Dying Gaul on view at The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Beginning Dec 12!

An ancient history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2013

As part of the "Year of Italian Culture in the United States" project, the Capitoline Museum has graciously loaned the moving sculpture known as "The Dying Gaul" to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. where it will be on display from December 12, 2013 to March 16, 2014.  The sculpture  is a 1st - 2nd century CE Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic bronze that is thought to have been commissioned between 230 BCE and 220 BCE by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Galatians in Anatolia. The  identity of the sculptor of the original is unknown, but it has been suggested that Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, may have been its creator.

The Dying Gaul photographed at the Capitoline Museum in Rome, Italy by
Mary Harrsch © 2005.

This breathtaking masterpiece I have had the good fortune to view at The Capitoline Museum on both of my visits there, is thought to have been discovered during excavations of the Villa Ludovisi, built upon the remains of the Gardens of Sallust, in the early 17th century.  It first appeared on an inventory of the powerful Italian family's collections in 1623 CE. In 1633, Pope Clement XII acquired it for the Capitoline collections. In the late 18th century, Napoleon acquired the sculpture under the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino.  It was subsequently exhibited in The Louvre until 1816 when it was returned to Rome.

Originally, it was thought to have depicted a defeated gladiator and was dubbed "The Dying Gladiator" or "The Dying Murmillo".  But subsequent scholarship identified it as a Celtic warrior by the 19th century.

This wonderful closeup by Professor Steven Zucker clearly shows the neck
torc (torque) worn by Celtic warriors.  Torcs are found in the Scythian, Illyrian,
Thracian, Celtic, and other cultures of the European Iron Age from around the
8th century BCE to the 3rd century CE. Often made of precious metals, torcs
were a symbol of rank and were often awarded to warriors for their bravery by
their chieftains.  They were also valued as plunder if a Celtic army was defeated.
The Roman Titus Manlius in 361 BCE challenged a Gaul to single combat, killed him,
and then took his torc. Because he always wore it, he received the nickname
Torquatus (the one who wears a torc). Pliny the Elder records that after a battle in
386 BCE the Romans recovered 183 torcs from the Celtic dead. Quintilian says
that Gauls presented the Emperor Augustus with a symbolic gold torc weighing
100 Roman pounds (nearly 33 kilos).  Photo © 2010 by Professor Steven Zucker.

Although heroic nudes are frequently depicted in ancient art, this particular portrayal of a nude warrior is historically accurate based on ancient descriptions of some Celtic fighting groups.

Diodorus Siculus reported that "Some use iron breast-plates in battle, while others fight naked, trusting only in the protection which nature gives." Polybius wrote an evocative account of Galatian tactics against a Roman army at the Battle of Telamon of 225 BCE:

"The Insubres and the Boii wore trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae, in their love of glory and defiant spirit, had thrown off their garments and taken up their position in front of the whole army naked and wearing nothing but their arms... The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life." - Polybius, Histories II.28

The Roman historian Livy recorded that the Celts of Asia Minor fought naked and "their wounds were plain to see on the whiteness of their bodies".

The statue has been so admired over the centuries that it was considered a "must see" for aristocrats taking the "Grand Tour" of the classical world.    The famed poet Byron even commemorated his visit to see the statue with a short but poignant poem, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:

I see before me the gladiator lie

He leans upon his hand—his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony,
And his drooped head sinks gradually low—
And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow

From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one...

If you have the wonderful opportunity to visit Rome, don't miss the Palazzo Altemps on your list of must-see museums, either.  There, you will find another outstanding statue commemorating the valor of the Celts known as the Ludovisi Gaul.  It depicts a formidable muscled warrior in the act of plunging a sword into his chest rather than be captured by the enemy.  He grips the arm of his dying wife whom he has slain in a final act of love.

The Ludovisi Gaul photographed at the  Palazzo Altemps,
Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome, Italy by Mary Harrsch  ©2009.

 The Celtic warrior's heroic nudity is in contrast to his modestly-dressed wife whose attire would have been familiar on the streets of ancient Rome. This dramatic sculpture is thought to have been commissioned by Julius Caesar in the 1st century BCE after his defeat of the Gauls at the famous battle of Alesia in modern day France.  It, too, is thought to be a copy of a Hellenistic original bronze by Epigonus from a grouping at Pergamon.

