Mars of Todi

Title: Mars of Todi

Date: Early 4^th century BC
Medium: bronze
Height: 141 cm

Artist: Etruscan

Location: Etruscan Museum Rome, Italy

Significance of work:

An important figure in Roman mythology, Mars is thought to be the father of Romulus and Remus and therefore the father of the nation of Rome. He is worshipped as a god of war and is seen holding a sacrificial bowl and leaning on a spear in this statue. He is constructed out of 7 separate pieces of metal and the flaps on his breast plate actually move. He is missing a helmet that would have topped his head completing the statue.

Source: “Roman Art” 4^th Ed.

http://www.utahskies.org/solarsystem/planets/mars/mythology.html

Photo from:http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mv.vatican.va/1_CommonFiles/media/photographs/MGE/048_MGE_13886_BS_go.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/MGEs/MGEs_Sala03_01_048.html&h=300&w=188&sz=15&tbnid=ALoCP67DPX2QOM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=73&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmars%2Bof%2Btodi&usg=__b7xyE7KyNEYzj_aRO3hZuhvRouY=&ei=ajsWS8GyHMPJ_gaCxqz7Bg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image&ved=0CAsQ9QEwAg

Mercury and Argos

Title: Mercury and Argos (after Mercury and Argos by Velazquez, Museo del Prado)

Artist: Salvador Dali

Medium: Oil on canvas

Date: 1981

Dimensions: 140x95cm

Location: Dali Museum- Figures, Spain

Sources: http://www.oilpaintingonline.com/xiamen-china/oil-painting-reproduction-Dali--Salvador-Mercury-and-Argos--after-Mercury-and-Argos-by-Velazquez--Museo-del-Prado--4550.html

http://www.illinoismedieval.org/EMS/VOL10/yager.html

Image: http://xtazi.com/dali/d171.jpg

Significance of the work:

According to Ovid’s Metamorphosis, the tale of Mercury and Argos involves a slew of jealousy and hatred so common in the lives of these “super-humans.” In Zeus’s lust and lack of self-control, he seduces one of Hera’s (his wife’s) priestesses, Io. To satisfy Hera’s jealousy Zeus turns Io into a cow which Hera then hands over to the 100 eyed Argos (typically depicted in natural human form with two eyes) to be guarded from Zeus. This painting shows Zeus’s response to Io’s imprisonment. He sends Mercury to kill Argos by lulling him to sleep with his flute. Once all of Argos’s eyes are closed and he is fast asleep, Mercury cuts off his prey’s head, freeing Io to the pleasure of Zeus.

Nymphaeum at Villa Giulia

Deity: Nymphs

Title: Nymphaeum at Villa Giulia

Designers: Bartolomeo Ammanti, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola

Date: 1551–155

Medium: Marble

Dimensions: approximately 20x 30 feet

Location: Villa Giulia- Rome, Italy

Photo: Caitlyn Mitchell

Significance of the work:

Nymphs are the female relatives of gods and goddesses. They are known to be very beautiful and often seen as entertainment or servants for more dominant Deities. They are the goddesses and protectors of localized geographical landmarks such as rivers, mountains, or forests. Different types of nymphs exist such as Naiads (springs and rivers), Dryads (forests), Nereid(the Mediterranean), Oceanids (the sea), Oreads (mountains), Limoniads (meadows), Limniads (lakes, marshes and swamps), and Napaea (valleys). They were worshipped in a nymphaeum like the one shown. In this case a fountain was built as a monument over a well. This fountain used water from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct in Rome. This nympheum would have been the center of the manner in the summer where meals and meetings would often be held because it is the coolest and most decorated area of the house. Michelangelo helped with reviewing the plans for this nymphaeum.

Neptune in the Palace

Deity: Neptune

Title: Sculpture of Neptune

Location: Scala dei Giganti at Doge’s palace- Venice, Italy

Sculptor: Jacopo Sansovino

Date: 1565 (Gothic period)

Dimensions: approximately 3.5 meters

Photo: Caitlyn Mitchell

Significance of the work:

This sculpture is placed in a position of great power in the Venetian government. The staircase in which it is located is where the crowning of the doge of Venice takes place. Neptune’s regal presence on this stairwell indicates Venetian authority over the sea.

