Altar with Dionysian Relief
This circular altar, which is heavily corroded and of unknown provenance, is decorated with a relief of a procession of Maenads or Bacchantes, initiates of the entourage of Dionysus, god of wine and mysteries, who are dancing while holding their typical attributes, the cymbal and the thyrsus, in their hands. They are preceded by a panther. The iconographic theme, known in about sixty reproductions on various supports dating from the early first century BCE to the third century CE, is traditionally attributed to the Greek sculptor Callimachus (late fifth century BCE). The decorative motifs on the upper cornice of the altar are similar to those of the trabeation of the Temple of Concord in the Roman Forum, restored by Tiberius between 7 BCE and 10 CE, suggesting a date during the same period.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
late 1st century B.C.–early 1st century A.D.
Classification
Medium
Dimensions
height 92 cm (with integrations), diameter 45 cm
Provenance
Borghese Collection, cited for the first time by Nibby (1832, p. 56); Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, 1833, C, p. 43, no. 39. Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 1996, Consorzio Capitolino
Commentary
This circular altar, of unknown provenance, is heavily corroded and the upper part is restored. It was installed in Room I as a base for the statue of Aphrodite of the Louvre-Naples type when Camillo Borghese had the collection rehung in the Casino between 1819 and 1832, after it was emptied by the sale of antiquities to Napoleon Bonaparte.
The relief presents a procession of three Maenads or Bacchantes, initiates of the entourage of Dionysus, god of wine and mysteries. The women are dressed in chitons and fluttering mantles, and dance while holding their typical attributes, a cymbal and a thyrsus, in their hands. They are preceded by a panther.
The Borghese altar is an important attestation of the eclectic reformulation of this iconographic theme in workshops operating in the classicist tradition in Greece and, later, Rome. At least sixty reproductions of the theme are known, dating from the early first century BCE to the third century CE, on a wide range of supports, including altars, candelabra, reliefs, sarcophagi and vases (Touchette 1995, pp. 65–85, Touchette 1998; Dyczek 2007; Paolucci 2020, pp. 26–32).The wide circulation of the model has led scholars to attribute it to a famous artist, traditionally believed to be the Greek sculptor Callimachus, who was active in Athens at the end of the fifth century BCE. The rendering of the drapery is very similar to that in the reliefs of the parapet of the temple of Athena Nike.
Regardless of who the artist might have been, scholars agree that the original was in high relief, since the Maenads are always in profile, while there is disagreement over the material used for the archetype. According to W. Fuchs, the reliefs were metal appliques and decorated the circular base of a Choragic monument celebrating the triumph of Euripides’ Bacchae in 406–405 BCE. (Fuchs 1959, pp. 87–88). L. A. Touchette instead argues that they were arranged to the sides of the scene of the birth of Dionysus, on the podium of the statue of the god sculpted by Alkamenes and displayed in the sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus on the south slope of the Athenian Acropolis (Touchette 1995, pp. 25–30).
The decorative motifs on the upper cornice of the altar are similar to those of the trabeation of the Temple of Concord in the Roman Forum, restored by Tiberius between 7 BCE and 10 CE, suggesting a date during the same period.
Jessica Clementi
Bibliography
- A. Nibby, Monumenti scelti della Villa Borghese, Roma 1832, p. 56.
- Indicazione delle opere antiche di scultura esistenti nel primo piano della Villa Borghese, Roma 1840, p. 11, n. 5.
- A. Nibby, Roma nell’anno 1838, Roma 1841, p. 914, n. 5.
- Indicazione delle opere antiche di scultura esistenti nel primo piano della Villa Borghese, Roma 1854 (1873), p. 12, n. 5.
- A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 20.
- G. Giusti, La Galerie Borghèse et la Ville Humbert Premier à Rome, Roma 1904, p. 19.
- P. Della Pergola, La Galleria Borghese in Roma, Roma 1954, p. 8.
- R. Calza, Catalogo del Gabinetto fotografico Nazionale, Galleria Borghese, Collezione degli oggetti antichi, Roma 1957, p. 17, nn. 188-190.
- W. Fuchs, Die Vorbilder der Neuattischen Reliefs, (Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archaologischen
Instituts - Erganzungshefte 20), Berlin 1959, pp. 87-88.
- P. Moreno, Museo e Galleria Borghese, La collezione archeologica, Roma 1980, p. 11.
- P. Moreno, S. Staccioli, Le collezioni della Galleria Borghese, Milano 1981, p.102.
- O. Dräger, Religionem significare. Studien zu reich verzierten römischen Altären und Basenaus Marmor, Mainz am Rhein 1994, p. 222, n. 51, tav. 21. 2-4.
- L. A. Touchette, The dancing Maenadreliefs: continuity and change in Roman copies, London 1995.
- P. Moreno, L’antico nella stanza, in Venere vincitrice: La Sala di Paolina Bonaparte alla Galleria Borghese, a cura di C. Strinati, Roma 1997, pp. 105-106.
- L. A. Touchette, Un nuovo monumento con Menadi dal Foro: riflessioni sulla destinazione pubblica dei rilievi neoattici nel mondo romano, in “Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma”, XCIX, 1998, pp. 113-124.
- P. Moreno, A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese, Roma 2003, pp. 142-144, n. 108.
- P. Dyczek, Kallimachos Maenad from Rhizon/Risinium (Montenegro), in Die Selbstdarstellung der romischen Gesellschaft in den Provinzen im Spiegel der Steindenkmaler, a cura di E. Walde, B. Kainrath (Aktendes IX. Internationalen Kolloquiums uber Probleme des Provinzial römischen Kunstschaffens), Innsbruck 2007, pp. 275-286.
- F. Paolucci, Marmora aurata. L’uso della doratura nella statuaria classica delle Gallerie degli Uffizi: i risultati di un decennio di ricerche, in “Imagines”, 4, maggio 2020, pp. 10-53.
- Scheda di catalogo 12/00147858, P. Moreno 1976; aggiornamento G. Ciccarello 2021.
