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Chapps Profile picture
@chapps
Mar 24, 2022 • 12 tweets • 11 min read • Read on X
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My new digital restoration is this remarkable 2nd c. AD #sculpture of #Eros (Cupid) on a dolphin, approximating how it might have once appeared in the garden of an ancient Roman villa. But who’s captured who here? #polychromy #art #archaeology #romanhistory @MANNapoli 1/ Image
The statue is on display at the Nat'l Archaeological Museum in Naples, but I can’t find information on its history or find spot. Once apparently part of the #Farnese Collection, a copy of a bronze #Greek original. 📸@MumblerJamie and Darren Puttoc. 2/ ImageImage
A few close-ups reveal that the head is likely modern - probably 18th c. (?), and quite good - but everything else, aside from a couple of fingers, appear to be ancient. The modern curls are very Botticelli-esque! 3/ ImageImageImage
One problem: how would the Romans have painted a dolphin? Examples from all over the empire show little agreement in color (other than red flukes/fins), so I used a range of mosaics and frescoes to inform my choices. 4/ ImageImageImageImage
I’m particularly pleased with the eye (major reconstruction job), which is based on Roman dolphin representations, but also Roman fish mosaics (mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii) and assorted sea beasts and monsters. He would scare the heck out of me in the ocean! 5/ ImageImageImage
Why is Eros riding a dolphin? The symbolism goes back to ancient Greece, where young men, Naiads and even hoplites were depicted riding dolphins. Coins of ancient Tarentum showed its mythical founder - Taras - riding the dolphin that saved him from drowning. 6/ ImageImageImage
Eros riding a dolphin makes a sort of sense. His mother Aphrodite was born from the sea. The symbolism - particularly in the Roman versions - has also been read as love (Eros) being a wild ride, etc. Lekythos c. 480 BC, Princeton Art Mus.; #Pompeii fresco pic by Klaus Hees. 7/ ImageImageImage
But the most potently symbolic representation of Eros on a dolphin is part of the Prima Porta Augustus. The head of the child Eros is a Julio-Claudian portrait (Gaius?), and his presence stresses the mythical descent of the Julii from Aphrodite through Aeneas. 8/ ImageImage
But many representations of Eros on a dolphin were merely decorative in the Roman empire. The 2nd-3d c. sculpture below looks like Eros is on a dolphin hobby horse! (#HermitageMuseum) And a decorative bronze mirror case alludes to erotic love. (#MFABoston) 9/ ImageImage
Around 1900, a couple of bronze reproductions of our fountain statue were cast by the Chiurazzi Foundry in Naples. One is in the garden of the Achilleion palace in Corfu (📸 Tasoskessaris). The other is in the Astor Library at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. 10/ ImageImage
Our fountain is certainly striking, because Eros both captures the wild dolphin and is captured in turn by its snaky body. Perhaps an allegory about the uncontrollable nature of love? So here I'll leave it, with an image that shows the three stages of digital restoration. 11/ Image
For the few who actually saw this thread, a little extra. A #3D printable version of this sculpture! If only I had a 3D printer ... myminifactory.com/object/3d-prin… Image

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More from @chapps

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Nov 16, 2024
My recent reconstructions of the busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University. I worked on these with Mark Abbe, who performed MSI scans of the original busts and discovered traces of pigments (paper forthcoming). #polychromy 1/ Digital polychrome reconstruction of this magnificent portrait bust of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, who was originally from North Africa. He wears a military cloak - a paludamentum - in a rich purple color, with a reddish fringe and a lighter purple underside (it’s slightly turned over on his left shoulder). These colors were discovered during scientific scans recently. The cloak is fixed with a gilded shield fibula at his right shoulder. His skin is brown, his hair salt-and-pepper, and his eyes brown, all following the example of the Severan tondo portrait. Details of reddish cheek...
Digital polychrome reconstruction of the portrait bust of Julia Domna from the Eskenazi Museum of Art. Her himation/palla (cloak) is a deep purple with a lighter purple underside, identical to that of her husband’s paludamentum. This furthers their well-known close marriage and partnership. Her tunic is a very pale yellow. Her characteristic ‘hair helmet’, parted in the middle and consisting of several rows of crimped hair in a rounded shape, has subtle gilded highlights at the top of each ridge. This highlighting would have caught the light and helped an observer from a distance see the de...
The unrestored busts are below (although I’ve digitally added socles). These really are magnificent Imperial portraits. 2/