Sources: http://www.italyguides.it/us/venice_italy/doge_s_palace/giant_s_stairway.htm

Sculpture of Mars

Deity: Mars (Greek- Ares)

Title: Sculpture of Mars

Location: Scala dei Giganti- Doge’s palace, Venice, Italy

Sculptor: Jacopo Sansovino

Date: 1565- Gothic period

Dimensions: approximately 3.5 meters

Photo: Caitlyn Mitchell

Significance of the work:

This sculpture stands besides the Sculptor of Neptune in the Doge’s Palace in Venice. As the Doge was crowned or entered his palace on the Scala dei Giganti Mars’s presence would remind him of Venice’s power over land and war.

Sources: http://www.italyguides.it/us/venice_italy/doge_s_palace/giant_s_stairway.htm

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/venice/doge/palace4.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=U63ApPjeeoUC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=Dimensions+of+Mars+on+the+Scala+dei+Giganti&source=bl&ots=J-i3joONmC&sig=UwizTEBMF-IA0zkDj_Js7XmGrc8&hl=en&ei=HwkLS42iF5ud_AaBpdySBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Bocca Della Vertita

Name: La Bocca Della Verita (The Mouth of Truth)

Date: unknown

Artist: unknown

Location: Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, Italy

Approximate Dimensions: 1.75 m in diameter

Medium: marble

Sources of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouth_of_truth

http://www.italyguides.it/us/roma/rome/aventine/santa_maria_in_cosmedin/the_mouth_of_truth/bocca_della_verita.htm

Picture taken by: Kate Tricarico

Significance of the work:

In the days when Roman society thought that the world was flat, it was believed that a great river encircled the earth to its outermost edge. The god of this river was known as Oceanus. He is often depicted as having the upper body of a muscular man with a long beard and horns. The son of Coelus (god of the sky) and Vesta (god of the earth), Oceanus had many sisters, all of whom were nymphs. In the Iliad, the iconography of Achilles' shield, is enclosed and encircled, as the world itself was believed to be, by Oceanus. When geography became more accurate, Oceanus came to represent the stranger, more unknown waters of the Atlantic Ocean, as opposed to the Mediterranean.

According to legend, once the rich wife of a Roman noble was accused of adultery. The woman denied the accusations, but her husband wanted to put her to the test by making her hand inside the stone mouth. Knowing perfectly well that she was lying, the woman used a very clever strategy. In front of a group of curious bystanders who had gathered around the Mouth of Truth, the man who was actually her lover embraced her and kissed her. She pretended that she didn't know him and accused him of being a madman and the crowd chased him away.When she put her hand into the mouth, the woman declared that she had never kissed any other man apart from her husband and the poor madman who had just kissed her. In this way she was certain that she hadn't lied and her hand was saved. The betrayed husband saved her honour, but the Mouth of Truth lost its credibility and it is said that since that day it no longer carried out its function as a right and unappeasable judge.

Statue of Neptune

Name: Statue of Naptune

Date: 1563-1565

Artist: Bartolomeo Ammannati

Location: Piazza della Signoria , Firenze, Italy

Approximate Dimensions: unknown

Medium: marble

Sources of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_della_Signoria

Picture taken by: Kate Tricarico

Significance of the work:

In Roman mythology, Neptune was an early Italian water deity who became identified with the Greek god Poseidon after about 400 B.C. Unlike Poseidon, who appeared in many Greek myths and legends, Neptune played a relatively minor role in Roman mythology. Like Poseidon, in ancient Roman art Neptune is generally shown holding a trident, a traditional weapon of fishermen in the Mediterranean region. Neptune had a temple in the Circus Flaminius at Rome; one of its features was a sculptured group of marine deities headed by Thetis. Strangely, though a god of the sea Neptune was actually far more worshipped for his role as the god of horses and horseracing than for marine exploits. The famous arena, the Circus Flaminius, had a temple sanctuary dedicated to the god where gamblers and followers of Neptune would go to offer up their prayers. In this role Neptune was known as Neptune Equester, the Roman word equester relating to horses and horseracing.

