
All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in December 2024.
All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in December 2024.
You may wish to see a page about the history and monuments of Villa Adriana first.
(left) White marble columns in the Maritime Theatre; (centre) granite columns near the Greek Library; (right) cipollino
column near the Latin Library and view of Tivoli
Statues, columns, and marbles of the rarest kinds, have been, and are continually discovered when excavations are made amidst the ruins of these amazing fabrics; while briars and brambles fill the halls and stuccoed apartments, and a mixed confusion of orchards and gardens, forest and fruit trees, vineyards and corn waving over them, present a strange and melancholy contrast.
John Chetwode Eustace's Classical Tour of Italy (in 1802) - publ. 1813
Some of the buildings are decorated with white marble columns, but in most of them Emperor Hadrian (who regarded himself as a talented architect) departed
from Greek canons as he made use of coloured stones: grey and pink granite from Egypt
(as he did in the Pantheon) and green cipollino
from a Greek island
(as he did in the Library of Athens).
(left) Modified Corinthian capital in a Triclinium (dining hall) of the Imperial Palace; (right-above)
Ionic capital in the main hall of the Great Baths; (right-below) base of a column in the Building with Three Exedrae
Hadrian did not limit himself
to the standard three orders: he combined elements of the Corinthian capital
with the lotus leaves of Egyptian capitals.
In the XVIth century Antonio da Sangallo the Younger developed a new design for the
capitals which decorated his buildings, based on those he saw at Villa Adriana, e.g. at S. Maria in Porta Paradisi. Similar capitals were designed in 1480 for an Augustinian convent at Cori.
Marble inlays found in many buildings
The floors of the most important buildings were in opus sectile,
an inlay made up of relatively large pieces of coloured marbles. Yellow and red marbles from Simitthus (in today's Tunisia) were utilized in addition to green cipollino and pavonazzetto, a stone with veins of different colours.
Similar marble inlays can be seen at Villa dei Quintili which was built a few years later. The finest Roman opus sectile panels were made in the IVth century at the Basilica of Giunio Basso and at Ostia.
Coloured marbles as well as curved shapes have led modern art historians to define the architecture of Villa Adriana as
Ancient Roman Baroque as it anticipated some of the features of the XVIIth century style.
Ceiling stucco decoration in the Great Thermae (Baths) and enlargements showing some details
Ceilings were all plastered; those of the underground passages were utilized by visitors for graffiti (until a few years ago). Those of the most important buildings were decorated with stuccoes based on geometric motifs and very small figures, similar to what was done at Domus Tiberiana on the Palatine. You may wish to see the elaborate stuccoes which decorate an underground basilica near Porta Maggiore and those of Terme Stabiane at Pompeii.
Casino Borghese - Entrance Hall: relief portraying Curtius: horse from Villa Adriana
Any one wishing to know the number and nature of the sculptures found almost year by year, and now dispersed all over Europe, should consult Agostino Penna's "Viaggio pittorico della Villa Adriana" and Hermann Winnefeld's "Die Villa des Hadrian bei Tivoli." The most successful excavations were obviously those of the sixteenth century. These were made in an almost virgin soil. Alexander VI is said to have discovered in the Odeum the group of the Nine Muses now in Madrid; Cardinal Alessandro Farnese a frieze with cupids riding on dolphins, in the Maritime Theatre (1535) (see below similar reliefs); Cardinal Ippolito d'Este many hundred works of art in the Xystus, the imperial palace, and the thermae (1550-1572); Cardinal Gianvincenzo Caraffa a Diana, an Atalanta, and a Fortune, in the imperial palace (1540); Cardinal Marcello Cervini a marble frieze, in the home garden (1550). Marcantonio Palosi, a magistrate of great repute at the time of Pope Paul III, found a fragmentary group of horses on the western slope of the Vale of Tempe. Ulisse Aldovrandi, the antiquarian from Bologna who examined this find in 1551, after one of the horses had been almost completely put together again, calls it "a most beautiful steed, in high relief, which seems to stumble and fall forward - lavoro meraviglioso e degno" The illustration on p. 140 shows what the seventeenth century restorers were capable of doing with the poor animal. The falling horse from a decorative quadriga has become Curtius leaping into the chasm, one of the most admired impostures of the salone in the Borghese Museum.
