Painting the past
Joining the gallery’s collections is an 1819 oil-on-paper painting by Achille Etna Michallon (1796-1822) of The Forum at Pompeii.
Italy
Rome in the 8th Century: A History in Art
What do we imagine the city of Rome to have been like in the 8th century AD? With the supremacy of Constantinople as the political and administrative centre of the empire, the Rome of this period – its buildings falling…
Minerva Magazine 186
• Ravenna: mosaics and majesty in an imperial city
• Tantra: the rise of a spiritual rebellion
• City of myths: how and why Thebes was forgotten
• In the beginning: ancient Chinese cosmology
• Where eagles dare: wealth, worship, and conquest in the Aztec capital
Before the flood
The study found that 37 of the 49 World Heritage Sites are already at risk from floods, and 42 from erosion, although the level of risk varies from site to site, with Venice and Ravenna particularly at risk from flooding, and Samos and Tyre from erosion
Bar brawl in Pompeii
Two gladiators wearing helmets with abundant, bristling crests are immortalised in paint in this Roman fresco, recently discovered at Pompeii. On the left, a murmillo stands tall and holds his large shield high in victory, while his vanquished opponent, a…
Domus Aurea: the golden and the grotesque
Nero’s spectacular palace in Rome, the Domus Aurea or ‘Golden House’, was rediscovered in the Renaissance. Dalu Jones describes how the opulent designs of its ancient halls inspired some of the most celebrated artists of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Scipio Africanus
Graham Goodlad examines the career of the general who finally overcame Rome’s most formidable foe.
Hidden treasures: the Torlonia Marbles
For more than 50 years, the world’s greatest private collection of Classical art has been inaccessible to the public, locked away while a bitter dispute raged between the Italian state and one of Rome’s illustrious princes. Now the famous Torlonia Collection is to go on display at last. Dalu Jones tells its story – and offers a private view of a major new exhibition.
Appointing Pompeii’s Director
Beyond the island I saw the thin campanile of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which houses the Mouth of Truth, a bucket- list ‘must’ thanks to the incomparable Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953).
Last Supper in Pompeii
The extraordinary levels of preservation at the relatively ordinary Roman city of Pompeii and other sites in the Bay of Naples, where the eruption of Mount Vesuvius devastatingly interrupted the inhabitants as they went about their daily lives, provide remarkable insights into the production, distribution, and conspicuous consumption of food and wine.
The fabulous Mariano Fortuny
Fortuny’s designs were hugely successful among the fashionable elite of the early 20th century, and admired by intellectuals and femmes du monde alike.
Great Commanders: Julius Caesar
Graham Goodlad analyses the military genius of ancient Rome’s best-known general.
War Reporters: Julius Caesar
He was a charismatic leader, a seasoned military veteran, and a formidable politician. It is little wonder that he is rarely thought of as being an ancient example of the modern-day war reporter. Seema Syeda examines battlefield scoops throughout the ages.
Roman women: following the female line
Guy de la Bédoyère tracks the Roman women who were held in high esteem because they exemplified the virtues of the state and thereby ensured the succession of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
Classical buzz: bees in the Roman world
Lucy Shackleton lifts the lid on bee-keeping in the ancient world and sees how Virgil’s presentation of bees symbolises the role of the collective over the individual in Augustan Rome
The colossus of Rome
Dalu Jones discovers what happened to the largest amphitheatre in the world after the brutal public fights and barbaric contests ceased.
Isis in Italy
Dalu Jones follows on the trail of the Ancient Egyptian goddess to Pompeii, Naples and Turin
Found: Michelangelo’s lost masterpieces
Standing just under a metre tall, the bronzes depict muscular, naked men – one young, the other older and bearded – riding panthers, each with an arm raised in a triumphant gesture.
Rare perfume flask found in Etruscan tomb
A small perfume flask was found dangling from a nail on the back tomb wall where it had been hung about 2,500 years ago
The Land between the Oceans: The Making of Modern Europe (Part Three)
Geography made a unitary empire embracing the Mediterranean and temperate Europe inherently unstable; but the wreckage of the Roman Empire contained the building blocks of modern Europe. In the third and final part of our series based on Cunliffe’s new book, Europe between the Oceans, we chart the changes from Caesar to Charlemagne.