The Ludovisi Gaul is depicted with the iconic "long hair"
 and thick mustache described by the Romans in the ancient sources.
Photographed at the  Palazzo Altemps, Museo Nazionale  Romano,
Rome, Italy by Mary Harrsch ©2009.

 I noticed that Wikipedia mentioned another important Celtic statue called "The Kneeling Gaul" that is in the collections of The Louvre.  Unfortunately, when I visited Paris in 2008, it was not on display.  I wish I could have seen it!

The Kneeling Gaul at The Louvre in Paris, France courtesy of
Wikipedia.

As I look at the image of The Kneeling Gaul I am struck by the facial similarities to a sculpture of Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini I photographed at the Capitoline Museum back in 2005.

Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1630 CE.
Photographed at the Capitoline Museum in Rome, Italy by
Mary Harrsch © 2005.

I see that Bernini produced his Medusa in 1630, about the same time the Kneeling Gaul was discovered in the former Gardens of Sallust.  I wonder if the Kneeling Gaul provided Bernini's inspiration for his Medusa figure?

If you get a chance to visit Washington D.C. in the next three months, be sure to stop by The National Gallery of Art and experience "The Dying Gaul" for yourself.  After all, this is its first appearance outside of Italy in over 200 years!  I think it will surely inspire you to seek out other magnificent works of art from the ancient world!

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Tullio sculptures demonstrate antiquity's influence on Renaissance Art

When I glanced at the images of some of the sculptures in the new exhibit, "An Antiquity of Imagination: Tullio Lombardo and Venetian High Renaissance Sculpture" at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., I could hardly believe I was looking at Renaissance sculpture and not Roman funerary art (except for the bared breasts - the ancient Romans were a little more modest than that!).

"Carved from a single block of marble in high relief, this double portrait is so deeply undercut that the two figures appear almost in the round. Traces of applied color survive on the eyes, the lips, and the background, which was once black. The intense emotions of the pair, who do not look at each other, remain a mystery. Was this work a memorial, emulating Roman funerary reliefs of married couples? An ancient love story, perhaps with a tragic conclusion? A pair of idealized contemporary portraits in antique guise? At a time when even formal portrait busts were rare in Venice, this ambiguity may have been part of Tullio’s appeal. The prominent signature was inscribed at a point perhaps meant to be at the viewer’s eye level." - National Gallery of Art.

This tomb sculpture would have looked quite natural along side the collection of ancient funerary art I saw this past spring displayed in the new tunnel gallery of the Capitoline Museum in Rome or in the halls of the Getty Villa like the first century CE grave monument of the freedman Popillius and wife Calpurnia [right] I photographed there.

Grieving was actually regulated by the Roman state.

Pompilius Numa, the legendary second king of Rome (c. 715-673 BC), was credited with creating the basic framework for Roman public religion and the grief process.

Numa himself set out rules for the periods of mourning according to age and time. So, for xample, there was to be no mourning at all for a child of less than l year; for a child older than that, up to 10 years old, the mourning was not to last more months than it had lived years; and the longest time of mourning for any person was not to exceed 10 months. This was also the time set for
widowhood for women who had lost their husbands, and any woman who took another husband before this time was out was obliged by the laws of Numa to sacrifice a cow with calf. - Plutarch, Numa 12.

Paulus further interpreted the mourning laws of the Twelve Tables in a legal opinion in the late 2nd c. or early 3rd c. AD.

"Parents and children over 6 years of age can be mourned for a year, children under 6 for a month. A husband can be mourned for 10 months, close blood relatives for 8 months. Anyone who acts contrary to the restrictions is placed in public disgrace. Anyone in mourning ought to refrain from dinner parties, jewellery and other adornments, and purple and white clothing." - Paulus, Opinions 1.21.2-5

Although Roman males were expected to keep a "stiff upper lip" when it came to mourning one's lost loves, I could easily imagine an inscription quoting a line from the Roman poet Tibullus, "May I look on you when my last hour comes; as I die, may I hold your hand in my failing grasp."

The exhibit also features the bust of a grieving heroine, with head tilted slightly, by Antonio di Giovanni Minello, a great admirer of Tullio Lombardo [left]. It reminded me of a Roman Imperial Period sculpture of a goddess at the Palazzo Altemps, Museo Nazionale Romano [below right].

"The sculptor’s admiration for Tullio is suggested by the tragic expression, seminude treatment, and intricately winding hair, which is raised in relief in some places and incised into the marble in others. The medallion above her forehead is based on a famous ancient gem. The Trojan hero Aeneas is among the identities proposed for the seated figure in Minello’s version. If it is he, the woman would be his grief-stricken lover Dido, queen of Carthage, whom he abandoned." - National Gallery of Art.