Rodolfo Lanciani - Wanderings in the Roman Campagna - 1909
Musei Capitolini: Mosaic of the Doves
(In 1741) Those who go to Rome ought
particularly to enquire for all the statues which have been lately dug up
at Villa Hadriani, among which the principal are the two centaurs, and
the mosaic work of two partriges, which are the finest that have been seen
made of natural stones. They should well examine the collections placed by the late pope in the capitol, and greatly augmented by the present, Benedict the fourteenth.
Richard Pococke - A Description of the East and Some Other Countries - 1745
In the winter of 1736-37 Monsignor Alessandro Furietti, a young prelate from Bergamo, fond of antiquarian research, obtained from the Bulgarini the right of excavating their property, not on the usual basis of a division of the spoils in halves, but on the payment of a modest fee once for all. Chance favored him, and before the season was over he had secured three masterpieces - the "Mosaic of the Doves," a perfect copy of the original by Sosus of Pergamus, described by Pliny (*), and the two Centaurs of bigio morato, the work of two eminent artists from Aphrodisias, Aristeus and Papias. It is said that these rich finds strained the relations between Furietti and Pope Benedict XIV, who, in his eagerness to enrich the newly founded Capitoline Museum, had perhaps anticipated the possibility of a gift from the ambitious prelate. The fact is that so long as Benedict ruled in the Vatican Furietti did not obtain his promotion to cardinalship to which he was otherwise entitled. Clement XIII, who gave him the much-coveted purple hat on September 24, 1759, scored no better success. The Centaurs of Aristeus and Papias and the Doves of Sosus remained in the Furietti house until the death of their discoverer, when they were finally purchased from the heirs for the sum of sixteen thousand scudi and placed in the Capitoline Museum. Lanciani
(*) There is a dove also, greatly admired, in the act of drinking, and throwing the shadow of its head upon the water; while other birds are to be seen sunning and pluming themselves, on the margin of a drinking-bowl.
Pliny the Elder - Historia Naturalis - Book XXXVI:60 - Translation by J. Bostock and H. T. Riley.
Musei Vaticani: mosaics from Villa Adriana: (left) perhaps the Emperor as a gardener; (right)
Abduction of Ganymede (see other mosaics portraying this subject in Tunisia) or Apotheosis of Antinous
Comparisons drawn from other employments came to mind (..). Today, on the Villa's terrace, watching the slaves treat the orchard trees or weed the flower beds, I think most of all of the coming and going of a watchful gardener.
Marguerite Yourcenar - Memoirs of Hadrian - 1951 (see a page with other quotations from this book and other images of Villa Adriana).
In 1752 Furietti published De Musivis, a book on ancient mosaics and the first plate was dedicated to that of the doves. This had a great impact on raising the general interest in mosaics. Another mosaic mentioned by Pliny was found in 1833 in Rome at Horti Serviliani, perhaps made by order of Hadrian. Furietti found also some very fine statues and this led to a new wave of excavations.
Overall the decoration of the walls, ceilings and floors of the buildings of Villa Adriana was based on geometrical motifs. However
a few emblemata, small mosaics portraying figures, were found "hanging" on the walls of some buildings as if they were paintings or
at the centre of geometric mosaics on the floors.
(left) Mosaic at the Imperial Palace; (centre/right) mosaics at Hospitalia
The use of mosaics for decorating floors was relatively limited with the exception of Hospitalia. Each room was decorated in a different way with mosaics made up of a central floral section surrounded by geometric motifs. See similar mosaics at Villa dei Volusii in the outskirts of Rome and at Ostia.
