VII.—The Villa d'Este at Tivoli and the Collection of Classical Sculptures which it contained

Thomas Ashby

doi:10.1017/S0261340900009498

VII.—The Villa d'Este at Tivoli and the Collection of Classical Sculptures which it contained

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2011

Thomas Ashby

Article contents

Extract
References

Get access

Extract

Among the most characteristic features of the life of the Roman aristocracy in classical times may be reckoned the habit of retiring from the noise and bustle of the city to a country house in the neighbourhood.

We hear of it among the Greeks, but with them it never attained the same vogue; and in Rome it was a comparatively recent development, for the first mention we have of a villa is that of the country house of the elder Scipio Africanus at Liternum (before 183 B.C.), while the next is that of the various estates of the jurist M. Junius Brutus (about 150 B.C.). From that time, however, the practice increased, and at the end of the Republic, as is clear from the correspondence of Cicero, a wealthy man like Cicero himself would probably possess several country houses. Under the Empire, and especially in the second century A.D., which seems to have been the zenith of prosperity in the Campagna di Roma, the number of villas became far greater.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , 1908 , pp. 219 - 256

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900009498 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1908

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

^{page 219 note a} For the date cf. Schanz, M., Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, i. 121Google Scholar.

^{page 221 note a} La Villa d'Este in Tivoli, Rome, 1902.Google Scholar

^{page 221 note b} Archivio Storico dell' Arte, iii. 196Google Scholarsqq.

^{page 221 note c} Storia degli Scavi, ii. 114Google Scholar; iii. 186 sqq.

^{page 221 note d} Documenti Inediti per servire alla storia dei musei d'Italia, II. vii.

^{page 221 note e} Vol. 375 (now vol. 6039), f. 357 sqq. I have myself examined the original.

^{page 221 note f} Op. cit. 165.

^{page 222 note a} The legend to it states that it was reduced by the artist from a drawing made by order of the cardinal for the Emperor Maximilian, to whom we know that he presented various statues (Venturi, 204, entries of 9th and 27th August, 1570). The view is reproduced by Triggs, H. Inigo, The Art of Garden Design in Italy (London, 1906), pl. 117, from which, with Messrs. Longmans' kind permission, our Plate XXV. is taken.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 222 note b} Op. cit. 57, n. 1. The statement appears to be founded on Callet, Notice historique sur … quelques architectes français du seizième siècle (Paris, 1842), 111Google Scholar, who speaks of a volume entitled Vues perspectives des jardins de Tivoli dedicated to Maria (!) de Medici. Ehrle, who quotes it (Roma primo del Sisto V.: la Pianta di Roma Du Pérac—Lafréry del 1577—(Rome, 1908), 11, n. 4), does not seem inclined to accept it.Google Scholar

^{page 222 note c} The plate fell into the hands of Giovanni Domenico de Rossi (1691–1720) who re-issued it. In all other known plates published by him he uses only the one Christian name Domenico (Ehrle, op. cit. 22 sqq.). It is still preserved at the Regia Calcografia in Rome (No. 1242).

^{page 222 note d} This view was copied on a smaller scale by Francesco Corduba, and published by Gottifredo de Schaichi about 1621, and appears, still further reduced, in Lauro's, GiacomoAntiquae Urbis Vestigia (Rome, 1628, pl. 161)Google Scholar and in the appendix (1686–1696) to Domenico Parasacchi's Raccolta delle Principali Fontane (1647).

^{page 222 note e} Cf. Seni, 72.

^{page 222 note f} See Papers of the British School at Rome, III. 117, n. 3Google Scholar.

^{page 222 note g} Triggs (op. cit. 125) wrongly gives his date as 1629.

^{page 223 note a} Lanciani, op. cit. ii. 115, mentions five views of fountains in the “Nuova Raccolta di Fontane,” dedicated by Giangiacomo de Rossi to the marquis Andrea Corsini.

^{page 223 note b} Pp. 125 sqq. pl. 113–117. The plan is adapted from that of Percier and Fontaine, Choix des plus célèbres maisons de plaisance a Rome (Paris 1824), pl. lviii. It is reproduced, with the kind permission of the publishers, Messrs. Longmans, as our Plate XXVI. The numbers inserted are those of the inventory of 1572, and show the collocation of the statues in the time of Del Re.Google Scholar

^{page 223 note c} Of this collection three inventories exist: one bearing date 15th July, 1568 (some of the objects mentioned in which had already been transferred to the Villa d'Este in Tivoli by 1572), published by Fiorelli op. cit. 157; another bearing date 2nd December, 1572 (op. cit. iv. n. 4), and immediately preceding that of the Villa d'Este given in Appendix A; and a third (undated) of 1572–4 (op. cit. viii. n). With the statues that were not conveyed to Tivoli I do not propose to deal here.

