Bronze cinerary urn. Etruria, 500-400 B. C.

Towards the end of the third century B.C., one by one all the provinces of Italy were brought under the subjection of Rome.

Room 127. Ancient Rome, 1,000 B.C.-early 1st century A.D. The distinctive feature of Roman art was the sculptural portrait. Roman sculptors, whose names are unknown to us, portrayed in marble with great realism their contemporaries: statesmen, ‘philosophers, emperors, military leaders, and distinguished Roman men and women. Assembled in the Hermitage are around one hundred and twenty portraits (rooms 106, 107, 127, 128). This superb collection makes it possible to trace the development of Roman portraiture over a period of almost four hundred years. Belonging to the late period of the republic (second and first centuries B.C.), when portraiture became an independent genre, is the bronze bust of a Roman (No. 229), two male marble portraits (Nos. 181, 183a), and the portrait of a woman (No. 138a). Each of them has a characteristic simplicity and is a faithful and accurate reproduction of the appearance of the model; in the past marble portraits were tinted, which gave them even greater expressiveness. The statue of the emperor Octav-ianus Augustus seated on a throne (first century A.D.) is a typical example of an official portrait from the time of the Empire. Found in Cumae, the statue was made during the last years of Augustus’ life; he is portrayed, however, as a young man of athletic build (at the very time when the Roman historian Suetonius was writing about the frailty of his body). The individual features of the face are smoothed over, and the hair is conveyed with great accuracy in the way that Roman sculptors loved. The emperor is portrayed half-naked; in one hand he is holding a sceptre and in the other the figure of the winged goddess Victory. It was in this manner that the ancient Greeks depicted Zeus, and the Romans Jupiter, their chief deity. Such deific portrayals of the emperor stood in Roman temples, public buildings and on city squares.

Statue of Octavianus Augustus. 1st century A. D.

At the time of the Empire relief sculpture occupied a prominent place in the decoration of palaces, triumphal arches and columns. The edifices, built on brick with an admixture of concrete, were faced not only with local travertine, but also with marble: “I inherited a Rome made of clay,” wrote Octavianus Augustus. “I leave it all in marble.” Displayed here is a marble slab with a relief design composed of laurel garlands and bucrania. The slab is a fragment of either an altar or a temple wall. In the horizontal cases are some Roman intaglios and cameos of the first three centuries A.D. with representations of the emperor and members of his family, and also of mythological scenes.

Room 129. By the window is displayed a large third century mosaic made of smalt and coloured stone, which in the past paved the floor of the thermae containing public baths and all kinds of rooms used for the recreation of the body and the mind. It illustrates the Greek myth of the youth Hylas, a companion of Jason, who, while the Argo was at anchor, went to a spring for water and was carried to the bottom by nymphs. Upon wall-brackets are fragments of mosaics which also decorated floors in the past.

Representing the work of the Roman crafts are articles made of glass, bronzes and ceramics, displayed in cabinets. In the first century B.C. Roman craftsmen mastered the production of blown glass, and this became a regular feature of everyday life (see the vessels for wine, fragrant oil and rouge, and the cinerary urns). Coloured glass was particularly highly valued. Roman ceramic vessels were made in red lacquer technique, with a delicate relief design produced by means of stamping. The red-lacquer vessels are notable for their perfection of form, many of them made so as to resemble metal vessels – see the small jug with a vine pattern.

Room 128. Roman art and everyday life. Individual exhibits introduce to us the architectural decoration of Roman buildings, among them fragments of murals from Pompeii, the marble capitals of columns, and an ornamental relief. In the horizontal cases by the windows are household articles, working tools and relics of writing. In the centre of the room is the Kolyvan vase (see the description on page 33).

Portrait of Qaius Caesar. Rome, 1st century A. D.

Room 107. Roman sculpture, late 1st -early 4th centuries A.D. The enormous statue of Jupiter, 3.47 metres high (11 ft. 4.2 in.), is an example of the monumental temple sculpture of the mid-first century; it was found in the country villa of the emperor Domitian. The figure of Jupiter is made of marble, and the clothing originally of gilded wood, but during restoration work this was replaced by plaster. In the past, gilt not only covered the surfaces of the raiments and other attributes, but also the locks of hair and the beard. Typical of Roman art is the portrayal of a Roman in a toga, the orator with his arm outstretched addressing the people. One of the Hermitage pieces (No. 173) is an example of this type of sculpture. In Roman art the narrative relief was widespread, including the depiction of military campaigns, battles, triumphal processions and mythological tales. Of this type there are the reliefs on marble sarcophagi dating from the second and third centuries A.D. One of them is decorated with scenes from the Greek tragedy Hyppolytas, another with stories of the Trojan war, and the relief on the third sarcophagus reproduces the ritual of a Roman wedding.

An important place in the exhibition is occupied by Roman portraiture, the apogee of which came in the second and third centuries A.D. Among the masterpieces of the Hermitage collection we should first of all mention the portrait of an unknown Roman (No. 187), the portrait of a youth (No. 213), the head of a Syrian woman (No. 205), the portraits of the emperors Lucius Verus, Philip the Arab, Balbinus and the empress Salonina, and the portrait of a Roman woman (No. 223). The Roman sculptors of the second and third centuries, not confining themselves to a realistic representation of man’s external appearance, strove to reveal his inner world. They were in fact the originators of the psychological portrait.

In room 106 are displayed some large heads, fragments of colossal statues, representing captive Dacians with their hands bound, which adorned the forum of Trajan in Rome. The Roman Empire waged a continuous war of conquest, and such triumphal monuments were supposed to confirm in the minds of the people the invincibility of Roman military strength.