Musei Capitolini (from Villa Adriana): (left) "Furietti Centaurs" which are signed by sculptors from Afrodisias; (right) drunken faun found in 1736, most likely made at Afrodisias
A centaur with a pedum in his hand and another centaur with his hands tied behind his back. Both centaurs are of bigio morato, called by the ancients Alabandicus (after a town in Caria), are inscribed with the names of two Greek artists, Aristes and Papias, and are known as the Furietti centaurs, because found by a Cardinal of that name, in the villa of Adrian. They anciently bore children on their backs, as is evident from the holes: the elder looks back at his burden with a joyous and triumphant air, the other is dejected and apparently vanquished and both are remarkable for much spirit and grace. (..) In the centre of the hall is a jocund faun, of rosso antico, eyeing with delight a bunch of grapes which he holds suspended in his right hand, and surrounded with his goat, his pedum, and his basket of grapes, which is partly open, and on which the goat rests with looks fixed on the faun as if to ascertain if it may with impunity open the basket. This statue, so admirable for the symmetry of its finely formed limbs and for natural expression, was found in the villa of Adrian.
Rev. Jeremiah Donovan - Rome Ancient and Modern - 1842
Museo Gregoriano Egizio (Musei Vaticani): coloured marble statues in Egyptian attire from Villa Adriana
Its magnificence is gone: it has passed to the Vatican, it is scattered over Italy, it may be traced in France. Any where but at Tivoli may you look for the statues and caryatides, the columns, the oriental marbles, and the mosaics, with which the villa was once adorned, or supported, or wainscoted, or floored.
Joseph Forsyth - Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters in Italy in 1802-1803
The excavations above described, and a few subsequent ones made in the last century without special success, have yielded two hundred and seventy-one works of art, including statues, busts, reliefs, mosaic pictures, candelabra, vases, and fountains. These works unfortunately have been scattered to the four winds, and the student wishing to acquaint himself personally with the artistic decoration of the villa, and with the evolution of sculpture in the best period of the Greco-Roman school, must undertake a pilgrimage through every country in Europe, including Italy (the Vatican, Capitoline, National, Borghese, and Albani museums), France (the Louvre), England (the British Museum and Lansdowne House), Prussia (the Antiquarium, Berlin), Sweden (Stockholm), Saxony (Dresden), and Russia (St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk). Lanciani
Hadrian was born at Italica in Spain, into a family of Roman origin, but he was fascinated by Greek and Egyptian cultures and several statues at Villa Adriana portrayed classical figures in Egyptian attire.
Museo Gregoriano Egizio (Musei Vaticani): (left) head of Isis/Sothis/Demeter which was placed at the top of a fountain in the Canopus; (right) small basalt statue portraying Osiris/Serapis/Canopus
The deities which Hadrian wanted to be celebrated at the villa were a blend of different cultures to which the Emperor added his own philosophical interests. Sothis is the Greek name of the star Sirius; its yearly rising above the horizon in July marked the beginning of the Nile floods; the fountain caused the overflowing of the Canopus in a re-enactment of these floods. Demeter was the Greek goddess of harvest. A large mosaic which was found near Palestrina depicts the Nile from its source to its mouth; it most likely decorated another villa belonging to Hadrian.
Osiris/Serapis was worshipped in the form of a vase with a human head which explains the peculiar aspect of the small statue portraying the god.
Musei Vaticani: (left) Bust of Antinous; (right) Antinous as Osiris from Villa Adriana
In 123 Hadrian visited Nicaea, a town in Bithynia which had been struck by an earthquake. In the course of that visit or soon after the Emperor met Antinous, a youth of great beauty, most likely of a very humble origin. For seven years Antinous followed Hadrian in his travels through the Roman Empire. He drowned in the Nile in 130, under mysterious circumstances. The grief of the Emperor was such that he wanted Antinous to be deified, a honour which was reserved to members of the imperial family only. He ordered busts and statues of the young man to be sent to all the main towns of the Empire to be worshipped in temples (e.g. at Delphi), thus Antinous has become an icon of ancient sculpture. In 2005 archaeologists have found evidence of a temple to Antinous (or perhaps a cenotaph) near the Canopus and they believe that the obelisk now at Pincio was erected at Villa Adriana.