^{page 224 note a} According to the account given by De Fabris, (Diss. Pont. Accad. Rom. xiii. 209)Google Scholar, the truth of which is not certain, the fragment of a frieze representing Ariadne abandoned by Theseus, and discovered by Dionysus, now in the Galleria delle Statue in the Vatican (No. 416, see Amelung, , Die Sculpturen des Vatikanischen Museums, ii. 654Google Scholar), was found in Hadrian's Villa in the sixteenth century by Cardinal Ippolito d'Este and given by him to his relatives at Ferrara. De Fabris, who came across it in the custom-house at Rome in 1845, and on whose report the Pope saw it and ordered its transport to the Vatican, conjectured that it had been sent back to Rome three centuries later for restoration. Amelung, however, notices that there are, in the same museum, two other fragments of a precisely similar frieze (Gabinetto delle Maschere, 434, 442), agreeing in measurements, material, arrangement, style, and details, the provenance of which from Corcolle (for the locality, see Papers of the British School at Rome, iii. 138Google Scholar), where they were found by Volpato in the eighteenth century, is absolutely certain. And it is possible that the unnamed family of which De Fabris speaks (p. 211, n. 4) as having possessed other fragments, may have been the Volpato family.

^{page 224 note b} The results of a careful examination of the extracts from the accounts as given by Venturi will be found in the notes to Appendix A. I may have omitted some doubtful identifications.

^{page 224 note c} It may be mentioned that the description does not tally with either of the engravings of De Cavalleriis, I. 20, 21 =I. II. 39, 40, nor can we be certain if this is the Æsculapius for materials for the putting together of which 4·97 scudi were paid on the 9th February, 1561 (Venturi, 199).

^{page 224 note d} See Hülsen, Römische Mitteilungen, 1895, 281. He there (and rightly) rejects Ligorio's identification of the statue with the Hercules of Lysippus, which he accepts in Jordan-Hülsen, , Topographie, i. 3, p. 96, n. 126Google Scholar.

^{page 225 note a} Rom. Mitt. 1891, 106; cf. 1896, 207.

^{page 225 note b} Schol. Persius, 2, 56. It is not possible to glean further information about the twenty or more torsi of Amazons (so called) seen by Vacca (mem. 77), which have been identified with these Danaids.

^{page 225 note c} Venturi, 204. Probably (Petersen, , Röm. Mitt. 1896, 101Google Scholar) Inv. 1572, 24.

^{page 225 note d} Records of the purchase of both these Dianas are preserved in the documents published by Venturi. One of them is mentioned as having been bought on 13th November, 1565, for Monte Cavallo from Messer Griuliano, a surgeon who had a house at Monte Giordano, together with a Venus and a Faun (not certainly identifiable) for the total cost of 45 scudi 50 baiocchi, while the other was bought on 20th January, 1567, from Messer Alessandro Brunorio for 23 scudi. Neither of these statues is mentioned as still, at Monte Cavallo after the Cardinal's death. It is carious that only one Diana is mentioned at Tivoli either in the Inventory of 1572 (No. 27) or in subsequent descriptions. Its identification with either of the two described by Ligorio as found at Hadrian's Villa to the north of the Canopus (Winnefeld, p. 154, quotes the various accounts) is thus inadmissible. Ligorio says that one was “a large statue of Diana with the dog close to her,” while the other was also of Diana with the bow and arrows in the act of going hunting.” And in the Turin MS. he adds that these and the other statues found there passed into the hands of Cardinal Caraffa, who gave them to various princes. Penna, (Villa Adriana, iii. 20)Google Scholar identifies the first of the two mentioned by Ligorio with the Diana of the Villa d'Este and the statue of Diana in the Sala degli Animali at the Vatican (No. 210), but this statue agrees far less well with the description of Del Re than that in the Capitol (Atrio, 52), in regard to which we have the further evidence of the inventories given in Appendix D. However, if Penna's statement that the statue in the Vatican was acquired by Pacetti from the Villa d'Este in 1788, and by him sold to the Vatican, is correct (it finds some favour from Winnefeld, but is not even mentioned by Amelung) we have in it the second statue of Diana which we need.

