Le Antichità di Ercolano

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Le Antichità di Ercolano Esposte
Delle antichita di Ercolano, 1757-1779 (T. I-VII) 10000 a "Frontispicio" (23357181519).jpg
Original titleAntichità di Ercolano
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
SubjectArchaeology
Published1757–1792
(Charles VII of Naples)
Media typePrint
OCLC 56782711

The Le Antichità di Ercolano Esposte (Antiquities of Herculaneum Exposed) is an eight-volume book of engravings of the findings from excavating the ruins of Herculaneum in the Kingdom of Naples (now Italy). It was published between 1757 and 1792, and copies were given to selected recipients across Europe. Despite the title, the Antichità di Ercolano shows objects from all the excavations the Bourbons undertook around the Gulf of Naples. These include Pompeii, Stabiae, and two sites in Herculaneum: Resina and Portici.

Herculaneum Roman town destroyed by eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD. Its ruins are located in the comune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy.

Kingdom of Naples former state in Italy

The Kingdom of Naples comprised that part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was created as a result of the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302), when the island of Sicily revolted and was conquered by the Crown of Aragon, becoming a separate Kingdom of Sicily. Naples continued to be officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily, the name of the formerly unified kingdom. For much of its existence, the realm was contested between French and Spanish dynasties. In 1816, it was reunified with the island kingdom of Sicily once again to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Gulf of Naples bay

The Gulf of Naples, also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9.3 mi) gulf located along the south-western coast of Italy. It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered on the north by the cities of Naples and Pozzuoli, on the east by Mount Vesuvius, and on the south by the Sorrentine Peninsula and the main town of the peninsula, Sorrento. The Peninsula separates the Gulf of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, which includes the Amalfi coast.

Contents

The engravings are high quality and the accompanying text displays great scholarship, but the book lacks the information on context that would be expected of a modern archaeological work. Le Antichità was designed more to impress readers with the quality of the objects in the King of Naples' collection than to be used in research. The book gave impetus to the neoclassical movement in Europe by giving artists and decorators access to a huge store of Hellenistic motifs.

Neoclassicism Western art movements that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was born largely thanks to the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, at the time of the rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but its popularity spread all over Europe as a generation of European art students finished their Grand Tour and returned from Italy to their home countries with newly rediscovered Greco-Roman ideals. The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, laterally competing with Romanticism. In architecture, the style continued throughout the 19th, 20th and up to the 21st century.

Background

Victory sacrifices to Athena (volume 2) Vittoria che sacrifica ad Atena raffigurata nello scudo mentre abbatte un nemico. Attorno, amorini.jpg
Victory sacrifices to Athena (volume 2)

The excavations at Heculaneum began in 1711, when a well was being dug for the new country house of Emmanuel Maurice, Duke of Elbeuf at Portici. The well turned out to have been sunk into the buried and richly ornamented proscenium of the theater of Herculaneum, and yielded several valuable marbles, including a statue of Hercules. The duke was extremely short of money. He smuggled the pieces to Rome to be restored, and then "gave" them to Prince Eugene of Savoy, his cousin. [1] In 1738 Charles VII of Naples − after 1759, Charles III of Spain − began excavations to find objects for his private collection of antiquities, imposing tight security on the site. Interest was maintained by the hope of finding more objects of similar value to the first set of statues. [1]

Emmanuel Maurice de Lorraine was Duke of Elbeuf and Prince of Lorraine. He succeeded his older brother Henri de Lorraine (1661–1748) as duke. He died without any surviving issue.

Portici Comune in Campania, Italy

Portici is a town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy. It is the site of the Portici Royal Palace.

Prince Eugene of Savoy Austrian marshall

Prince Eugene of Savoy was a general of the Imperial Army and statesman of the Holy Roman Empire and the Archduchy of Austria and one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna.

In 1739 a set of large mythical groups were found in the "Basilica". By 1748 the excavations had unearthed eight full-sized bronze statues. The large works were restored and put on display in the king's museum at Portici. The smaller works were generally not exhibited. [2] The excavations were done by slaves, and it seems that much was destroyed or stolen. [3] News of the finds spread, and Charles drew criticism for the secrecy and lack of science in the excavations. [1]

Publication

Nereid on a panther (volume 3) Nereid on a panther, from Stabiae, Villa Arianna v3.jpg
Nereid on a panther (volume 3)

The first publication to record the findings was a large folio book called Disegni intagliati in rame di pitture antiche ritrovate nelle scavazioni di Resina (Copper engravings of the ancient paintings discovered in the excavations of Resina) printed in 1746. [2] Despite the title, the book included drawings of statuettes in bronze and marble, lamps and reliefs. Some engravings showed the objects as they were, while others showed the artist's reconstruction of the original. There were many inaccuracies. The book gave no indication of the locations where the objects were found. [2] Only three copies have survived. These may be the only ones that were produced, perhaps because Charles was dissatisfied with the result. [2]

