ENGLISH * NAPLES,
THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
THE
TWO QUADRILATERALS WHICH STAND OUT IN THE MIDST OF AN INTRICATE LABYRINTH
OF NARROW STREETS AND HOUSES ARE THE TWO ELEGANTLY ARCADED COURTYARDS OF THE
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS IN EUROPE.
THIS EDIFICE HAS HAD A
COMPLEX AND TROUBLED HISTORY (SOMETHING IT HAS IN COMMON WITH MANY OTHER IMPORTANT
BUILDINGS IN CAMPANIA AND ESPECIALLY IN NAPLES). IN 1585 THE SPANISH VICEROY,
THE DUKE OF OSSUNA, DECIDED THAT NEW BARRACKS SHOULD BE CONSTRUCTED JUST WHERE
THE ROAD BEGINS TO CLIMB TOWARDS CAPODIMONTE, AS THE BARRACKS NEAR THE MADDALENA
BRIDGE WERE OVERCROWDED. IN THE MEANTIME, THE UNIVERSITY, WHICH WAS HOUSED
IN THE MONASTERY BUILDINGS OF S. DOMENICO MAGGIORE, HAD ALSO OUTGROWN ITS
PREMISES. SO, THIRTY YARS LATER, UNDER THE RULE OF THE VICEROY THE COUNT OF
LEMOS, THE BARRACKS HAD TO MOVE OUT AND THE UNIVERSITY TOOK OVER. AFTER A
FURTHER FIFTY YEARS HAD PASSED, THE SPANISH RECONSIDERED THE MATTER AND DECIDED
THAT THE UNIVERSITY SHOULD RETURN TO S. DOMENICO MAGGIORE AND THE BUIDING
RESUME ITS FORMER ROLE AS BARRACKS. SEVERAL YEARS ON, SOLDIERS AND HORSES
WERE ONCE MORE EVICTED, THIS TIME TO MAKE WAY FOR THE LAW COURTS. YET AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, THE BUILDING ONCE AGAIN RESOUNDED TO
THE DIN OF THE CAVALRY, UNTIL CHARLES III RE-INSTALLED THE UNIVERSITY. HE
ALSO DECIDED TO EXTEND THE STRUCTURE TOWARDS THE AREA OF FORIA, AND MADE THE
ARCHITECT SANFELICE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROJECT. AFTER ABOUT THIRTY YEARS
HAD ELAPSED AND THE WORK HAD BEEN COMPLETED, THE MONASTERY ATTACHED TO THE
OLD GESU' CHURCH BECAME VACANT FOLLOWING THE EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS FROM
THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES. THE UNIVERSITY UNDERWENT ANOTHER MOVE, AND AT THE EXPRESS
WISH OF FERDINAND IV THE OLD BARRACKS-UNIVERSITY-LAW COURTS AT LONG LAST ENDED
ITS TRAVAILED CAREER WITH ITS DEFINITIVE TRANSFORMATION INTO A MUSEUM. IN
THE TWO HUNDRED YEARS SINCE IT WAS BUILT IT HAS SEEN A GREAT VARIETY OF TENANTS
COME AND GO, BUT THE LATESTARRIVALS ARE IMMOVEABLE FOR THE SIMPLE REASON THAT
THEY ARE STATUES THE MOST IMPORTANT WHICH HAVE COME DOWN TO US FROM ANTIQUITY
ALONG WITH SUPREME EXAMPLES OF OTHER FORMS OF CLASSICAL ART: FRESCOES, MOSAICS,
HERMS, VASES, COLOURED MARBLES, PAPYRI, JEWELLERY AND OTHER CRAFT OBJECTS.
HERE, DISPLAYED FOR OUR ADMIRATION, WE CAN FIND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCULPTURES
BY THE GREATEST ARTISTS OF ANTIQUITITY: POLICLEITUS OF ARGOS (THE HERM OF
THE JAVELIN THROWER FROM HERCULANEUM); LYSIPPUS (THE COLOSSAL FARNESE HERCULES
AND THE HERM OF SOCRATES); SCOPAS (THE "PHOTOS"); THE SCHOOL OF
PHIDIAS (THE LOW-RELIEF OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE); PRAXITELES (THE TORSO OF
A SATYR); CRESILAS (THE STATUE OF DIOMEDES FROM CUMA). THE ART TRASURES COME
FROM ALL OVER THE CLASSICAL WORLD FROM EGYPT, SAMOS, RHODES, ATHENS, SICILY,
MAGNA GRAECIA, BUT ABOVE ALL FROM ROME (THE FARNESE COLLECTION), POMPEI AND
HERCULANEUM.