^{page 226 note a} It is of travertine: De Brosses, (Lettres familières, ii. 282)Google Scholar is strangely in error of speaking of it as a “fairly good statue of Greek marble,” and lie mentions no others, though his visit (1739–40) was previous to the sale of any of the statues.

^{page 226 note b} Op. cit. 107.

^{page 227 note a} That is to say, early in 1610, for the imprimatur bears date 18th October of that year, though the preface was not written until 8th April, 1611.

^{page 228 note a} Seni, , op. cit. 52.Google Scholar

^{page 228 note b} Triggs (op. cit. 125) attributes the design of the gardens to the joint work of Pirro Ligorio, Giacomo della Porta (who certainly made some of the fountain statues), and the hydraulic engineer, Orazio Olivieri (cf. Percier and Fontaine, 45).

^{page 228 note c} See Jahrbuch des Kaiserlichen Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Ergänzungsheft V. (Winnefeld, Die Villa des Hadrian), 5; Seni, op. cit. 56 n. The first edition is to be found in Cod. Barb. Lat. 4849 (8^Vsqq.), Vat. Lat. 5295 (9^Vsqq.); also in Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 22001; Paris, Bibl. Nat. fonds ital. 625 (so P. de Nolhac in Mélanges Renier (1886), p. 325 n. 1); the second in Barb. Lat. 4342 (38 sqq.), 4849 (47 sqq.), 5219 (127 sqq.), and was published from a MS. at Leyden by Havercamp in Grævius and Burmann's Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum Italiæ, viii.. part 4. The third is only preserved in. vol. xx. (29^Vsqq.) of the Turin MS. of his work on antiquities (cf. Lanciani, Storia degli Scavi II. III sqq.).

^{page 228 note d} I cite Cod. Barb. Lat. 4849, 8^Vsqq.

^{page 228 note e} De Cavalleriis I. 36, i. ii. 41. Vatican, Braccio Nuovo, 132.

^{page 228 note f} Museo Chiaramonti, 547.

^{page 229 note a} cf. Winnefeld 70 med., 150.

^{page 229 note b} The panorama of 1573 shows the gardens complete, as they were intended to be, and certain changes of plan naturally took place, e.g. the fountain of Neptune was intended, according to this engraving (No. 29) to have had in the centre a standing statue of the god, with his trident in his hand, standing upon and driving four sea-horses; whereas Del Re (p. 69) saw fragments of the unfinished statue, the head and some limbs, lying about in the garden, where they still are; while the fountain itself was never built. Nor were the fountains of the grottos of the Sibyls (No. 19) nor of Venus (No. 31) ever constructed as designed. Also the Grotta di Venere (No. 17) had already been altered by Del Re's time (p. 52), a Bacchus having been substituted for the Venus. Zappi, 93, and the inventory of 1572, Nos. 12–20, describe it in its original state.

Again, the fountain of Arethusa (No. 9) is not noted by Del Re or subsequent writers; while No. 11 seems to have acquired subsequently the name of “fontanile del Mascherone” (cf. the Descrizione of the Fontaniere, 8, 12), and neither it nor its fellow No. 12 was decorated with statues (cf. Del Re, 46). The fountain of Antinous, too (No. 26), had not been completed by Del Re's time.

^{page 229 note c} Seni, op. cit. 118. Cf. the list of work done by the painter Calderoni in 1609–12, ibid. 254.

^{page 230 note a} Arch. Stat. Modena, Busta 70.

^{page 230 note b} Infra, Appendix C.

^{page 231 note a} See below.

^{page 232 note a} The two statues on the edge of the balustrade which in pl. 4 face the villa, are shown in pl. 17 looking the other way.

^{page 232 note b} It is not mentioned by Seni, who (p. 161) passes over the first half of the eighteenth century almost entirely, only quoting a letter of Bulgarini of 1736; and I do not think it was ever set up. The text runs as follows:

“Serenissimis/ Francisco Maria Estense, et Carlotta Aurelianense Principibus Mutine/ ex fausto ad Urbem accessu, in hanc Villam divertentibus / fontes hi, et alii complures / quorum vix memoria supererat/ in pristinum statum restituti/ Serenissimo Raynaldo Estense Mut(inae) Reg(e) Mirandule Duce/ Anno Salutis MDCCXXI.”

^{page 233 note a} The fountain is in a room on the level of the great Fontanone, or Fontana dell' Ovato. The engraving shows the Bacchus in the niche described by Del Re, p. 51 (Appendix B), and the four putti of Inv. 1572, 16–19, though the “masks” are not visible, nor are they mentioned by Del Re.

