The Architectural Decoration in Terracotta from Early Latin Temples in the Museo di Villa Giulia

S. Arthur Strong

doi:10.2307/295821

The Architectural Decoration in Terracotta from Early Latin Temples in the Museo di Villa Giulia

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2012

S. Arthur Strong

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The republican art of Rome and Latium has been much neglected. Even the admirable article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica which is signed by one of our foremost scholars, the same writer's Companion to Roman Studies, and the article on Roman art in the Cambridge Companion to Latin Studies begin the subject of Roman art with Augustus, or give only the briefest of indications for what precedes; yet more can be done in the way of reconstructing a picture of the earlier period than most archaeologists suppose, and it is my purpose in the present paper to show how the fictile decorations from the early Latin temples can be used to this end. My examples are taken mainly from the collection of terracotta recently arranged in the new wing of the Museo di Villa Giulia. These form a homogeneous group from sites in the immediate vicinity of Rome, and they are exhibited as far as possible in chronological order, so that the development of this branch of art can be studied from its earliest manifestations to its decay in the last century of the republic, when terracotta decoration had to give way to the marble sculptures introduced in the wake of Hellenistic art.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 4 , November 1914 , pp. 157 - 182

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/295821 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright ©S. Arthur Strong 1914. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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^{page 157 note 1} For all the photographs reproduced in the accompanying plates and figures, unless otherwise stated, I am indebted to the Gabinetto Fotografico del Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, with the liberal consent of the Director of the Museo di Villa Giulia.

^{page 157 note 2} I have already drawn attention to the subject in a column and a half of the Times (3rd May, 1913).

^{page 158 note 1} See Balestra, , La Fontana Pubblica di Giulio III e il Palazzo di Pio IV sulla Via Flaminia, Rome, 1911Google Scholar.

^{page 158 note 2} The complete inventory of the antiques at the Villa Giulia reveals the extent and variety of the collection. It has lately been discovered by Miss Hewett in the archives of the Ricci family at Montepulciano, and is to be published with full commentary by Dr. Ashby.

^{page 159 note 1} Some account of the unfortunate controversy can be found in Mémoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, xxxvii, 2, p. 51, ff; cf. the Monthly Review. Feb. 1902, pp. 79–101.

^{page 159 note 2} A good account of the villa, with full bibliography, will be found in Professor della Seta's Villa Giulia e Museo, the proofs of which he has kindly allowed me to see; cf. also the article by R. Erculei in the Nuova Antologia (1890), vol. xxvi, 3rd serGoogle Scholar.

^{page 159 note 3} “Cras non erit consistorium sed erit vinea” was his joking answer when asked whether a consistory should be summoned on the morrow.

^{page 160 note 1} An important book dealing with the contents of the Tomba Regulini Galassi is shortly to be published by B. Nogara and G. Pinza under the title La tomba Regolini Galassi e gli altri materiali coevi del Museo Gregoriano-etrusco.

^{page 160 note 2} Cities of Central and Northern Italy and Dalmatia, 1910, p. 26 ff.

^{page 160 note 3} See Poulsen, F., Der Orient und die frühgriechische Kunst, 1912, pp. 121–128Google Scholar, for the probable derivation of the decoration of these pieces.

^{page 160 note 4} F. Poulsen, op. cit. p. 130 f. for their Greek character. These objects had previously been explained by G. Pinza as the bars of harps (Bull. Comm. 1910, p. 66 f.).

^{page 161 note 1} 1913, vol. II, pp. 313–381.

^{page 161 note 2} Villa Giulia e Museo, Rome, 1914Google Scholar.

^{page 161 note 3} Helbig, 1773. Fully illustrated by Savignoni, Monumenti antichi dei Lincei, 1898 (“Da un nuovo sarcofago della Necropoli di Caere”). plates XIII and XIV and figs. 1 and 2. See also Collignon, Statues funéraires, fig. 22., and della Seta, Religion and Art, fig. 132.

^{page 161 note 4} This splendid sarcophagus seems to have been almost forgotten since it was published in the Musée Napoléon p1. 80 (Longpérier), and in the Monumenti dell' Istituto, VI, pl. 59.

^{page 161 note 5} A. s. Murray, Terracotta sarcophagi in Brit. Mus. plates 9–11.

