VILLA GIULIA
Piazzale di
Villa Giulia
1551/55 Giorgio Vasari
(1511/74), Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511/92) e Jacopo Barozzi detto Vignola (1507/73 at the behest of
Pope Julius III Ciocchi del Monte (1550/55),
During the
nineteenth century the building was used as a warehouse and as a military
hospital
In the
ATRIUM two frescoes by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66)
SEMICIRCULAR PORCH painted by Pietro
Venale (active 1541/83) with lunettes painted by Prospero Fontana (1512/97) father of Lavinia Fontana
FOUNTAIN OF THE AQUA VIRGO
1553 by Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo
Ammannati, plumbing by Jacopo Barozzi aka Vignola
On the main
floor THREE BOARDROOMS painted by Prospero Fontana
It opened
in 1888 with five rooms where objects found in Falerii were exhibited
Two modern
wings were built in the thirties of the twentieth century
The first 18 of the 35 rooms of the museum are
currently closed:
"Sarcophagus
of the Spouses" about 530 BC from Cerveteri, temporarily placed in this room
Augusto Castellani Collection
Sold to the
Italian state in 1919, it consists of more than 6,000 objects of which about
1,000 bronze pieces, with all classes of Greek and Etruscan-Italic ceramics
from 700/600 BC until Roman times and Important bronzes, as well as numerous
fragmented pieces
CERAMICS:
"Mixtures
and ceramics red on white" of the Orientalizing period (725/575 BC)
"Series
of buccheri from Etruria" 600/500 BC
"Two
olpai of the Chigi group"
"Crater"
by the Painter of the Louvre
"Group
of balsam containers" end of the seventh/early sixth century BC
"Crater
with volutes made in a Laconian factory" 580/570 BC decorated with large
lotus flowers
"Amphora-psykter
with Judgement of Paris"
"Two
Caeretan hydrie" of the early sixth century BC
"Situla
from Paestum" about 310 BC with warrior with high crest helmet with large
feathers
ATTIC VASES
WITH BLACK FIGURES (about 560/500 BC):
"Hydria
with Heracles and Geryon" 560/540 BC by Lydos
"Lip-cup"
by Tleson
"Piecemeal
Dinos" by Exekìas
"His
world is pervaded by the heroic spirit of the Homeric poems. He is a painter
and potter, extremely creative in both fields; in fact the invention of two new
pottery forms is attributed to him: the crater cup and the cup with handles
shaped as big eyes" (Claudia Lambrugo)
"Two Attic
amphoras" by Nikosthenes
"Ceramic
maker and owner of a workshop with keen business acumen, Nikosthenes was active
in the second half of the sixth century BC. He must have had a significant
commercial success with Etruscan customers. He seemed to know them and also
seemed to cunningly know how to meet their needs, creating new forms of vases,
especially welcome in the market of Cerveteri and Vulci; among these there was
a type of amphora know as ‘nicostenica’ with wide and flat loops in imitation
of an Etruscan product made out of bucchero" (Claudia Lambrugo)
"Amphora
with bathing women" by the Painter of Priam
"Vases
like this have sparked an intense debate on the status of women in Athens at
the time of Pisistratus: could it be reasonable to admit that the Athenian
women led a freer life than what literary sources often seem to imply"
(Claudia Lambrugo)
"Amphora"
by Antimenes
RED-FIGURED
ATTIC JARS (about 520/440 BC):
"Kylix"
by Oltos
"Blingual
amphora" by the Painter of Pamphaios
Three
vessels including "Pelike with courtship of adolescent" 500/490 BC by
the Berlin Painter
"Kylix"
by the Painter of Brygos
"One of
the most prolific painters of the first Severe style is the Painter of Brygos
active between 480 and 470 BC, who is named after the potter who signed a dozen
cups attributed to his hand; the style derives from Onesimos and it is
characterized by a remarkable vivacity of expression; a style that loves
movement and animation" (Marina Castoldi)
LATE
CLASSICAL AND HELLENISTIC JARS:
Some
"Vases repainted" by Gnathia
"Lekane"
by the Painter of Brunicki
Numerous
black painted vases
BRONZE
PIECES:
Extensive exhibit
of containers for banquets and objects for personal adornment or related to
women toiletries, including
"Cist
from Preneste with kit" first half of the third century BC
"Kit from
the Castellani Tomb" (Palestrina, 700/675 BC) tomb of the most famous of
the orientalizing Tyrrhenian period including "Three bronze shields"
OTHER
ITEMS:
"Bronze
goblet with caryatids" about 625/600 BC from Caere
"Group
of lacunars" about 525/500 BC from Tarquinia
Extensive
series of Etruscan-Roman and Italic statuettes and including the famous
"Statuette of Alexander hunting" of Greek production
Castellani Collection
Unique collection
of gold items, one of the richest in the world with jewelery from 700 BC until
the nineteenth century
Galeassi Tomb
Matrimonial
kit of the early seventh century BC found in 1861 in Palestrina:
"Breastplate
in gold and amber"
"Three
pendants configured in amber"
Beautiful
"Golden crowns"
"Charm
necklace shaped as small amphora" IV century BC from Tarquinia
In this