^{page 233 note b} Fontaniere, 49.

^{page 233 note c} P. 26 (cf. Inv. 1572, 49, 50; and Appendix B).

^{page 234 note a} Del Re, 30.

^{page 234 note b} Fontaniere, 63.

^{page 234 note c} Op. cit. 261.

^{page 234 note d} Fontaniere, 66.

^{page 234 note e} Seni, 161 sqq.

To those mentioned by Seni I may add the following, copied from a fragmentary MS. diary, and under date 14th October, 1752, which I saw in a sale at the Libreria Romana in December, 1907 (No. 677 of the catalogue): “Siccome la Villa d'Este in Tivoli era stata posta in vendita sin dal tempo che il Sermo Duca di Modena era passato in Francia (1743) cosi penetrasi che ora ne abbia formato trattato il Sig. Principe Ruspoli per fame compra quando potrà convenirsi del valore.”

^{page 235 note a} Seni, 263 sqq.

^{page 235 note b} A postscript mentions a Mars and three liberti pileati. The former may be identical with the Mars of the inventory of 1572, No. 46 (now Ince 43), but the latter three I cannot account for.

^{page 235 note c} Except the Venus, which was there at least up till 1830 (No. 8 in the Salone), but disappeared between that date and 1834, as can be learned from a comparison of the editions of Tofanelli's guide of those years, and the Egyptian statue, which was transferred to the Louvre by Napoleon, and was never sent back to Rome. The Venus might be identified with one now on the roof of the Sala Rotonda at the Vatican, with which it agrees in type and measurements, were it not that this has the original left leg, whereas both Cartieri and his annotator state that this was partly restored.

^{page 235 note d} For Lolli's excavations cf. Winnefeld, op. cit. 9, 153; Crocchianti, op. cit. 237; Bulgarini, op. cit. 128.

^{page 236 note a} Regio Palazzo di Modena (Modena, 1811), 32.

^{page 236 note b} Winckelmann, ii, 27

^{page 236 note c} Inv. 1572, 63

^{page 236 note d} P. 165.

^{page 237 note a} Fontaniere, 60. The philosopher is perhaps No. 202 in the Glyptothek at Munich. Dall' Olio (loc. cit.) tells us that the price paid for the four was 1,260 scudi.

^{page 237 note b} The authority is Justi, Winckelmann, ii, 27, who, as usual, quotes no documents.

^{page 237 note c} A note on a loose piece of paper enclosed in the description by the Fontaniere and bearing the signature of the sculptor Antonio d'Este, remarks that the seventy-five articles therein noted (I made the exact total to be seventy-seven) may serve for comparison with the statues mentioned in the description of Fabio Croce, and with the others bought by the writer's deceased father in 1780.

Seni (p. 176) mentions this estimate of the value of the villa and its contents, which was placed at 78,963 scudi, while that of the statues and furniture only was only 787 scudi! (p. 167 n.). He cites, however, a letter of March 6th, 1779, showing that Pierantoni was offering 900 scudi for three of the statues (Arch. Stat. Mod. Busta, 72.); and dall' Olio (op. cit. 34) informs us that these were bought by him, and were as follows: a woman leaning against a pillar, a nymph with a vase on her shoulders (Inv. 1572, 57 ?), and a seated Jupiter (Inv. 1572, 9 ?).

^{page 238 note a} Ancient Marhles in Great Britain, 79. n. 195.

^{page 238 note b} Loc. cit.

^{page 238 note c} Of Statuary, 352 (Michaelis, op. cit. 334).

^{page 238 note d} Not. Inv. 1572, 87, the one noted by Del Re, which has no drapery on the shoulder.

^{page 238 note e} The museum at Cataio, near Battaglia, not far from Padua, was founded by Tomasso Obizzi in 1789 and following years, and left by him to the house of Este in 1805. It is therefore improbable that we should find in it any statues from the Villa d'Este, unless any that had been conveyed to Modena (where none from the Villa d'Este, indeed hardly any statues at all, are mentioned by Dutschke, Antike Bildwerke in Oberitalien) were taken to Cataio to swell that collection. For it is, indeed, the case that the Obizzi museum was transferred by the Archduke Maximilian to Vienna, and returned to Modena in 1822. (Documenti inediti, ii. p. xvGoogle Scholar.) A glance through Dutschke, however, does not reveal any promising identifications.