This statue of Neptune found in Florence is merely a reproduction of the original which now resides in the National Museum. Ammanati was commissioned to create this sculpture for the wedding of Francesco de' Medici to the grand duchess Johanna of Austria in 1565. The face of Neptune is carved in the likeness of Francesco’s father, Cosimo de’ Medici, symbolizing the extent of Medici power in Florence at the time. The pedestal on which Neptune stands is decorated with interpretations of the Greek sea monsters named Scylla and Charybdis. The people of Florence, however, said that the statue of Neptune looked like a great white giant and that it was a waste of marble. Despite the adversity, Ammannati completed the statue and it can be seen in the National Museum today.

Temple of Hercules Victor

Deity: Hercules

Title: Temple of Hercules Victor

Location: The Forum Boarium- Rome, Italy

Date: 2nd century BC

Dimensions: 14.8x10.66 meters

Architect: Hermodorus of Salamis

Medium: Marble covered in stucco

Photo by: Caitlyn Mitchell

Significance of the work:

One of the many temples erected to Hercules throughout the Roman empire, this temple in the Forum Boarium is considered to be the oldest temple still standing in ancient Rome. It was Commissioned by the Roman merchant Octavius Herrenus and designed by Hermodorus of Salamis in the second century BC. Salamis is known for his temples throughout Rome including the Temple of Jupiter Stator. This temple is typically mixed up with the temple of Vesta located down the road in the Roman Forum. This mix-up can be attributed to their similar construction of Greek architecture. It is a round temple with 20 Corinthian columns. A large statue of Hercules would have been placed in the center of the temple for visitors to pay homage. The location is thought to be the location where Hercules slew Cacus on his return from his eighth labor in his quest to become immortal.

Sources: http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/forumboarium.htm

http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-020.html

Venus and Cupid

Title: Venus and Cupid

Artist: Jacopo Pontormo

Location: Academia in Florence, Italy

Date: 1532-1534

Size: 127x191 cm

Medium: Oil on Wood

Other Sources:

http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-gods/venus.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=eurQO9JVNA8C&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=jacopo+pontormo+venus&source=bl&ots=VhsA7PkWJQ&sig=gpCq8wdSEb46H04x0gmtv9Occno&hl=en&ei=Vi8US6YBksr-BvqT-DU&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CAsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=jacopo%20pontormo%20venus&f=false

Photo from: http://www.firenzemusei.it/00_english/accademia/vecu.html

Significance of the work:

Pontormo’s Cupid and Venus is the painted expression of one of Michelangelo’s sketches. His influence can easily be seen in the muscular bodies of both Venus and Cupid. As the goddess of physical beauty, Venus is portrayed in the nude. Venus was also the goddess of love and had several lovers including Vulcan, Mars, and Adonis. Cupid was the child of one such lover, Mars. Venus was the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, but she was said to have been born of the sea. Cupid and Venus remain as two of the most commonly recognizable gods and goddesses, and they are often depicted together.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Title: Winged Victory of Samothrace

Artist: Unknown

Location: Louvre, Paris, France

Date: 180 BC

Size: 3.8 m tall

Photo: Lisa Lyon

Significance of the work:

The Winged Victory of Samothrace was discovered in 1863 on the island of Samothrace. The goddess Victory stands on the prow of a ship which was placed over the theater of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods as a commemorate monument of a great naval victory. Some suggest that this victory was the battle of Myonnisos or the victory of Side over Antiochus III of Syria. In her complete form, the goddess would have her hand to her mouth, announcing the victory. The statue was meant to be viewed from the left front because of the lesser detail on the right side.The statue is especially impressive because of the exquisite care show in the windblown garment she is wearing that appears to have been drenched in water.