📸 Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University The original portrait bust of Septimius Severus, unrestored, as one would see it in the Eskenazi Museum (save the digital addition of the socle and tabula - the stand with the little nameplate that it sits on). It’s in fabulous shape, but two of its forehead curls and parts of the forked beard have been broken off. The curls in the hair and beard are chipped but in remarkably good condition. A lot of staining had to be removed digitally for the restoration, though.
Original portrait bust of Julia Domna, as you’d see her in the Eskenazi Museum today (save for the socle and tabula, which I added digitally). She’s in near-perfect condition, save a broken nose.
Details about Mark’s analysis of the busts will be published soon, so no spoilers, but we had to make color decisions about the areas where no pigments were found. What better guide than the Severan Tondo? Poor Geta has been erased (damnatio memorae). 3/ The Severan Tondo - a painting of the Imperial family on a round panel of wood, found in Egypt. It depicts the bejeweled augusta Julia Domna on the left, and the golden-crowned emperor Septimius Severus on the right. Below them their two children, still young: Geta on the left (face erased as part of ‘damnatio memorae’, when his brother had him killed) and Caracalla on the right. All wear gold-trimmed clothes and the men carry scepters. Septimius has very dark skin - and whether this is actually how he looked or whether it means he’s an active man, we can’t know. But it’s how he clearly wan...
Read 6 tweets
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Aug 11, 2024
With the discovery of the tomb of Marcus Venerius Secundio in #Pompeii (and his mummified body) came the discovery within his burial enclosure of the tomb of Novia Amabiles, her glass urn preserved together with those of three children, in a bronze container. 1/

📸 me A lidded blue-green glass urn nestled inside a papery bronze egg-like wrapping. The lid is round at its base and has a pointed section in the middle with a knob on top. When found, it had been sealed with plaster and contained a large amount of dark liquid in addition to the cremated bones of the woman and her three children. Photo: my own
The tomb of Secundio was an unusual inhumation burial and his mummified body was inside, retaining some hair and an ear.👂Secundio was a freedman, once a public slave, who became one of the Augustales, a well-off priest of the Imperial cult. 2/
Exterior of the tomb of Marcus Venerius Secundio, nestled within his tomb enclosure, which was defined by a low wall. His tomb is essentially a rectangular box with a pediment lid - looking like a house or a temple. We can see faded fresco pigments on the front - whites, blues, and reds. In the background, we can see two cippi - gravestones - within an opened tomb. Photograph © Parco Archeologico di Pompei
Looking inside the tomb of M. Venerius Secundio, which has an arched top. On the left side, the skeletal mummified remains of Secundio have been shoved up against the wall, his head propped up on a stone pillow. Perhaps they had originally intended for the urn and other glass ampullae in the tomb enclosure to be placed on the right side? Photograph © Parco Archeologico di Pompei.
Below is the marble columella gravestone bearing the name of Novia Amabiles, who is thought to have been Secundio's wife. The children sharing her urn were probably their offspring. 3/ Novia Amabiles' 'columella' style gravestone, before it was fully excavated. The outline of the gravestone literally looks like a stylized head, neck, and part of the shoulders of a human. Many Roman children were buried with this style of gravestone. At the bottom is the name, broken into two lines to fit: NOVIA AM ABILES A white marble platform is in front of the stone, to receive offerings. Out of range of this pic to the left is an amphora with a broken bottom, half buried, which would have been used to accept liquid offerings, directly them towards the glass cinerary urn. Photograph...
Read 5 tweets
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Jul 17, 2024
The only surviving Roman draco (dragon) standard was this gilded bronze version found in the ruins of the Limes fortress in Niederbieber, Germany. It would have originally had a fabric ‘windsock’ attached which would billow out behind the head. 1/

📸 me
📸 Codrin.B (Wikimedia)
Gilded bronze draco (dragon) standard head. It looks like a stylized crocodile head, with an open mouth displaying many sharp teeth, a furled upper snout, and scales down its length. It also has a crest on top, a bit like a chicken! Quite a bit of the original gilding remains, glinting yellow under the lights. 190-240 CE. GDKE - Direktion Landesarchilologie Außenstelle Koblenz Landesmuseum Koblenz, Germany Photographed at the British Museum’s ‘Legion’ exhibit.
Photo of a draconarius at a Roman Cavalry Reenactment (Roman Festival at Augusta Raurica - August 2013), dressed in replica roman cavalry armor, galloping on a white horse. He carries a shield and a reconstruction draco standard on a long red pole with an attached red windsock, which billows out behind him.
In the 2nd c. CE, Arrian writes that the Romans adopted the draco from the Scythians, but he probably meant the Sarmatians/Dacians, as we can see from spolia represented on the base of Trajan’s Column and a relief from the Hadrianeum in Rome. These were more wolf-like. 2/