^{page 238 note f} Geografia dell' Italia (Provincie di Modena e Reggio nell' Emelia, 45).

^{page 239 note a} Dall' Olio, 33.

^{page 239 note b} Monumenti Antichi Inediti, 1788, 29.

^{page 239 note c} The statue given by Furtwängler, Masterpieces, p. 85, fig. 33, is not the same.

^{page 239 note d} The removal of some of the less important was certainly carried out somewhat carelessly; the recumbent Venus, for example, of the fountain of the swans (Inv. 1572, No. 8), seems to have been violently chiselled away from her base, a part of which still remains. Venturini's view of the fountain (pl. 26), with the two boys riding geese (Inv. 1573, 13, 14), is given as our Pl XXXIV. The boy at the top with the swan is not mentioned by Del Re, or in other descriptions, but is identical with Ince 45. The boy eating a bunch of grapes of which Del Re speaks (not so shown by Venturini) is probably Vatican, Candelabri, 83A.

^{page 240 note a} Another lot, even less interesting, I did not purchase.

^{page 241 note a} Del Re, 8, 9.

^{page 242 note a} Abbreviated as M throughout the rest of the inventory.

^{page 242 note b} By exchange from the people of Rome in 1568 una Venerina che dorme mezzo vestita (Lanciani, , Storia degli Scavi, ii. 82Google Scholar.).

^{page 242 note c} This was excavated in 1566 and 15 scudi given to its tinder, who was working for the Cardinal. (Venturi, 201.)

^{page 242 note d} For two busts in the hall of the fountain at Tivoli a chest piece (petto) in marble was supplied in July, 1570, for a Septimius Severus on the 4th and a M. Aurelius on the 31st. (Venturi, 204.) The reference should be to two of these three busts—but cf. infra, 71, 92.

^{page 242 note e} No. 30 in the plan of 1573 (Venus Cloacina (?)).

^{page 242 note f} Zappi, 86^V.

^{page 242 note g} Trenta is printed in Documenti inediti, loc. cit., but makes no sense. I read “tronchi.”

^{page 242 note h} No. 16 in the plan of 1573. They are in reality of stone.

^{page 242 note i} No. 17 in the plan of 1573 (the text to which mentions also the four small putti). Zappi, 93 med., who mentions four putti, two of them riding geese (swans according to Del Re). The latter are also mentioned in the inventory of 1568 (No. 22). Zappi describes the Venus as nude, holding her hands before her, and with her drapery on a tree-trunk (sic).

^{page 244 note a} Two of them ( ? ) bought for 13 scudi on May 25th, 1568 (.Venturi, 202). Zappi, 93fin.

^{page 244 note b} This may be perhaps identical with the colossal head of Cybele, said by Penna (iii. 48) to have been found at Hadrian's villa, which was presented by Benedict XIV. to the Museo Capitolino (Atrio 18 until 1903, since then in the Palazzo dei Conservatori). This head, however, is not mentioned in either of the inventories in Appendix D.

^{page 244 note c} Restored on 21st August and 22nd November, 1568 (Venturi, 202). Zappi, 100, init.

^{page 244 note d} Restored 20th July, 1568, and again 25th October, 1570 (Venturi, 202, 204). Zappi, 100 med.

^{page 244 note e} No. 18 in the plan of 1573. Zappi, 97^Vinit.

^{page 244 note f} Zappi, 97^Vfin. Restored 6th June, 1572, at the cost of 15 scudi (Venturi, 206).

^{page 244 note g} One of these two was found on the Palatine and bought in 1570. Both, Zappi, 97.

^{page 244 note h} Not Zappi, 99 init. (which was elsewhere).

^{page 244 note i} Zappi, 96^Vinit. Del Re describes it as having a thin robe down to the feet, a mantle on the back, sandals, the right hand raised, a long spear in the left, a helmet, and a chlamys (no doubt with the Gorgon's head) in front of the breast.

^{page 244 note k} Found at Hadrian's villa. De Cavalleriis (who calls it Psyche), I. 24 = I., II. 43. No. 115 in the Inventory of 1568, where it is noted as in Rome ready to go to Tivoli. No. 10 in the plan of 1573. Zappi, 96 fin.

^{page 244 note l} No. 8 in the plan of 1573. Zappi, 96 init. It is not either of the two statues of Æsculapius given by De Cavalleriis I. 20, 21 = I., II. 39, 40, as these do not tally with the description of Del Re.

^{page 244 note m} De Cavalleriis I. 35 = I., II. 44. No. 8 in the plan of 1573. Zappi, 96 med.

