a uniform spatial nature, so that the composition is reduced to two simple overlapping rows” (Gian Luca Grassigli - TMG)

The Romans called porphyry (Lapis Porphyrites) a type of red marble that came into their availability after the conquest of Egypt by Augustus in 31 BC

It came from quarries owned by the Emperor on Mons Porphyrites o Mons Igneus, a mountainous area known today as Gebel Dokhan west of Hurghada, in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

It is an extremely hard kind of marble and difficult to carve, formerly used by Egyptian pharaohs and much appreciated for its red color typically associated with the imperial dignity

Porphyry was therefore used in works for the emperor and his family

From the fifth century AD its red color was assimilated to the cult of the body of Christ reserving, however, its use for the honor of the emperors themselves, according to a tradition that remained in the Byzantine Empire and was later adopted by other European kingdoms

Behind the sarcophagus inscriptions of “Carmen Fratrum Arvalium” one of the most valuable fragments of poetry, perhaps dating from the seventh or sixth century BC, with an archaic language that dates back to the origins of the Roman religion

The inscriptions are dated to May 29, 218 and were found in 1778 in the Vatican

This is the traditional chant of the Arvales (Fratres Arvales), an ancient Roman college of priests made up of twelve members chosen among the senators, repeating this sort of litany in honor of the goddess Dia, whose ancient worship was restored by Augustus

The temple of the goddess Dia was in the area above the Catacomb of Generosa on the Via Portuense. It is noteworthy that the tradition was still followed in the early third century AD

In the niches statues of “Augustus” so-called Verospi, maybe posthumous with Augustus dressed in the Greek fashion and “Gaius Caesar” the grandson of Augustus, with his head covered: it was found in the so-called Basilica of Otricoli

In a niche behind Constantina's sarcophagus there is a statue of “Lucius Verus young” (161/169) who here has a vague resemblance to former U.S. President Bill Clinton while smoking a huge cigar

VATICAN MUSEUMS - PIUS CLEMENTINUS MUSEUM - Round Room

Sala Rotonda

About 1782 by Michelangelo Simonetti (1724/87) who was clearly inspired by the Pantheon

In the floor there is the extraordinary and impressive “Great color mosaic” of the beginning of the third century AD from the Baths of Otricoli in Umbria 80 km (50 miles) from Rome: struggles of Greeks against centaurs and sea and river gods

It is not totally original and it was completed at the time of installation in the room

In the external section “Black and white mosaic” from Otricoli and Sacrofano near Rome

In the center enormous “Monolithic basin” in red porphyry marble, maybe from the Domus Aurea. The circumference is 13 m (42.6 feet)

FROM RIGHT

“Otricoli's Jupiter” end of the first century BC from an original of the fourth century BC

It was restored in 1783 with additions by Giovanni Pierantoni

“It had to be part of an acrolith that hypothetically could be attributed to the cult statue of Jupiter in the Capitolium of Otricoli. (...) The original would have been a model for the statue of the god in Rome, built after the fire that burned the Capitoline Hill in 83 BC” (Eleonora Ferrazza)

“Antinous” from Hadrian's Villa in Palestrina where now is the modern cemetery

It was restored by Giovanni Pierantoni

Here the gay lover of Emperor Hadrian, who died drowned in the Nile is represented as Osiris-Dionysus

On his head there was a crown on which a uraeus (snake) or a lotus flower was added, replaced, in the modern restoration, with a kind of pine cone

“Portrait of Faustina the Elder” about 140 AD, found in 1769 by the painter Gavin Hamilton in the Pantanello area near Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli

It is one of the best portraits of the wife of Antoninus Pius (138/161) deified after her death in 141 AD

It was restored by Giovanni Pierantoni who made the bust

“Statue of Ceres” or maybe Juno, beginning of the second century AD from the original maybe by a pupil of Phidias of 430 BC

It was exhibited in the Palace of the Chancellery and entered the Vatican Museums in 1782 when it was restored by Giovanni Pierantoni. The head is ancient but not relevant

“Bust of Hadrian” (117/138) maybe 140 AD, from Castel Sant'Angelo, which was his tomb. It is known from the middle of 1500s

The portrait appears to be somewhat idealized, and perhaps dates back to after his death. The bust is modern

“Colossal Hercules” in gilded bronze of the end of the first century or early second century AD from a Greek original of the fourth century BC found in 1864 under the courtyard of Palazzo Pio Righetti

It was donated to Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) and restored by Pietro Tenerani (1789/1869), who reinstated it in part using plaster and bronze

It was buried superstitiously because it had been struck by lightning at the Theatre of Pompey, to the decoration of which maybe it belonged, in the area of the nowadays Campo de' Fiori

It had been covered by a slab of travertine marble, on which there was an inscription with the letters F C S (Fulgur Conditum Summanium = buried because hit by lightning) and a sacrificed lamb had been buried with it