room are exhibited also Roman jewelry, late ancient and barbaric jewelry,
Italian modern art jewelry, jewelry from the Far East, fine jewelry from the New World and fine micromosaics
Room 21 – Room of Venus or of the Seasons
Room known
as Room of Venus or Room of the Seasons for the frescoes that decorate it
Findings
from PYRGI (Santa Severa)
TEMPLE A dedicated
to Leucotea-Ilizia:
"High
relief with the myth of the Seven Against Thebes" (Tideus bites the head
of Athena with Melanippus watching in horror) about 470/460 BC decorating the back
side of the temple columen
Antefixes of
Temple A: "Heracles Bibax" and beautiful "Female head maybe of Thesa-Leucotea"
about 350/325 BC
TEMPLE B
dedicated to the Phoenician goddess Astarte (the Etruscan Uni), the oldest one:
"Prancing
front right"
"Great
phiale" 490/480 BC
AREA C
dedicated to the "chthonic" cult
or infernal and long building of twenty cells: “Antefixes”
"Gold foils
from Pyrgi" also from the Area C with dedication inscribed in Etruscan and
Phoenician languages of the king of Caere Thefarie Velianas to the goddess Uni
"Hoard
of coins from Syracuse"
"Votive
dedication of Tanachvil Cartherai to Thesan"
"Apollo
struggling with Heracles for the possession of the cerinite doe” about 510 BC
from the Temple of Apollo in Veii, in the locality known as Portonaccio,
restored in 2004
"Goddess
with child in her arms"
Both
statues are attributed to the school of Vulca and
they were placed temporarily in this hall
"The
harmony of proportions, the supreme quality of the finish give way to an
irrational power that favors movement and physicality on formal perfection and
strength so to force in this way the integument of rationality of Greek art"
(Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
Three rooms
dedicated to the history of the museum
Two windows
of the nineteenth century exhibit with pieces from the Agro Falisco relevant to
the original section of the collection
Dedicated
to the history of the museum with models and documents
CAPENA
(Sabine origin):
"Dish of
the Elephant" about 275 BC from the grave 233 (IV) from the Necropoli delle Macchie (necropolis of
the spots) in Capena
"Embossed
armor shaped as a disk decorated with fantastic animals" in bronze, about
625 BC with the contemporary "Plaques for belt"
Vascular kit
of the Tomb CXIV from the Necropolis of
S. Martino among the richest of the orientalizing period in Capena (late eight/early
seventh century BC)
MINORS LATIN
TOWNS OF THE AGRO FALISCO:
Corchiano
Large
"Clay support with horses and chains"
Vignanello
Attic
pottery from the necropolis of Cupa
"Alabastron"
in Ionic bucchero, rare example of Greek-Eastern ceramic imported in the agro
falisco
Nepi
Findings
from Vigna Penteriani
Narce was
the most important town in the southern area of the agro falisco, by the River
Treja between Mazzano and Calcata:
"Rich Kit
of a Knight" from the grave 4 (XXXIV) of Petrina (730/720 BC)
Reconstruction
of the "Chariot" about 600 BC from the necropolis of Contrada Morgi
"Necklace
of gold" seventh century BC from the Tomb of th Gold Pieces
Large
"Bronze Shields" about 600 BC from the necropolis of Petrina C
The oldest examples
of funerary rites (eighth and seventh century BC)
"Urn
in bronze foil shaped as a house" about 650 BC from the necropolis of
Montarano
"Kit from
the tomb 8 (XLVII) in Celle" with "Banquet tableware with holmos,
kantharos and amphora" and "Pair of amphoras with four recessions and
decoration in red on white"
Economic and
social rise of Falerii Veteres (sixth and fifth century BC) until the period of
the great flowering of the fourth century BC
" Attic
Kylix with black figures" about 535 BC with Dionysus playing a lyre
"Two Attic
Rython with red figures"
"Rython
shaped with the head of adog" by the Painter of
Brygos
"Rython
shaped as an astragalus" first half of the fifth century BC
"Stamnos
with Heracles and the Centaur Pholos" by the Painter
of Argo
"Crater
of the Dawn with volutes: Eos and Kephalos on one side and on the other Teti
Pepleo" about 350 BC by the Painter of the Dawn,
a masterpiece of the local production
Architectural
fragments of the Temple of Mercury at the
Sassi Caduti (Fallen Rocks) about 480 BC including "Acroterion with
two warriors in battle"
Fragments
from the Temple of Apollo at Scasato
including "Torso of Apollo" late fourth/early third century BC
Fragments
from the Second Temple (possibly Minerva) to Scasato including:
"Minerva"
"Jupiter"
"Juno"
early fourth century BC in which it is possible to see the influence of Attic art
in the second half of the fifth century BC
"Fragments
from the Sanctuary of Vignale" with important deposit of votive offerings
(stipe) consisting of heads and masks
"Fragments
from the Sanctuary of Juno Curite in Celle” about 350 BC including "Female
life-size statue" mid fourth century BC, with richly draped and decorated mantle,
belonging to the restructuring that incorporated the first chapel of the
Archaic period
Alatri
Materials from
deposits of votive offerings (stipi)