^{page 161 note 6} This has been well pointed out by Savignoni in, the article cited.

^{page 161 note 7} Pliny, N.H. xxxv, 157Google Scholar.

^{page 162 note 1} The Ionian character of the couch was already noted by Brunn; cf. the couch of Achilles on the vase from Cervetri, Baumeister, I, fig. 791, and see Savignoni, art. cited, p. 340, note 3.

^{page 162 note 2} della Seta, Religion and Art, p. 250.

^{page 162 note 3} On the banquet as symbol of apotheosis see V. Macchioro, Il Simbolismo nelle figurazioni sepolcrali Romane, 1911, p. 124.

^{page 163 note 1} cf. Collignon, Statues funéraires, p. 348.

^{page 163 note 2} ibid. p. 348.

^{page 163 note 3} W. Altmann; Architektur und Ornamentik der antiken Sarkophage, 1902, p. 39.

^{page 163 note 4} In Greece, besides the well-known archaic terracotta revetments from Olympia, we have the matchless series of painted slabs from the temple of Apollo at Thermon in Aetolia, Ephemeris Archaeologike, 1913, pp. 71–95, plates 2–6; Antike Denkmaeler, ii, plates 49–53A. For Asia Minor the material is growing every day, but systematic publication is as much lacking here as in the case of the Italic terracottas.

^{page 163 note 5} N.H. xxxv, 152.

^{page 163 note 6} For the terracottas from Gordion, see Körte, C. A., Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen im Jabre 1900 (5th Ergänzungsheft of Arch. Jahrhuch, 1914)Google Scholar. For Neandria see Koldewey, 51 Winckelmannsprogramm, 1891.

^{page 163 note 7} On the general subject of terracotta revetments see Borrmann (Die Keramik in der Baukunst, 1897. pp. 28–39), whose conclusions, however, need modifying in the light of recent discovery, and the monographs by Wiegand and Rizzo cited below. See also Deonna, Statues de terre cuite dans l'antiquité, 1908, pp. 90–102.

^{page 164 note 1} Perrot, Histoire de l'Art, VII, p. 579, for coloured terracottas in temple architecture and the subsequent colouring of stone to imitate terracotta.

^{page 164 note 2} See Benndorf in Oesterr. Jahreshefte, 1899, p. 36, ff (“Ueber den Ursprung der Giebelakroterien”). Benndorf does not actually identify the Heraion terracotta shield with the solar disc, but gives the clue to the right interpretation by comparing these rayed discs to the rayed monstrance placed outside Jesuit churches, which was copied from the familiar rayed monstrance of the altar—a symbolism evidently taken over for the host from the solar rays.

^{page 164 note 3} Paus. v, 10, 4. The shield was set up by the Lacedaemonians, and the dedicatory inscription has been found.

^{page 164 note 4} Very remarkable are the rayed discs on the two temples at Kourno in Laconia, cited by Benndorf with various other examples. See now the additional examples given by A. B. Cook, Zeus, i, p. 292, ffGoogle Scholar. who not only identifies these various shields as solar discs, but aptly remarks “that they symbolised the sun may be inferred from the fact that in Roman times they were often replaced by the four-horsed chariot of the Sun-god himself.” For a terracotta disc with Gorgoneion comparable in size to that of the Olympia Heraion from a temple at Gela, see Rizzo, in Bull. Comm. 1910, p. 312.

^{page 164 note 5} Welcker, Seelenvogel, 1902, p. 187, fig. 93, for this gesture.

^{page 165 note 1} For the date of these finds see note I, p. 173.

^{page 165 note 2} L'Art Etrusque (1889). P. 283.

^{page 166 note 1} Meisterwerke, p. 252. The whole passage, pp. 250–257 (omitted in the English translation), is still the best that has been written on figured architectonic terracottas.

^{page 166 note 2} Pellegrini, in Milani's Studi e Materiali, i.

^{page 166 note 3} Chefs d'œuvre de l'art antique, iv, pl. 151, 152.

^{page 166 note 4} Wiegand, Th., Terres cuites architecturales d'Italie,” in Arndt, P., La Glyptothèque Ny Carlsberg (Munich, 1912)Google Scholar.

^{page 166 note 5} A number of these, however, are reproduced in the text of Wiegand's monograph.