The Prodromo delle Antichità di Ercolano (Preface to the Antiquities of Herculaneum) was prepared by Ottavio Antonio Bayardi, cousin of the prime minister Giovanni Fogliani, and issued by the Stamperia Reale in 1752. The five volume work tells stories of Hercules and tries to prove that the city was in fact Herculaneum, which had not been in doubt since an inscription was found in 1738, but says nothing about the findings. In 1754 Bayardi published a one volume catalog of the findings. Without illustrations, and with only the most cursory descriptions of the 2,000 objects listed, the catalog has little value. [4]

In 1755 Charles appointed fifteen savants to a newly formed Accademia Ercolanese to study the artifacts and publish the findings. [3] The committee engaged twenty-five leading artists to prepare drawings and engravings on the finds, including Giovanni Elia Morghen, Carlo Nolli and Giovanni Battista Casanova. [4] The best engravers were given the most interesting pieces. A given engraver would be given all pieces of a given style, to ensure consistency. [5]

The academy issued volumes of the work from 1757 to 1792. They were not sold, but were given to the "happy few" that were chosen as recipients. [3] Two thousand copies were printed of the first volume. [6] Charles abdicated in 1759 and was succeeded by the eight-year-old Ferdinand IV. Publication continued under the regent Tanucci. [7] The first four volumes depicted paintings. [8] These were painted wall fragments, including fragments removed from the portico. [5] The fifth volume, published in 1767, was devoted to bronze busts. Another volume on bronze statues was issued in 1771. [8] Plates from the Antichita were copied in London in 1773. [9] Another volume on paintings came out in 1779. [8] An abridged version of the book was published in 1789. [9] The last volume, in 1792, depicted lamps and candelabras. [8] The volumes do not include depictions of the marbles. [6]

Centaur and lyre player Centaur Chiron teaching Achilles to play lyre, from a wall painting in Herculaneum.jpg
Centaur and lyre player

Contents

Despite the title, the Antichità di Ercolano shows objects from all the excavations the Bourbons undertook around the Gulf of Naples. These include Pompeii, Stabiae, and two sites in Herculaneum: Resina and Portici. [6] The book displays a high level of scholarship for the time, and the engravings are of high quality. Most engravings show the frame, if known, have a measurement scale, and are accompanied by a scholarly essay. [5] Some of the smaller objects do not have entries, but are reproduced as unnamed headpieces or tailpieces. [6] There are about 619 copperplate engravings, some double, 836 vignettes and 540 illuminated letters designed by Luigi Vanvitelli and engraved by Carlo Nolli. [7]

The organization was based more on aesthetics than on explaining the context of the Roman site. The first volume contains the largest and most beautiful images. The images of paintings on fragments of the porticus are spread across all five volumes to cover paintings, since the first set of fragments from the portico were found in 1738, and the second set in 1761 after the first two volumes had been published. [5] The artists again indulged in their imagination. A horseback rider that had been shown in the Disegni intagliati with the horse's tail and the rider's right hand missing was drawn by Vincenzo Campana as if it were in undamaged condition. [6]

Images within each volume are grouped by location, more because they have consistent styles than to show the Roman context. The text typically gave no information about the date and place of the find. The largest four images from the portico are depictions of Theseus, Hercules and Telephus, Achilles and Chiron, and Marsyas and Olympus. The engravers treat them as flat paintings, although in fact they were concave, and their shape shows where they were originally placed in the building. [5] The book contains only a small selection of the paintings that were taken to Portici, although it seems that drawings were made of all these paintings. From 1765 onward the artists drew each painting as it appeared on the wall it decorated. [10]

Eagle Lamp (volume 8) HerculaniumEagleLamp.jpg
Eagle Lamp (volume 8)

Response

The images in the Antichità di Ercolano, with their Hellenistic origins, had huge appeal to Europeans of the time, and the book provided a great stock of classical motifs that could be used by designers and scholars. [9] The publication was more an advertisement for the collection of remains held in the Palace of Portici than an archaeological record. [5] It was said that due to the book "students of antiquity - that is virtually all lovers of art - would have felt bound to go to Naples, as they were bound to go to Florence and Rome." [11]

The discussion the book generated was mainly about the artistic merits of the wall paintings than about Roman life. [5] It did not cause the rise of neoclassicism, which had earlier origins, but it had a large influence on the decorative arts in Europe. The plates were often used as sources for paintings. Thus Nicolas Gosse and Auguste Vinchon seem to have used it for a series of Scenes from Ancient Life painted in gray-scale for the Louvre. [12] Robert Adam, the British designer, copied figures in the book from the "Villa of Cicero" to the ceiling of the Red Drawing Room at Syon House in 1761-62. [13]