Archaeological Museum of Naples - Farnese Collection: the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton (Roman marble copies of Greek bronze originals which were found at Villa Adriana)
We are crowded with statues and cloyed with the exquisite in painting and sculpture, but this abundance is an illusion, for we reproduce over and over some dozen masterpieces which are now beyond our power to invent. Yourcenar
Musei Vaticani: (left) Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy (found at Villa di Cassio, outside Tivoli); (right) Annia Faustina, wife of Emperor Antoninus Pius (found at Villa Adriana)
British Museum - Townley Collection: busts of a Homeric hero (left) and of Perikles (right) from Villa Adriana; the Homeric hero was perhaps a companion of Ulysses because the head resembles that of a wineskin-bearer in a famous group found at Sperlonga depicting the blinding of Polyphemus
Cortile Ottagono del Belvedere: colossal masks from Villa Adriana (see similar masks from Teatro di Marcello)
Palazzo Barberini - Main staircase: relief from Villa Adriana
Museo Nazionale Romano: Pentelic marble crater found in 1881 at the Maritime Theatre; its reliefs depict a fight between cranes and snakes, a Hellenistic subject of Egyptian origin (with ibises replacing cranes)
* * *
Copies of statues at the Canopus: (left) Amazon (Mattei type); (centre) crocodile (original in "cipollino");
(right) Caryatid, copy of the statues at the Erechtheion of Athens
After WWII archaeologists found some other statues and reliefs which decorated the gardens of Villa Adriana. Copies of some of them were placed at the Canopus whereas the originals are on display at a small museum inside the villa. The following images depict some of the most interesting exhibits.
Temporary exhibition at Musei Capitolini: (left) "Capitoline Amazon", a IInd century AD highly restored copy of the statue by Polycleitus, from the Albani Collection; (centre) "Sciarra Amazon", Roman copy of a statue by Cresilas, from the Museum of Villa Adriana; (right) "Mattei Amazon", Roman copy of a statue by Phidias and detail of her wound at the Museum of Villa Adriana
The
most celebrated (sculptors) have also come into competition
with each other (in ca 435 BC), because they had made statues of Amazons; when
these were dedicated in the Temple of Artemis of
Ephesus, it was agreed that the best one should be
selected by the vote of the artists themselves who
were present; and it then became evident that the
best was the one which all the artists judged to be
the next best after their own: this is the Amazon
by Polycleitus, while next to it came that of Phidias,
third Cresilas's, fourth Cydon's and fifth Phradmon's.
Pliny the Elder - Historia Naturalis - Book XXXIV. Translation by H. Rackham
It is likely that Hadrian had marble copies of all the five statues which were made for the contest.
(left) Crocodile: (right-above) River Tiber; (right-below) River Nile
(left/centre) Amelung type athletes (Walther Amelung was a German archaeologist who specialized in investigations of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and made a catalogue of the sculpture collection of the Vatican); (right) Mars
(left to righ) Silenus (a satyr and the companion of Dionysus), a draped woman, another Silenus and the Venus of Cnidus
Reliefs from the Maritime Theatre
Reliefs of pilasters with birds and snakes among tree shoots
(left) "Oscillum" portraying a satyr ("oscilla" were small circular reliefs which were hung on trees - see an "oscillum" at Gozo); (right) lotus leaves
The image used as background for this page shows a bust of Hadrian found at Villa Adriana and now at Musei Vaticani. You may wish to return to the monuments of Villa Adriana or stroll through it reading Memoirs of Hadrian or see it at night.
Other pages on Tivoli:
Roman Tivoli
Medieval and Renaissance Tivoli
Villa d'Este - the Palace
Villa d'Este - the Gardens
Villa d'Este and Tivoli in the 1905 paintings by Alberto Pisa
Move on to the next step in your tour of the
Environs of Rome: Palestrina.