“Bust of Antinous” about 130/138 AD. It was found in 1790 at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli

The peculiar hairstyle of this portrait has been put in connection with the servile origin of the youth

Statue of goddess called “Barberini Hera” mid-second century BC from an original of the fifth century BC by an artist of Phidias' circle

It was part of the Barberini collection and it entered the Vatican collections in 1772 when it was restored and integrated by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

In the base there is a relief from a sarcophagus of a child of the late third century AD with an extraordinary “Representation of quadrigas’ races in the Circus Maximus”

“Herm of marine deity” maybe Okeanos 130/140 AD, from the area of Pozzuoli, where it was purchased in 1771

The eyebrows are formed by algae and in the beard there are dolphins that seem to swim

“Galba” (68) represented as Jupiter, believed to be Nerva (96/98)

Only the torso and head are old and they were integrated and processed by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi in 1776 to rework facial features mimicking those of a portrait of Galba, believing it was Nerva

The original statue, however, represented a seated figure, perhaps a deity or a Hellenistic ruler of the first century BC

In the base neo-Attic relief with the “Birth of Erichthonius and Hephaestus”

The myth of Erichthonius is quite complex: according to the account of Apollodorus of Athens, Athena went to the forge of Hephaestus to ask the forging of some weapons. Hephaestus pounced on her, trying to possess her and Athena, determined to save her virginity, fled

In the ensuing struggle, the seed of Hephaestus was scattered on the ground and where it fell, Gaea, Mother Earth, was fertilized, and begat Erichthonius. Athena, however, wanted to raise him in secret anyway

“Bust of Serapis” second century AD from an original of about 320 BC by Briaxis for the Serapeum of Alexandria

It was found in 1771 in the so-called Villa of Gallienus on the Appian Way by painter Gavin Hamilton and sold to the Vatican Museums

He has on the head the characteristic calathos, highly integrated modioi-shaped, a cylindrical container that served as a unit of measurement for grain

In the circlet on the head there are still holes where beams of metal were inserted which made it comparable to the god Helios/Sol as was typical of the operations of syncretism between religions that the Romans made

“Claudius in the act of libation during sacrificial rites” (41/54) depicted like Jupiter with the eagle and the civic crown of oak

It was found in 1865 in Lanuvio where maybe it decorated the theater

In the base there is a rather ruined votive relief with “Hermes, Asclepius, and the Three Graces” mythical projections of Joy, Beauty and Grace

Maybe it comes from the Tiber River, possibly from the Tiber Island where the sanctuary of the god of medicine was

The caduceus of Hermes, a stick with two snakes, which served to guide the souls and is currently symbol of trade was mistakenly confused with the rod of Asclepius, which had only a snake, so that often in the United States is used as a symbol of medicine and in Italy it is also the symbol of pharmacists

The precise meaning of the caduceus remains mysterious

“Portrait of Claudius” which had to be part of an imperial statue seated on a throne representing, however, Caligula (37/41), the nephew of Claudius

Caligula, after being killed, had the damnatio memoriae, the elimination of all images and memories for posterity of the declared enemies of the people of Rome and of the Senate after their death

It can be noticed the double bangs and small size of the face compared to the neck, consequences of the rework of the portrait

It was found in the so-called Basilica of Otricoli in 1779 and restored by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

“Juno Sospita” first half of the second century AD venerated in Lanuvium, maybe statue of the temple dedicated to the goddess in the Forum Holitorium, corresponding to S. Nicola in Carcere

It was exhibited in the courtyard of the Palazzo Mattei di Paganica, it was acquired by the Vatican Museums in 1782 and it was restored by Giovanni Pierantoni

“Portrait of Plotina” about 129 from Villa Mattei or Celimontana, wife of Trajan deified by Hadrian in that year

The portrait is on modern bust and was sold to the Vatican Museums in 1770 when it was restored by Giovanni Pierantoni and Gaspare Sibilla

“Bust of a Severan princess” about 210/230 AD maybe Julia Mesa, Julia Domna's sister, the Syrian wife of Septimius Severus (193/211) or her daughter Julia Soemnia mother of Elagabalus (218/222)

The hairstyle, however, identifies her with certainty as a woman belonging to the Severan dynasty

It was found in 1780 in the Quadraro area between Via Appia and Via Tuscolana

The bust is modern and the hair has been restored

Maybe “Genius of Augustus sacrificing” perhaps from Pozzuoli

The vague resemblance to Augustus led to the identification with the Genius Augusti a sort of personal deity of the first emperor of Rome

“Portrait maybe of Plautianus” praetorian prefect put to death by Septimius Severus (193/211) on the advice of his son Caracalla in 205 who had married his daughter Plautilla, later divorced