Columnar Sarcophagus with Apollo and the Muses, back
This relief, which was originally the back of a sarcophagus, is of unknown provenance and was walled into the east facade of the Palazzina, known as the Prospettiva, along with the front of the same sarcophagus, It was then moved to the lake enclosure and, finally, restored by Antonio D’Este in 1827 and installed, with the front, on two facing walls in Room I. Six twisted columns with Corinthian capitals divide the space into five compartments, filled with five of the nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). From the left, we find a Muse with a string instrument followed by Erato, Muse of lyric poetry, Clio, Muse of history, Urania, Muse of astronomy and Polymnia, protector of pantomime. The iconographic theme of the Muses, developed in Greece in the Classical period, came to the Roman world through new Hellenistic formulations. It was particularly popular in Rome for sarcophagi, of which there are more than 300 known examples.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Medium
Dimensions
height 100 cm, width 213 cm
Provenance
Park of Villa Borghese (before 1650; Manilli); Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, 1833, C, p. 44, no. 49. Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 1827, Antonio D’Este
- 1996/1997, Consorzio Capitolino
Commentary
This relief, which was originally the back of a sarcophagus, is of unknown provenance and was walled into the east facade of the Palazzina, known as the Prospettiva, along with the front of the same sarcophagus, as noted by Manilli and Montelatici. Both reliefs were later moved to the lake enclosure, where they were inserted into the wall near the Grotto of the Lions, as documented in a drawing by Charles Percier (1786–1791) in the library of the Institut de France, Paris, where it remained until the sale of antiquities to Napoleon. At that point, the panels were detached, but only the short sides of the sarcophagus, decorated with the door to Hades and Homer between personifications of the Iliad and the Odyssey, were sent to Paris. For the new installation of the collection in the Casino of the Villa Pinciana, the reliefs were removed from the enclosure and restored by Antonio D’Este, after which they were hung on two facing walls in Room I.
The sarcophagus is one of the oldest examples of the columnar type, which came from Asia. Six twisted columns with Corinthian capitals divide the space into five compartments, supporting disconnected sections of a stylobate and creating a series of aedicules, alternately topped with half-domes and tympana linked by a mixtilinear trabeation with Lesbian cymae, ovules and dentils. The architectural framework alludes to the scaenae frons of Roman theatres.
Analysis of the iconographic types and attributes allow us to identify five of the nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (goddess of Memory), divine singers who brought cheer to the assembly of the gods with their music and were evoked by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Starting from the left, the first Muse has a string instrument, all that remains of which is the balteus used for support. Next comes Erato, Muse of lyric poetry, accompanied by the cithara, Clio, Muse of history, holding a scroll in her right hand and a diptych in her left, Urania, Muse of astronomy, with a globe, and, Polymnia, protector of pantomime, with the upper part of her body twisting to the left and her left leg crossed over her right. She is wearing a generous mantle that conceals her chiton and is shown in a meditative pose found in numerous sculptures in the round.
The iconographic theme of the Muses, developed in Greece in the Classical period, came to the Roman world through new Hellenistic formulations. It was especially popular in Rome for decorative painting, mosaic, sculpture cycles for public and private spaces and, starting in the middle of the second century CE, on sarcophagi as well. The current panel was, in fact, part of a columnar sarcophagus, a well-known type that was produced in Asia Minor and is thought to have flourished in Docimium for about a century, between 170 and 260/270 CE, due to the fine quality of the white marble and skill of the local carvers. It was in great demand especially in Rome (Wiegartz 1965; Koch 2011; on the popularity of the type among the elite during the Antonine period, see Thomas 2011).
Analysis of the formal and technical language, including heavy use of the drill to create chiaroscuro effects, dates the Borghese sarcophagus to the second quarter of the third century.
Jessica Clementi
Bibliography
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- Scheda di catalogo 12/99000438, G. Ciccarello 2021