The 1763 La Marchande d'Amours (or La Marchande à la toilette) by Joseph-Marie Vien is a well known example of early French neoclassicism. It is based on an engraving by Carlo Nolli of a painting on the same subject from volume 3 of the Antichità di Ercolano. Vien was open about his borrowing, and invited his audience to compare the two works. [14] The main difference is in the intensity of expression of the three women in Vien's picture, the seller looking at the buyers and the buyers looking at the cupid, compared to the blank expressions and unfocused gazes of the women in Nolli's engraving. [15]

Volumes

The volumes, all printed at Naples by the Regia Stamperia (Royal Press) were as follows: [7]

Related Research Articles

Villa of the Papyri building in Ercolano, Italy

The Villa of the Papyri is named after its unique library of papyri, discovered in 1750, but is also one of the most luxurious houses in all of Herculaneum and in the Roman world. Its luxury is shown by its exquisite architecture and by the very large number of outstanding works of art discovered, including frescoes, bronzes and marble sculpture which constitute the largest collection of Greek and Roman sculptures ever discovered in a single context.

<i>The Last Day of Pompeii</i> 1830s painting by Karl Bryullov

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National Archaeological Museum, Naples Italian archeological museum known for Roman materials

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is an important Italian archaeological museum, particularly for ancient Roman remains. Its collection includes works from Greek, Roman and Renaissance times, and especially Roman artifacts from nearby Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum. It was formerly the Real Museo Borbonico.

Secret Museum, Naples collection of sexually explicit finds from Pompeii

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Chelys

The chelys, was a stringed musical instrument, the common lyre of the ancient Greeks, which had a convex back of tortoiseshell or of wood shaped like the shell. The word chelys was used in allusion to the oldest lyre of the Greeks, which was said to have been invented by Hermes. According to the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, he came across a tortoise near the threshold of his mother's home and decided to hollow out the shell to make the soundbox of an instrument with seven strings.

Ercolano Comune in Campania, Italy

Ercolano[erkoˈlaːno] is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania of Southern Italy. It lies at the western foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, just southeast of the city of Naples. The medieval town of Resina - read Resìna - was built on the volcanic material left by the eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed the ancient city of Herculaneum, from which the present name is derived. Ercolano is a resort and the starting point for excursions to the excavations of Herculaneum and for the ascent of Vesuvius by bus. The town also manufactures leather goods, buttons, glass, and the wine known as Lacryma Christi.

Villa Poppaea Ancient Roman villa

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Conservation issues of Pompeii and Herculaneum Aspect of archaeology in Pompeii and Herculaneum

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Karl Jakob Weber was a Swiss architect and engineer who was in charge of the first organized excavations at Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae, under the patronage of Charles III of Naples. At first a soldier and military engineer, he joined the excavations in 1749. His detailed drawings provided some of the basis for the luxurious royal folios of Le Antichità di Ercolano esposte, by means of which the European intelligentsia became aware of the details of what was being recovered.

Francesco Piranesi Italian engraver

Francesco Piranesi was an Italian engraver, etcher and architect. He was the son of the more famous Giovanni Battista Piranesi and continued his series of engravings representing monuments and ancient temples. He worked for a long period in France, where he lived during the French Revolution.

Seated Hermes

The bronze Seated Hermes, found at the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum in 1758, is at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. "This statue was probably the most celebrated work of art discovered at Herculaneum and Pompeii in the eighteenth century", Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny have observed, once four large engravings reproducing it had appeared in Le Antichità di Ercolano, 1771. To protect it from Napoleonic depredations, it was packed into one of the fifty-two cases of antiquities and works of art that accompanied the Bourbon flight to Palermo in 1798. It was once again in the royal villa at Portici in 1816.

The decade of the 1740s in archaeology involved some significant events.

Pompeii Ancient Roman city near modern Naples, Italy

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Oplontis Ancient Roman archaeological site

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Palace of Portici building in Portici (Naples)

The Royal Palace of Portici is a former royal palace in Portici, Southeast of Naples along the coast, in the region of Campania, Italy. Today it is the home of the Orto Botanico di Portici, a Botanic Gardens are operated by the University of Naples Federico II. These gardens were once part of the large royal estate that included an English garden, a zoo and formal parterres.

Marco de Gregorio Italian painter

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Basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano church building in Ercolano, Italy

The Basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano is the main church in Ercolano and the oldest church in the area around Mount Vesuvius.

Camillo Paderni

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References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Blix 2011, p. 11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Risser & Saunders 2013, p. 33.
  3. 1 2 3 Blix 2011, p. 12.
  4. 1 2 Risser & Saunders 2013, p. 36.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Coates & Seydl 2007, p. 63.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Risser & Saunders 2013, p. 37.
  7. 1 2 3 Gualdoni 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Coates & Seydl 2007, p. 89.
  9. 1 2 3 Curl 2002, p. 73.
  10. Coates & Seydl 2007, p. 90.
  11. Desrochers 2000, p. 60.
  12. Blix 2011, p. 17.
  13. Seznec 1949, p. 721.
  14. Fried 1980, p. 63.
  15. Fried 1980, p. 64.

Sources