^{page 244 note n} No. 15 in the plan of 1573.

^{page 244 note o} No. 7 in the plan of 1573. Zappi, 98^Vinit.

^{page 245 note a} Del Re's measurement is wrong: the real height is 1·30 m.

^{page 246 note a} Bought in 1566 for 18 scudi (Venturi, 200). No. 6 in the plan of 1573. Zappi, 98^Vfin.

^{page 246 note b} Zappi, 98^Vfin.

^{page 246 note c} Found at Hadrian's villa ( ? ). Zappi, 98^Vfin. Not De Cavalleriis, I. 39 = I., II. 45.

^{page 246 note d} Zappi, 99 init. mentions statues of Castor and Pollux here; two also are shown in the view o 1573, and Venturi has three entries, in 1569 and 1570, of the restoration of a Pollux (pp. 203, 204) by Leonardo Sormanno, which was carted to Tivoli in 1571.

^{page 246 note e} Zappi, 99 med. (Restored 22nd November, 1568 ( ?), Yenturi, 202.)

^{page 246 note f} Zappi, 99 med. It would appear that these statues occupied the niches where, in Del Re's time, 39 and 40 stood.

^{page 246 note g} No. 79 in the inventory of 1568.

^{page 248 note a} No. 21 in the plan of 1573. A Venus leaving the bath was transported from the house of Mo. Andrea to Monte Cavallo on (day not named), 1568, and another Venus given by Card. Borromeo from S. Prassede on 26th October (Venturi, 202, 203). A Cupid was bought for 15 scudi on 4th June, 1568, and 30 scudi paid on account of the Hercules and two Cupids on 20th November of the same year (Ventari, 202).

^{page 248 note b} The copy has “farfalla,” which makes nonsense; “in spalla” is probable, and occurs in the next entry. I read “in spalla” in the original.

^{page 248 note c} Acquired on 2nd May, 1567, with the stag (Appendix C) for 10 scudi, 44 baiocchi (Venturi 201).

^{page 248 note d} No. 3 in the plan of 1573.

^{page 248 note e} A faun was bought in 1568 from the Abbot of S. Sebastiano at Rome, through the antiquary Stampa, for 46·40 scudi (Venturi, 201, 203) paid on 28th February, and 1st April.

^{page 248 note f} Restored on 15th June, 1572, at the cost of 6 scudi (Venturi, 206).

^{page 248 note g} One of these is probably the “Commodus” bought of Nicolò Staglia for 75 scudi early in 1565 (Venturi, 200).

^{page 248 note h} No. 82 in the inventory of 1568 (“modern”).

^{page 248 note i} Bought 1st April, 1561 (Venturi, 201, 203). (With it was bought a “small Nile,” and a head of Alexander Mammeeus (sic) (unidentified), the price paid being 38·28 scudi.)

^{page 248 note k} No. 86 in the inventory of 1568 (“modern”).

^{page 248 note l} “Pilo” (literally “pillar”) may mean sarcophagus, or cippus—the latter is probably meant where it is expressly described as “square.” In the case of 77 it probably means a fountain basin.

^{page 250 note a} Found at Hadrian's Villa 1st October, 1570 (4 scudi paid) (Venturi, 204).

^{page 253 note a} One of these, of a boxer, is mentioned by Zappi, 96^Vmed. Perhaps it is the Castor of the Inventory of 1572, No. 31. The Fontaniere calls it a valuable statue of a fighting gladiator. Possibly the other three are the “tre liberti pileati” of the Inventories of 1752–53 published by Seni.

^{page 254 note a} Probably one of a pair of statues of black marble, one presented by the Bishop of Narni, the other purchased, in 1568 (Venturi 202, 203). Cf. Seni, 38 fin.

^{page 254 note b} Cf. footnote to Inventory 1572, 70. Cartieri describes it as about 0·67 m. long and 0·33 high, with several putti around the figure, and hieroglyphs on the pedestal, so that it could not be Clarac 749 C, 811 Amelung, A., Skulpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, i. 130Google Scholar, mentions it as now lost.

^{page 256 note a} The account of the purchase given by Dall' Olio (see above) omits all mention of the Mars, of the three liberti pileati, and of the basin of africano, and substitutes a table of giallo antico.

Article contents

VII.—The Villa d'Este at Tivoli and the Collection of Classical Sculptures which it contained

Extract

Access options

References

Save article to Kindle

Save article to Dropbox

Save article to Google Drive

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests