MAECENAS HORTI

The speculation of late nineteenth century struck in particular the Esquilino district of Rome. It so happened that while the existing buildings were demolished, the foundations surfaced the remains of what were the old villas and imperial gardens and thanks to the great archeologist Rodolfo Lanciani from the devastation were saved the extraordinary works that today are exhibited in the museums of Rome.

The Esquilino before there were built those palaces that we see today was a typical roman district, where splendid churches and buildings were surrounded by decadent hovels.

Great renovation was therefore necessary, but it was the speculation to drive what happened.

Anyway let's go back to the time of the Roman Empire, then the Esquilino was a green ward. In the administrative division of Augustus the Esquiline had become the Regio V, (Regio=district), in which along the Republican era there was a cemetery and near the current station Termini a landfill. Augusto reclaimed everything and so it was that became available that big green space in which sprang the villas and gardens which the Romans called Horti. Here Maecenas friend of Augustus built his Horti.

Over time these Horti ended in imperial property, because the first owner bequeathed them to the Emperor, who often was a friend. Maecenas left the villa to Augustus, Lamia to Tiberius, and so on.
And this explains the wealth of findings. The same Tiberius, successor of Augustus, lived long in the Villa of Maecenas and Caligula successor of Tiberius, in that of Lamia.

The findings leave us understand the extraordinary quality of the works collected in the villas and gardens, but beyond that the informations we have are very poor, in the Villa of Maecenas was identified the nymphaeum, known as auditorium and little more.
André Caron offers this reconstruction (www.maquettes-historiques.net).
The fact is that Lanciani managed to salvage from the building aggression whatever he could, but given the short time allotted was not possible to produce detailed documentation, despite being an excellent surveyor.

Thus today we see the works that have been saved, reassembled and restored, starting from the Horti of Maecenas, exhibited at the Capitol in the Conservatori Palace.
The excellent 2005 layout, is played thanks to the contrast between dark background and white marble, while the lights create an emotional atmosphere, as we see with the statue of Marsyas.
This spectacular work is a Roman replica of an Hellenistic original of the second century BC reminiscent the Vatican Laocoon.
The typical dramatization of the middle Hellenistic period, suggests that the hand is the same. But whose hand? The hand of the sculptor author of replication or that of Agesander from Rhodes who sculpted the original?
Certainly it is an invention of the replicator the idea of ​​using the pavonazzetto (=peafowl) marble, which, with its purple veins, shows the torment (was skinned alive), who underwent Marsyas, guilty of having challenged Apollo to a musical contest.
The authors of the replicas, mostly unknown, were great artists and, since almost all the originals have been lost, is hard to imagine which was the contribution of the authors of the replicas and ultimately how faithfully they replicate the disappeared originals.
Note the integrations made by the restorers. An incredible work, not for anything in Italy we have the best restorers in the world.

Let's move to the head of the Amazon, like Marsyas found near the auditorium. The bronze original of 440-430 B.C. is due to a great artist who participated in a contest organized by the city of Ephesus.
Comparing the face of the Amazon with that of Marsyas we see clearly the difference between the idealization of the classical era and exasperated tension that the middle Hellenism reached two centuries later.

Let’s go to Virgil,(perhaps). Given that Virgil was an intimate of Maecenas, it is plausible that in the villa there was a portrait of him.
We saw an example of classical art, one of Hellenistic art and now with Virgil we have an example of Roman portraiture, which is characterized by its realism, so far from the idealization of classical art, as the drama of the Middle Hellenism.

Still of Roman school is the portrait of Faustina the Elder wife of Antoninus Pius, to show that even after 150 the Horti of Maecenas were in full working order; note that Antoninus was Emperor from 138 to 161.
A typical example of garden sculpture is that of the magnificent dog, while the Group of the Charioteer shows just how complex may be the work of the archaeologist: in fact, in the midst of the decline of Rome, many sculptures were smashed to pieces, used as a building material. The Group of the Charioteer not only was torn to pieces, but these were found several hundred yards away from each other. Imagine how difficult it was to understand that those fragments belonged to the same group.
Fortunately the wonderful Demeter was saved, actually is one of the most beautiful works that we are fortunate to see. The original dates back to the fifth century B.C. in the middle of the classical age.

Of the same period is the Doriphorus, replication by the great Polykleitos.
And yet of the classical age, but of the fourth century, are both Eros, and the Hercules Fighter.
A little later, in 290 B.C. is the stunning Igea.
We always talk about Roman replicas.
While the Musa and Menander seems to be Roman replicas of Hellenistic reworkings from originals of classical age.

To be honest as the Horti of Maecenas deserves a visit to the Capitoline Museums, going to the Horti Lamiani we'll remain amazed.

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