^{page 166 note 6} I should like to put in a plea here for the complete publication of the beautiful terracotta, revetments from the temple of Iuno at Civita Lavinia, in the British Museum. They include the tile-ends showing the face of a young goddess enframed in a large nimbus patterned à jour. This head is certainly one of the most perfect examples of Ionian art extant. The model in the terracotta room of the British Museum, showing many of the pieces adjusted to the cornice, etc. has done something towards making this type of terracotta decoration more familiar (fig. 17); cf. Walters, , History of Ancient Pottery, vol. i, plate iiiGoogle Scholar. It is satisfactory to note likewise that the recent find of terracottas at Rosarno has at once been publshed (Not. Scav. 1914, pp. 55–144).

^{page 166 note 7} Koch, K., Dachterrakotten aus Kampanien (excepting PomPeii), Berlin, 1912Google Scholar.

^{page 166 note 8} E. Rizzo, “Di un tempietto fittile di Nemi, etc…” in Bull. Comm. for 1910 and 1911. Rizzo himself, it may be noted (p. 309, ff.) complains of the lack of any scientific publication of most of the terracotta material found in Italy, though Koch's publication of the Campanian terracottas, noted above, had now gone some way to remove the reproach.

^{page 167 note 1} The inscription is on a block of tufa now in the Museum (Helbig, 1786, y, where the text is reproduced).

^{page 167 note 2} Helbig, 1786, a.

^{page 167 note 3} ibid. 1786, b.

^{page 167 note 4} ibid. 1786, e.

^{page 167 note 5} The Ionian character of the Satricum terracottas has been well contrasted by Rizzo, Bull. Comm. 1910, p. 311, with the Peloponnesian style of the terracottas from the temple of Apollo at: Thermon in Aetolia which are of approximately the same date.

^{page 168 note 1} Helbig, 1786, i. Still another series of archaic antefixes are in the form of a Satyr's head, wearing a vine and ivy wreath (plate XXVI, no. 2).

^{page 168 note 2} Helbig, 1786, m. The heads of a Maenad and of a Satyr, broken off from a group in the same series, are shown on plate XXVIII, nos. 4 and 5.

^{page 169 note 1} Another version from the temple of Civita Lavinia (Brit. Mus.) shows the Satyr and the Maenad with the Dionysiac panther running behind them, halting as he peers into distance, shading his eyes with his right hand: Furtwängler, Meisterwerke, fig. 32.

^{page 170 note 1} Helbig, 1786, p. Other models of similar character exist in other museums, as for instance at Florence (Milani, Museo Archeol. di Firenze, tav. cviii). Another has been found quite recently at Rosarno-Medma: see Not. Scav. 1914.

^{page 171 note 1} Helbig, 1786, n, admirably discussed by E. Rizzo, Bull. Comm. 1910, p. 284.

^{page 171 note 2} ibid. 1786, s.

^{page 171 note 3} ibid. 1786, p.

^{page 171 note 4} ibid. 1786, q.

^{page 171 note 5} ibid. 1786, o.

^{page 171 note 6} ibid. 1786, h.

^{page 171 note 7} ibid. 1786, v.

^{page 172 note 1} Helbig. 1786, u.

^{page 172 note 2} ibid. 1786, x.

^{page 172 note 3} Aphaia, pl. 107.

^{page 173 note 1} The first excavations on this site were carried out by the German Archaeological Institute in 1902 under the direction of Dr.Delbrück, (Delbrück, Das Capitolium von Signia, 1903)Google Scholar. They have lately been resumed by Dr. Ghislanzoni on behalf of the Italian government.

According to Dr. Ghislanzoni the building so far discovered cannot be dated earlier than the third century B.C. (as against Delbrück who dated it back to the fifth century), but he admits that a number of the terracottas found are of earlier date and must have belonged to an earlier temple, of which, however, no traces have so far been found.

^{page 174 note 1} Gustav Herbig in Glotta, 1913 (v), pp. 240–248, has shown that the fragmentary inscriptions of Etrusco–Campanian paterae found among the stipe votiva of the temple do not, as had been conjectured (see Thulin in Röm. Mitt, 1907, xxvii, p. 296 fGoogle Scholar. and Mengarelli in Bull. Comm. 1911, pp. 67), contain the name of Mercurius. For the present the name of the divinity to whom the temple was dedicated seems to be unknown.