A relief of Mars (left) by Tullio's younger brother, Antonio Lombardo, seems to have been inspired by the Ludovisi Ares or the seated warrior thought to be the pendant to the Ludovisi Ares [below right], a second century BCE copy of a Greek original, also on display at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome.

"This deeply undercut high relief reflects a type of small sculpture developed by Tullio Lombardo’s younger brother Antonio for the luxurious private chambers of the Duke of Ferrara. Reliefs like this one, with single figures based on ancient myth, history, or philosophy, soon gained popularity among collectors. Here, the ancient Roman god of war, full of an energy echoed by his windblown drapery, appears amid his divested armor. Some believe this relief was made to be paired with a marble version of the bronze Peace. Others argue that the inscription refers to Mars’ amorous exploits and that a more likely pendant would be Venus, the goddess of love." - National Gallery of Art

Tullio Lombardo, also known as Tullio Solari, was born into a family of sculptors in 1460. After studying in Rome, he returned to the family business that had been established in Venice after a short sojourn in Padua. Building upon his father's style, Tullio developed a more natural form with fluid lines.

The Lombardo family branched out into architecture as well, building the Church of S. Maria dei Miracoli, and contributing to numerous other structures, including the Church of S. Giobbe and the Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista.

In Venice the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo [Zanipolo] contains two sculptural works of Tullio: the Monument to Doge Pietro Mocenigo, executed with his father and brother, and the Monument to Doge Andrea Vendramin, an evocation of a Roman triumphal arch encrusted with decorative figures, which appears to be Tullio's work alone. To Tullio are also attributed the Funeral Monument of Cav. Marco Cornaro in the Church of SS. Apostoli and the frieze in the Cornaro Chapel of the Church S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. - More: Boglewood.com

"The Lombardos' church monuments reflected the latest Florentine ideas about reviving classical antiquity through statues inspired by archaeological finds.

The exhibit displays only four sculptures known to be solely carved by Tullio, but these are enough to demonstrate his enormous talent. The most striking are marble reliefs portraying two couples, each figure carved so deeply as to resemble a freestanding bust set against a block of stone.

With its rounded faces, glancing eyes and curly hair, the earlier work from around 1490-1495 reveals Tullio's close study of Roman funerary reliefs and other ancient sculptures. However, its depiction of a toga-clad man and bare-breasted woman isn't just a dry copy but is infused with the psychological intrigue of a Giorgione or a Titian.

The pairing suggests a bridal couple doomed to separation, since the figures seem to occupy different worlds. They do not face one another but stare in opposite directions, their full lips parted as if sighing at an unseen presence. - More: The Washington Post

The exhibit is tiny - only a dozen sculptures - but well worth a look if you are planning a visit to the National Gallery anytime soon. The exhibit will be on display until October 31, 2009.

Read more about it!







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"Pompeii and the Roman Villa" exhibit opens October 18 in Washington D.C.

In the first century BC, the picturesque Bay of Naples became a
favorite retreat for vacationing emperors, senators, and other
prominent Romans. They built lavish seaside villas in the shadow of
Mount Vesuvius where they could indulge in absolute leisure, read and
write, exercise, enjoy their gardens and the views, and entertain
friends. The artists who flocked to the region to adorn the villas also
created paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts for the residents of
Pompeii and nearby towns. Pompeii and the Roman Villa
presents some 150 works of sculpture, painting, mosaic, and luxury
arts, including recent discoveries on view in the U.S. for the first
time and celebrated finds from earlier excavations. Exquisite objects
from the richly decorated villas reveal the breadth and richness of
cultural and artistic life, as well as the influence of classical
Greece on Roman art and culture in this region. The exhibition also
focuses on the impact that the 18th-century excavations and rediscovery
of Pompeii and Herculaneum had on the art and culture of the modern
world.

Organization

Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples is
organized by Museum of Art, with the cooperation of the
Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici della Campania
and the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association
with the Los Angeles County Napoli e
Pompei.

Schedule

National Gallery of Art, October 19, 2008–March 22, 2009;
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, May 3–October 4, 2009

For those of you that cannot attend either of the venues, a DVD about the exhibit will be released October 28, 2008 from MicrocinemaDVD with a list price of $19.95.

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