Of all the treasures housed in the Galleria Borghese,  Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina especially made an impact on me. The subject of this baroque style sculpture is the classical myth of the Roman god Pluto kidnapping the goddess Prosperina to bring her back to the Underworld to be his bride. Interestingly, Bernini chose to depict this tale at the height of its physical intensity by sculpting the very moment of the actual abduction. The result is  a dynamic interplay between force by the part of Pluto and resistance by Prosperina. Perhaps most impressive though is the verisimilitude of the figures, namely the impressions of Proserpina’s flesh as Pluto’s fingers dig into her waist and thigh. The sculpting is so amazing that one can actually see the pressure of skin on skin and the how the folds of the flesh react.  With such careful attention to detail, Bernini has managed to breath life into the marble. Such warmth stands in sharp contrast with the cold, often distant style of classical sculpture.

The Boxer, located at the Palazzo Massimo (The National Roman Museum), dates back to the Hellenistic bronze period. The positioning of the statue invites viewers to interact with the piece and it reminiscent of how the statue was originally found; in the corner of an archeological site, almost looking up and waiting to be discovered. Some breathtaking highlights are the intense detail of the scarring of the body, the cauliflower ear, the small wounds on the ear and face, and single hairs engraved throughout the body. For the open wounds on the ear and face, the artist created the look of blood using a different type of metal and showed it flow against the natural curve of the boxers features. Overall it was a pleasant surprise to be able to interact with this piece and a stunning part of such a limited source of hellenistic bronzes.

While walking around the Eternal City, one will often find an obelisk in the center of a piazza or in front of a church. Although seemingly out of place, Rome is actually home to more of these ancient Egyptian monuments than any other city in the world.  These monolithic pyrimidal stones that stretch upwards towards the heavens were first introduced in Rome by the Emperor Augustus in the late 1st century BC after the country of Egypt was incorporated into the Empire. The ancient Romans took these obelisks from their native land and erected them in Rome to serve as trophies of Roman conquest, a physical testament of the strength and breadth of the Empire. Moreover, even after the fall of the ancient Romans, the obelisks gained new life as they were claimed by the Popes of the Catholic Church as a means to connect themselves back to the glory of imperial Rome. For this reason, some obelisks such as the one that currently stands in from of St. Peter’s Basilica were moved and adorned with a crucifix. Altogether, the presence of the obelisks in Rome adds another layer that even outdates the ancient Romans themselves to a city that already possess such a rich history.

 

Relavent quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Marble Faun:

“They saw, too, the red granite obelisk, oldest of things, even in Rome, which rises in the center of the piazza, with a fourfold fountain at its base. All Roman works and ruins (whether of the empire, the far-off republic, or the still more distant kings) assume a transient, visionary, and impalpable character when we think that this indestructible monument supplied once of the recollections which Moses and the Israelites bore from Egypt into the desert.” (pg 87)