THE FARNESE COLLECTION
NAMED AFTER ALESSANDRO FARNESE (POPE PAUL III) WHO STARTED IT, HIS NEPHEW
AND NAMESAKE WHO COMPLETED IT AND PROVIDED A CATALOGUE AND ELISABETTA FARNESE,
WHO BEQUEATHED IT TO HER SON,CHARLES III COMPRISES NUMEROUS SCULPTURES OF
GREAT ARTISTIC VALUE, AMONG WHICH TO SINGLE OUT ONLY THE MOST NOTABLE THERE
IS THE HUGE GROUP OF THE FARNESE BULL, ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES IN ANTIQUITY
OF A GROUP SCULPTURE,THE STATUE OF NIOBE, THE VENUS CALLIPYGE, THE ARTEMIS
IN BRONZE AND ALABASTER, THE GREAT HEAD OF JUNO, THE STATUE OF APOLLO, THE
EPHEBE, THE WOUNDED GLADIATOR,THE MAN WITH THE DOLPHIN, THE DACIAN PRISONERS,
THE FLORA AND THE IMMENSE STATUE OF HERCULES. THEN
THE BRONZES OF HERCULANEUM AND POPEI ARE ALSO OF GREAT INTEREST AND SO NUMEROUS
THAT WE HAVE SPACE TO MENTION HERE ONLY THE TWO WHICH ARE UNIVERSALLY KNOWN
THE FIVE FEMALE DANCERS FROM HERCULANEUM AND THE DANCING FAUN FROM POMPEI.
AN ENTIRE VOLUME WOULD BE NEEDED TO DESCRIBE EVEN ONLY SOME OF THESE MARVELLOUS
WORKS, FOR THE MUSEUM HOUSES ALL THE ART OBJECTS WHICH HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED
IN THE TWO CITIES BURIED BY THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS IN A.D. 79. THE MURAL
PAINTINGS ARE PARTICULARLY STRIKING; THEIR COLOURS ARE STILL SO FRESH AND
THEIR IMAGES SO VIVID THAT THEY SEEM QUITE MODER. THE MOSAICS TOO ARE SPLENDID,
AND THE JEWELLERY AND VARIOUS CRAFT OBJECTS INTERESTING FOR EXAMPLE, THE DINNER
SERVICE WHICH CAME TO LIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF THE MENANDER IN POMPEI. THE CITIES
OF NEAPLES, POZZUOLI AND BAIA ARE REPRESENTED BY VALUABLE WORKS OF ART SUCH
AS (AGAIN MENTIONING ONLY THE MOST FAMOUS) THE CELEBRATED BRONZE HEAD OF A
HORSE DISCOVERED IN THE PALACE OF DIOMEDE CARAFA, THE STATUE OF JOVE SARAPIS,
AND THE AMAZON. FROM CAPUA COME VARIOUS SCULPTURES FOUND IN THE AMPHITHEATRE
THERE, AMONG WHICH THERE ARE THE STATUES, EMPERORS' BUSTS, SARCOPHAGI. THE
EGYPTIAN SECTION HAS MUMMIES DATING FROM THE XXII DYNASTY, CANOPIC VASES,
HIEROGLYPHIC INSCRIPTIONS, FUNERARY STATUETTES, AND OTHERS REPRESENTING ISIS
AND HORUS, HAPI THE BULL, THE SACRED CAT, TOGETHER WITH SCULPTURES OF ANIMALS
FROM HELLENISTIC EGYPT AND A STATUE OF JOVE SARAPIS. UNFORTUNATELY,
IN OUR FLIGHT ABOVE THE MUSEUM, WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THESE WONDERS INSIDE.
THIS GREAT MUSEUM DESERVES A SPECIAL VISIT; THE HISTORY ITS ROOMS IS FAR TOO
FASCINATING TO PASS OVER.