📸 me
Closeup of the base of Trajan’s Column, which is a large bas-relief on all four sides, depicting piles of spolia, trophies of war. Armor, shields, quivers, lances, spears, helmets, and a very well rendered Dacian draco standard, its windsock deflated. Photo: my own
One of the reliefs from the Hadrianeum, the Temple of Deified Hadrian, depicting a trophy - spoils of war. Within a frame are a Dacian draco standard with a very lively and snaky windsock, and a Dacian tunic and spear. National Archaeological Museum of Naples Photo: my own
The earliest representation of a Roman draco standard is on the 2nd c. CE Portonaccio sarcophagus (1st pic, top). A more snaky version can be seen on the 3rd c. Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (2nd pic, top). It would emit a hissing sound, installing terror in enemies. 3/

📸 me
Closeup of the marble Portonaccio battle sarcophagus, thick with high relief Romans fighting Germanic warriors. The commander at the center is faceless - there was apparently no time to personalize the face with his portrait. Horses, men, shields, spears, swords, all blended together in chaos. At the very top we can see a small rendering of a draco standard, its tail billowing out, indicating the draconarius was galloping onto the field of battle. Dating to around 180 AD, the sarcophagus was likely used to bury a Roman general killed in the 172–175 AD German-Sarmatic campaign of Marcus Aur...
Closeup of the marble Great Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus, another chaotic scene rendered in high relief. In the center, the general is astride his rearing horse - he wears no helmet and extends his right arm, palm outwards. A farewell gesture? To the right of his head a draconarius carries a draco standard, its snaky body billowing out and behind the general. The face of this draco is much more lizard-like, and less like that of a wolf. Palazzo Altemps, Rome Photo: my own
Read 6 tweets
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Apr 20, 2023
One-stop statuette to pray to multiple gods! Silver statuette with gilding, of the Gallo-#Roman goddess Tutela, with a double cornucopia and a mural crown worn as a protector of a city. She holds a patera (libation dish) in her right hand. Let's identify the gods ... 1/ Silver statuette of the Gal...Side view of the statuette,...
The double cornucopia holds the heads of Diana and Apollo, and her upright wings carry the busts of the Dioscurii, Castor and Pollux. Above them is a stand with the busts of several other gods ... 2/ Closeup of the middle of th...
The seven gods at the top of Tutela's wings represent the seven days of the week. Starting with Saturn, the eldest, then Sol (sun), Luna (moon), Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. ALT tag for more.

Ca. 150-220 AD. Excavated in Mâcon, France. #BritishMuseum (1824,0424.1). 3/ Closeup of the stand at the...
Read 4 tweets
Chapps Profile picture
Feb 18, 2023
I'm always interested in how a scene from myth is shown in different media. Here we have Achilles - in women's clothing! - hiding out among the daughters of King Lykomedes on the island of Skyros. Always shown at the moment of discovery by Odysseus (in cap). 1/ Side of a massive sarcophagus, made in Athens, Greece. A youFresco showing the moment that Achilles - clad in women's clImpluvium (a shallow pool in an atrium, designed to capture A tall Roman glass drinking cup, with the chaotic scene of A
1st example: a sarcophagus made in Athens, ca. AD 180-220, depicting scenes from the life of Achilles. On the right side is the scene from Skyros, with Achilles hiding behind his shield, the young, pregnant Deidamia hanging from his neck, pleading him to stay. #GettyVilla 2/ Same scene of the side of the sarcophagus, described in the Front of the Achilles sarcophagus at the Getty Villa, showin
2nd example: a fresco this time, from the House of the Dioscuri in Pompeii. Odysseus - in his pileus cap - discovers Achilles hiding on Skyros, dressed in women's clothing (fetching thigh!). Diomedes, King of Argos, grabs the warrior from behind. #MANN 📸 @carolemadge 3/ Fresco from the House of the Dioscuri in Pompeii, described
Read 7 tweets
Chapps Profile picture
Feb 18, 2023
Another day, another clusterf**k from Twitter. Apparently, the platform is removing text message two-factor authentication, which will henceforth only be for (snicker) Twitter Blue subscribers. It must be turned off, or you lose access to Twitter. OK, so let's do it ... ah. 😆
I mean, sure, turn off a security feature that's standard on most platforms, just so your CEO can say 'suck it, losers' to all non-Twitter Blue subs. Unbelievable.
Of course, this is some kind of hacker-dream b.s. Removing two-factor authentication will make hacking your Twitter account *so* much easier. I've never heard of a platform charging for security. Musk is a childish loser.
Read 4 tweets

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