and fragments of antefixes and architectural polychrome terracotta which decorated
the entablature and the sloping gable of a temple in the countryside, the Etruscan-Italic temple of Alatri which
was reconstructed in 1890
outside the museum in real size
Ardea
Deposit of
votive offerings (stipe) in the Pescarella
district with various objects dating back from the fourth to the second century
BC
Tivoli
Deposit of
votive offerings (stipe) of the Acquoria
Lanuvio
"Antefissa
a female head with openwork nimbus" about 500 BC from the Temple of Juno Sospita
Velletri
"Clay
model of building, probably a temple, with gabled roof" from Colle Ottone
Segni
"Remains
reliefs of pediment with scene with at least three groups of people dueling"
500/480 BC from the Temple of Juno Moneta
Gabii
Funerary objects
with "Skeleton in a coffin made with an oak trunk" about 700/650 BC
Village of
about 30 huts which developed from the ninth to the seventh century BC
Fine
ceramic
Furnishings
of ivory and bronze
Outstanding
amount of amber pieces
Fine tableware
including "Drinking horn in bronze" from the Northwest Necropolis
Materials
from the archaic deposit of votive offerings (stipe) and from the more recent stipe
"Polychrome
high reliefs of the pediment of the Temple II" with myth of the
Amazonomachy 500/480 BC
KIT FROM
THE BARBERINI TOMB:
"Throne"
675/650 BC in bronze foil
"Shield"
"Lebes
on support in bronze plate"
Pieces of
Ivory and objects of metalwork such as clasps
"Plate
with plastic decoration"
KIT FROM
THE BERNARDINI TOMB:
Among the jewelry pieces there are two rectangular "clasps" with small heads
of felines
"Silver
gilt patera with pharaoh triumphing over his enemies, the king hunting and
theories of horses and birds” 675/650 BC
"The
choice of symbolism and iconography of certain Levantine and Egyptian origin,
albeit probably reworked from a workshop in Cyprus in the late eighth, early
seventh century BC, shows the full adoption by the Tyrrhenian aristocracies of
this figurative language, foreshadowing at the same time their will to agree
with a whole world of rules and values directly inspired by that of the
oriental dynasties" (Lucio Fiorini)
Another
"Silver patera with Egyptian design"
"Small
cauldron with heads of snakes" about 575/550 BC
Rare
"Blue glass cup"
"Cup
with Vetusia inscription” about 675/650
BC with the oldest epigraphic documentation attested in ancient Latium: the
personal name Vetusia written in Etruscan characters refers to similar names
that would be found in later periods in Vulsini (sixth century BC) and in
Chiusi
BARBERINI COLLECTION:
Large
collection of bronze mirrors and cists from Preneste including the masterpiece
"Ficoroni Cist" about 310 BC by Novios Plautios
with an episode of the myth of the Argonauts on which the name “Rome”
appears for the first time on a work of art
"Vase
made as a cage with strigil" and animal shaped wooden boxes
TERNI
Weapons for
men and female ornaments X/VIII century BC from the necropolis discovered
during works to build the steelworks in Terni
NOCERA
UMBRA
Kits from
the "Tomb so-called of the child" and from the "Tomb 9" in
the necropolis of Boschetto-Ginepraia
GUALDO
TADINO
Kits from
burial grounds of Malpasso and Cartiere including "Wooden barrels with straps
in bronze" about fifth century BC
TODI
Tomb of Warrior, end of the fifth century BC from the locality
known as S. Raffaele:
"Parade
helmet of Attic type in bronze"
"Red-figure
Attic Kylikes"
"Red-figure
Attic Crater" 460 BC by the Painter of Florence
Tomb of the gold pieces in the necropolis of Peschiera,
first half of the third century BC:
"A
pair of large earrings with pendants shaped as a female head"
"Mirror
engraved with a scene of the Judgement of Paris"
Bronze
figures including "Patera with handle", "Oinochoe shaped as a beak"
and "Thyiaterion shaped as a caryatid"
Also placed provisionally in this room:
"Bucchero
with archaic Etruscan alphabet engraved" from Cerveteri about 610 BC
Superb
"Olpe Chigi" 640/625 BC from Formello (Veii) with lion hunt,
Judgement of Paris and fighting between Greeks
"It
provides important information on military history, showing the beginning of
the supremacy of hoplites on the cavalry, and exemplifies technically and
stylistically the best of Protocorinthian vase painting" (John Griffiths
Pedley)
"It
marks the time when the black-figured Corinthian style reaches its maximum
expressive potential, with figures arranged in depth on spaces finally free
from geometric fillers, according to a rudimentary, but effective, principle of
perspective and with extensive retouching colored in white, yellow, red and
brown. A recent re-reading (Torelli) of the entire iconography of the Olpe
suggested a very tight ideological construct, similar to that which, a few
decades later, would be represented on the François Crater. If the reading is
valid, the Olpe Chigi signifies the moralizing manifesto for the educational curriculum
of young Corinthian aristocrats" (Claudia Lambrugo)