^{page 174 note 2} Helbig, 1779, a.

^{page 174 note 3} della Seta, Religion and Art, fig. 129. Rizzo in Bull. Comm. 1910, pl. xiii and 1911, p. 27 ff. A fragment of similar style (upper part of figure of warrior) is in the collection of terracottas in the Museo dei Conservatori Deonna, op. cit. p. 102, fig. 3, p. 103 ff: cf. Mrs. van Buren's article which follows this paper. It probably comes from the facing of a ‘columen.’ For the bronze figure in the Louvre of a warrior wearing similar armour, see de Ridder, Bronzes antiques du Louvre, pl. iv, 15.

^{page 174 note 4} Archaische Marmor-skulpturen im Akropolis Museum zu Athen, 1909, p. 9, fig. 7.

^{page 175 note 1} I believe the remark to be Wölfflin's (probably in Renaissance und Barock, but I have failed to note the reference).

^{page 175 note 2} Savignoni, Monumenti Antichi, 1898 (viii), p. 521Google Scholar; Furtwängler, Antike Gemmen, iii, p. 89 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 175 note 3} Rizzo in Bull. Comm. 1910, p. 318, excavations by L. Kjellberg of Upsala, see Archäologischer Anzeiger for 1906, p. 265.

^{page 175 note 4} Helbig, 1779, i.

^{page 177 note 1} Helbig 1784, a.

^{page 177 note 2} For this figure and the one next described, see Deonna, op. cit. figs. 5 and 6, pp. 116 and 128.

^{page 177 note 3} Helbig, 1784, b.

^{page 178 note 1} Helbig, 1784, e.

^{page 178 note 2} ibid. 1784, f. Both (e) and (f) must, from their size, have belonged to pedimental figures. The small male head with curly hair reproduced in fig. 23 probably belongs to an antefix. The type falls into the same category as the larger male head just mentioned.

^{page 178 note 3} ibid. 1784, k.

^{page 178 note 4} ibid. 1785, h.

^{page 178 note 5} ibid. 1785, i.

^{page 178 note 6} ibid. 1785, b, a, c.

^{page 178 note 7} ibid. 1785, k.

^{page 179 note 1} Helbig, 1780, e.

^{page 179 note 2} ibid. 1780, f.

^{page 179 note 3} ibid. 1780, k.

^{page 179 note 4} ibid. 1780, i.

^{page 180 note 1} Helbig, 1007. These pieces seem to be as late as the first century B.C. cf. Deonna, Statues de terre cuite dans l'antiquité, ii, p. 159 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 180 note 2} Infesta mihi credite, signa ab Syracusis illata sunt huic urbi. iam nimis multos audio Corinthi et Athenarum ornamenta laudantis mirantisque et antefixa fictilia deorum Romanorum ridentis. ego hos malo propitios esse deos et ita spero futuros, si in suis manere sedibus patiemur: Livy, 34, 4; cf. 26, 23.

^{page 180 note 3} N.H. xxxv, 158.

^{page 181 note 1} The collection also contains a few single pieces of great beauty: the head of a young man, coloured a deep red (Helbig, 1785, r). It was found on the site of Antemnae; an interesting fact showing, as Dr. Ashby points out to me, that an old temple must have been restored on the site in the fourth century. It is a fine sculpturesque piece of fourth-century art, severer in feeling but no less delicate in execution than the famous Fortnum terracotta head from the Esquiline in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The fine and animated fragment showing Andromeda tied to the rock must have belonged to a large composition, which probably included both the monster and Perseus (Helbig, 1782, a). It comes from Falerii, and from the treatment of nude and draperies should be dated in the third to second century B.C. The piece is interesting, also, as showing a figure placed within the shadow of a rock, a device popular in the Augustan age (Sacrifice to Penates in Ara Pacis; Grimani wellheads, etc.). Another terracotta figure deserving of notice is the Victory, said to have come from Rome, which seems to have caught something of the movement of the Nike of Samothrace (phot, Brogi, 15682).

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The Architectural Decoration in Terracotta from Early Latin Temples in the Museo di Villa Giulia

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