2008 February 06 archive at eternallycool.net

Archive for February 6th, 2008

Feb

Adopt-a-Fresco from Stabiae

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Archaeology

Fresco from Stabiae

Here at the eCool compound, we love adoption programs that let the whole world enjoy and support Italian art, culture, and food. Last year we were enthusiastic promoters of the adopt-a-sheep, adopt-an-olive-tree, and adopt-a-vine programs, all efforts that support sustainable agriculture on the Italian peninsula while letting you enjoy the fruits of the harvest.

This year we’ve turned our minds toward ancient art and culture and we’re thrilled to discover the adopt-a-fresco program sponsored by the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation, which lets you make a contribution that will preserve ancient paintings excavated from the the site of Stabiae, one of the many sites destroyed when the volcano Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

Villa San Marco, Stabiae

Just three miles from Pompeii, the Roman site of Stabiae was a summer resort for rich and powerful Romans. The luxurious villas built by such Romans were destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius and were only rediscovered in the mid-18th century.

Among the many villas found at Stabiae, the most famous are Villa San Marco, Villa Del Pastore, and Villa Ariana. Though all provide valuable evidence about the ancient world, the star amongst them is the Villa San Marco, one of the largest villas ever discovered in Campania, which measures more than 11,000 square meters (see photos above and below). This villa has an atrium, a courtyard containing a pool, a triclinium with views of the Bay of Naples, a colonnaded courtyard, and a private bath complex.

Like other villas excavated in Stabiae, the Villa San Marco is important because it has provided us with beautiful frescoes, sculptures, mosaics, and architecture, which show styles and themes comparable to those found in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Villa San Marco, Stabiae

Among the many goals of the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation is that of restoring frescoes from Villa San Marco and other ancient luxury homes, for the site of Stabiae has yielded a wealth of beautiful artworks that are in need of care. Thus, RAS has devised an adopt-a-fresco program in which your contribution provides for the complete restoration of a fresco to the highest possible level, as well as the stabilization of the fresco so that it is able to travel to exhibitions around the world.

Furthermore, you can choose the fresco you’d like to restore – prices range from a few thousand dollars to well over ten thousand dollars – so this makes a great gift!

ADOPTION BENEFITS AND REWARDS

Mounted, high-resolution gift photograph of restored fresco, including plaque recognition of donor’s name

Donor’s name featured in “Hall of Fame” plaque (featuring names of all major RAS donors and supporters) on display at the on-site Villa San Marco Visitor’s and Research Center (start of construction underway).

Plaque with donor’s name attached to the back of restored original fresco, with recognition of donor’s name during traveling exhibit sponsored by RAS where the adopted restored fresco is on display. (Any museum reserves the right to revoke these benefits in the occasion that the restored fresco is present in a non RAS- sponsored event).

Complimentary access and special tour of the Stabiae site, including Villa San Marco and Villa Arianna, with RAS professional staff

Donation is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law

For more information, visit the Restoring Ancient Stabiae adopt-a-fresco homepage (where you can download a catalog of frescoes in need).

Feb

Art Squad Triumph!

By idcrome 0 Comments

Categories: Archaeology

A Piece of the Forma Urbis

Between 203 and 211, under the reign of the Emperor Septimius Severus, a massive marble map of ancient Rome was created. It originally measured 18 m (60 ft) wide by 13 m (45 ft) high and was carved into 150 marble slabs mounted on an interior wall of the Temple of Peace.

Created at a scale of approximately 1 to 240, the map was detailed enough to show the floor plans of nearly every temple, bath, and insula in the central Roman city. The boundaries of the plan were decided based on the available space on the marble, instead of by geographical or political borders as modern maps usually are.

The Plan was gradually destroyed during the Middle Ages, with the marble stones being used as building materials or for making lime. In 1562, the young antiquarian sculptor Giovanni Antonio Dosio excavated fragments of the Forma Urbis from a site near the Church of SS Cosma e Damiano, under the direction of the humanist condottiere Torquato Conti, who had purchased excavation rights from the canons of the church. Conti made a gift of the recovered fragments to Alessandro Cardinal Farnese

Since that time, a total of about 10% of the original surface area of the plan has since been recovered, in the form of over one thousand marble fragments, which are kept in the Palazzo dei Conservatori of the Capitoline Museums (just one of those fragments is shown above).

Now, thanks to the hard work of Italy’s Carabinieri Art Squad, another piece can be added to the collection. A recent Art Squad investigation led to the recovery of a Forma Urbis fragment in a private apartment…where it was being used to hold up a window. In further investigations, they also recovered another 618 antiquities destined to be sold on the black market.

Want to learn more about the Forma Urbis? The Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae Project is digitizing the fragments and using computer algorithms in an attempt to reassemble more of the map. They’ve currently got all 1186 surviving fragments online (we assume that excludes the recently recovered one) and they feature an extensive bibliography that will direct your reading.