Sources: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225805&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225805&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500817&bmLocale=en

Victoria

Title: Victoria

Artist: Monument designed by Giuseppe Sacconi

Location: Victor Emmanuel Monument

Date: 1911, 1935 (inauguration, completion of the Victor Emmanuel Monument)

Size: unknown

Medium: unknown

Photo: Lisa Lyon

Significance of the work:

The Victor Emmanuel Monument is an ostentatious display of power and wealth, erected to celebrate the man who unified Italy into one nation: Victor Emmanuel II. A prime example of the exaggerated design is the fact that the structure displays not one, but two sculptures of the goddess Victoria riding quadrigas in her chariot. Victoria was, appropriately, the Roman goddess of victory. Her Greek equivalent was the goddess Nike, but Victoria played a far more important role in Roman society than Nike ever had in Greece. At one point in time, Victoria had several temples erected in her honor in the city of Rome, including one on Palatine Hill and an altar in the Senate House. The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi, but the various sculptures were contributed by other artists. The monument is 443 ft wide and 230 ft high. These statues are meant to be personifications of the city’s ideals of victory over all, and are meant to engender national pride in past glories and provide hope for the future.

Fontana di Trevi

Name: Fonatana di Trevi

Date: 1732-1762

Artist: Nicola Salvi

Location: Piazza di Trevi, Rome, Italy

Approximate Dimensions of entire fountain: 85 by 65 ft

Medium: marble

Sources of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain

http://www.garden-fountains.com/articles/trevi-fountain.html

Picture taken by: Kate Tricarico

Significance of the work:

The Trevi Founatin marks the ending point of one of the ancient Roman Aqueducts known today as Aqua Vergine. In 1730 Pope Clement XII declared a contest to determine who would design and build the fountain. Nicola Salvi originally lost to Alessandro Galilei, but the Roman populous was outraged that a Florentine had won and therefore commission was granted to Salvi. It took thirty years for Salvi’s design to come to completion and Pietro Bracci’s sculpture of Oceanus was the final piece to be set inside the fountain in 1762.

As legend has it, if visitors to the Trevi Fountain throws a coin into Oceanus’s waters, they are ensured a return to Italy and to Rome. Yet other interpretations hold that if two coins thrown into the waters they will ensure an upcoming marriage and if three coins are tossed into the wet depths, they will lead to a divorce or breakup. According to statistics, approximately $3500 is thrown into the Trevi Fountain each day and the coins are collected at night, and used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's poorer population.

Fontana dei Nettuno del Piazza del Popolo

Name: Fontana di Nettuno del Piazza del Popolo

Date: 1822-1823

Artist: Giovanni Ceccarini

Location: Piazza dell Popolo, Rome, Italy

Approximate Dimensions: unknown

Medium: stone

Sources of info: http://web.tiscali.it/romaonlineguide/Pages/eng/rmoderna/sMM1y3.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_del_Popolo

Picture taken by: J.P.Lon, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fontana_del_Nettuno.jpg

Significance of the work:

For centuries Piazza del Popolo had a public fountain with the Egyptian obelisk of Ramses II, which gave the square a more regal, less domestic air. Giuseppe Valadier, favorite architect of Pope Leo XII during Napoleon's occupation of Rome (1808-1814), reshaped the square and enlarged it into a large oval, surrounding the central obelisk with four neoclassical lion fountains. We can observe the French influence in the ovular shape of this Piazza. Porta Flaminio became Porta del Popolo (The Port of the People) in 1562 and in the 1820’s the aqueduct carrying the Acqua Vergine Nuovo was completed. Sculptor Giovanni Ceccarini’s fountains cover the end of the aqueduct with a typically baroque theme in an unmistakably neoclassical style. One such fountain is the Fountain of Neptune on the western side of the Piazza.

