DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15095#0051
PLATE XIII.
from more perfect marbles in the Albani collection. The antique
parts include the upper portions of both the figures. The line of
separation, as marked in the engraving, passes in a perpendicular
direction close behind the head of Apollo, crosses the elbow of his
right arm, and then descending some way below the lyre, is con-
tinued upward underneath the arm and across the wing of the figure
of Victory.
This bas-relief, in the parts which are antique, differs in a few
points from the one in terracotta; the most remarkable difference
is, that in the terracotta the colonnade is omitted.
The mythological design of this composition is involved in con-
siderable doubt. In the description of the bas-relief of terracotta,
we have considered it highly probable, that the subject relates to some
particular part of the ceremony which took place in Athens at the
celebration of the Thargelia, a festival instituted in honour of Apollo
and Diana. Zoega,(3) who has published descriptions of five
marbles in the villa Albani,(4) all of which exhibit the present
subject, conjectures that they relate to the worship of Apollo at
Delphi; and he supposes that the magnificent building which is
seen in the back-ground of one of these marbles, represents the
temple erected to Apollo in that city. Which of these explanations
is correct, if either of them be so, we cannot possibly determine.
It is worthy of observation, however, that these bas-reliefs do not
furnish the only instance in which Victory is associated with
Apollo; for on a medallion of the Emperor Commodus, she is
represented offering a lyre to that deity. (5)
3 Li Bassirilievi Antichi Di Roma, colle illustrazioni di Giorgio Zoega, torn. ii. . 23 9,
tav. xcix.
+ Four of these have been subsequently removed to Paris. See Mus. Nap. torn. iv.
pi 7, 8, 9, 10.
5 Vaillant, Selectiora Numismata in asre maximi moduli e Museo illust. D. D, Francisci
De Camps, p. 53.
from more perfect marbles in the Albani collection. The antique
parts include the upper portions of both the figures. The line of
separation, as marked in the engraving, passes in a perpendicular
direction close behind the head of Apollo, crosses the elbow of his
right arm, and then descending some way below the lyre, is con-
tinued upward underneath the arm and across the wing of the figure
of Victory.
This bas-relief, in the parts which are antique, differs in a few
points from the one in terracotta; the most remarkable difference
is, that in the terracotta the colonnade is omitted.
The mythological design of this composition is involved in con-
siderable doubt. In the description of the bas-relief of terracotta,
we have considered it highly probable, that the subject relates to some
particular part of the ceremony which took place in Athens at the
celebration of the Thargelia, a festival instituted in honour of Apollo
and Diana. Zoega,(3) who has published descriptions of five
marbles in the villa Albani,(4) all of which exhibit the present
subject, conjectures that they relate to the worship of Apollo at
Delphi; and he supposes that the magnificent building which is
seen in the back-ground of one of these marbles, represents the
temple erected to Apollo in that city. Which of these explanations
is correct, if either of them be so, we cannot possibly determine.
It is worthy of observation, however, that these bas-reliefs do not
furnish the only instance in which Victory is associated with
Apollo; for on a medallion of the Emperor Commodus, she is
represented offering a lyre to that deity. (5)
3 Li Bassirilievi Antichi Di Roma, colle illustrazioni di Giorgio Zoega, torn. ii. . 23 9,
tav. xcix.
+ Four of these have been subsequently removed to Paris. See Mus. Nap. torn. iv.
pi 7, 8, 9, 10.
5 Vaillant, Selectiora Numismata in asre maximi moduli e Museo illust. D. D, Francisci
De Camps, p. 53.