Fountain of Apollo

Title: Fountain of Apollo

Artist: Jean-Baptiste Tuby

Location: Gardens of Versailles, France

Date: 1668-1671

Size: unknown

Medium: Originally gilded

Other Sources:

http://www.men-myths-minds.com/Apollo-greek-god.html

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/france/versailles/exterior/apollo.html

Photo: Lisa Lyon

Significance of the work:

This impressive fountain is major feature of the extravagant gardens of Versailles. The fountain transitions the gardens closer to the palace to the Grand Canal, which stretches more than two kilometers in length. The fountain is another example of Louis the XIV’s opinion of himself as the “sun king”. Apollo, god of the sun, is depicted as driving his chariots into the sky. One of Apollo’s responsibilities was to pull the sun across the sky, “his light brightening the lives of all it touched”. Louis the XIV likely wished for other to him in the same way, that his light was brightening the lives of all he ruled.

Venus of Urbino

Title: Venus of Urbino

Artist: Tiziano Vecellio (Titian)

Location: Galleria Degli Uffizi

Date: 1538

Size: 65 x 47 in.

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Other information: http://www.titian-tizianovecellio.org/The-Venus-of-Urbino-1538.html

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/Titian/VenusOfUrbino.html

Photo from: http://medializzy.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/titian_venus_urbino.jpg

Significance of the work:

Titian’s provocative painting is a tribute to Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus, but Venus of Urbino has none of the same subtly. She opening stares out at the audience, unashamed of her sensuality. The sleeping dog on the right side of the canvas is meant to represent fidelity. Venus of Urbino challenges her viewers to criticize her beauty, and many have. Mark Twain denounced the painting as, “the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses”. Despite it’s overtly erotic nature, or perhaps because of it, Titian’s painting is one of his most famous and most studied

Venus di Milo

Title: Venus di Milo

Artist: Unknown

Location: Louvre, Paris, France

Date: Late 2^nd Century BC

Size: 202 cm

Medium: Marble

Photo: Lisa Lyon

Significance of the work:

The Venus di Milo is one of the most recognizable sculptures in all of art history, and it has held an almost mystical hold on art lovers everywhere since its discovery in 1820. The statue was found on the island of Milo, and was identified as the goddess Venus, or Aphrodite as she was known to the Greeks. One of her arms was allegedly also found, together with a hand that appeared to be holding an apple. If the arm was in fact found, it has long been lost. Despite its lack of appendages, the Venus di Milo remains as a prominent work of art because, “In every stroke of the chisel art judges will discover evidence of the fine perception the Hellenic artist had for every expression, even the slightest, of a nobly-developed woman's form.”

Other Sources:

http://www.archive.org/stream/venusdimiloitsh00margoog/venusdimiloitsh00margoog_djvu.txt

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/activite/detail_parcours.jsp?CURRENT_LLV_PARCOURS%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226914&CURRENT_LLV_CHEMINEMENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673327544&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673327544&bmLocale=en

Hercules and Antaeus

Title: Hercules and Antaeus

Artist: Antonio Del Pollaiolo

Location: Uffizi

Date: 1475

Size: 3x6 in.

Medium: Tempera on Panel

Significance of the work:

The story told in the second of Antonio Del Pollaiolo’s Hercules paintings, illustrates Hercules’ great strength as he crushes Antaeus, a famed wrestler. Pollaiolo’s work was characterized by an ferocity that Vasari sees in Pollaiolo’s depiction of Hercules, “In crushing his antagonist is clearly apparent, every muscle and nerve of the body being strained to ensure the destruction of his opponent”. Pollaiolo depicted the same subject in his more famous work, a bronze statuette, that is also found in Florence in the Bargello.

Other sources: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/HerculesAndAntaeusAntonioDelPollaiuolo.html

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/71/3571-004-6A7549BE.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/530221/13530/Hercules-and-Antaeus-bronze-statuette-by-Antonio-Pollaiuolo-1475-in&usg=__xu91Dr3l3JXN_rVVcvoExHFG9HY=&h=450&w=304&sz=23&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=B_RmDppzGwbhjM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=86&prev=/images%3Fq%3DHercules%2Band%2BAntaeus%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GZHY_en%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

Photo from: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/RM/AntaeusPollaiuolo.jpg