Portrait of Emperor Philip the Arab

Room 105. The exhibition acquainting the visitor with the art of antiquity ends with a look at some copies of parts of the large frieze of the Altar of Pergamum, which portrays the gods fighting with the giants. The altar, in honour of Jupiter, was erected in the second century B.C. in the capital of the kingdom of Pergamum (present-day Turkey) to commemorate its victories over the Gauls. The original, discovered in the nineteenth century by the German research scholar Karl Humann, was kept in the Berlin museum and rescued during the Second World War by Soviet soldiers. In the post-war years it was kept in the Hermitage, where a copy was made, in the same size as the original, and put on display. On the marble band of the frieze – 120 metres long (393 ft. 8 in.) and 2.3 metres high (7 ft. 6.5 in.)- there are more than one hundred figures in various poses. The frieze of the Altar of Pergamum is the finest of the originals of Greek monumental sculpture that have come down to us.

The Bosporan kingdom, with its capital at Panticapaeum on the site of present-day Kerch (see rooms 115, 116 and the case labelled “Panticapaean Necropolis”), lay on both sides of the straits of Kerch – Bosporus Cimmerius. The population of this slave-owning state was made up of Greeks, who had founded colonies on the Black Sea coast as early as the sixth century B.C., and local tribes. The relics found on the territory of the Bosporan kingdom reflect the unusual mode of life which had developed there as a result of the interaction of local and Greek culture. The local tribes dwelt mainly on the steppes, maintaining close contact with the Greek inhabitants of the Bosporan towns. Significant in this respect are the fifth century tombs of the local “hellenized” ruling class from the “Seven Brothers” burial-mounds near the Kuban (room 116, case 12). The graves, in which according to local custom horses were buried along with the deceased, yielded many objects of Greek origin. Of an obviously Greek character is the grave of a woman discovered at the end of the last century on the Taman peninsula near ancient Phanagoria (room 115, case 16). Here, among other things, were unearthed some famous fancy-shaped vessels for keeping fragrant oil made by Greek craftsmen at the end of the fifth century B.C. The finest of these, in the form of a sphinx – a fabulous creature with the face of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird, has preserved its colours wonderfully. In the Bosporan kingdom, the population of which lived by agriculture and vine-growing, the cult of the goddess of fertility, Demeter, was particularly widespread. The Bolshaya Bliznitsa burial-mound on the Taman peninsula, where in stone vaults decorated with murals were buried priestesses of Demeter, became famous due to the truly incredible riches found there; one of the priestesses’ dresses alone was embellished with more than two thousand gold plaques. The gold crowns, earrings, bracelets and other exquisitely made decorative objects are kept in the Gold Room of the Hermitage, the remainder in room 116, case 30. From the ancient Bosporan graves were extracted silver and bronze utensils and excellent examples of Attic vases (rooms 116 and 177). A well preserved antique sarcophagus of cypress and boxwood, with carved designs and traces of blue and red paint, was found in one of the stone vaults of the Yuz-Oba mound near Kerch (room 117). Also of interest is a group of objects from a late royal tomb dating from the third century A.D. (room 116. case 32 and the Gold Room), in which of particular note are a gold mask, apparently representing the Bosporan ruler Rhescuporis, and a large silver dish, a gift to a Bosporan king from the Roman emperor Caracalla. At the end of the third and beginning of the fourth centuries, the Bosporan kingdom was destroyed by the Goths.

The Phanagorlan Sphinx. 500-400 B. C.

Room 120. Nymphaeum, 600 B.C.-3rd century A.D. The small Bosporan town of Nymphaeum, which traded with Athens in corn, was founded by inhabitants of the island of Samos in the sixth century B.C. on the site of a Scythian settlement. Excavations carried out by a Hermitage scientific expedition discovered dug-outs dating back to Scythian times with fragments of earthenware and the remains of grains of wheat and barley. Of great interest and importance was the discovery of a Greek shrine dedicated to the goddess Demeter. Many terra-cotta statuettes were found here, as well as goblets, rhytons, jugs of local and Attic origin brought by the natives of Nymphaeum as a gift to the gods, and some finely made terra-cotta acroteria and parts of a cornice. At the entrance to the shrine was a stone bearing the Greek inscription: Do not befoul the shrine.

Room 100 contains relics from Olbia (600 B.C.-3rd century A.D.) and from Chersonesus (500 B.C.- 4th century A.D.). Olbia, one of the colonies belonging to Miletus founded in the sixth century B.C. on the banks of the Bug estuary, was an important trading town which supplied Greece with corn.

Excavations led to the discovery of a fortress wall, the ruins of houses and temples, artisan quarters, potteries, wineries and bakeries. In Olbia there have been found relics of Greek writing (funeral and dedicative texts), works of art, Olbian bronze coins and various other articles.

The Tauric Chersonesus, three kilometres west of Sevastopol, was founded by Greeks in the fifth century B. C, and excavations have been carried out on the site of the ancient town from 1888 up to the present day. Displayed in the exhibition are ceramics, architectural details, coins, relics of writing and sculptures.

Vessel made by the craftsman Charln from Greece, early 5th century B.C.

Greek ceramics are extremely varied in shape; there are ampho-ras-tall vessels with two handles for storing or carrying wine and oil- squat, three-handled hydrias for water; kraters for mixing wine with water; drinking cups – ky.ices, kanthari and ^yph’iand vessels used for storing fragrant oil – narrow-necked lecythi, globe-shaped aryballi, and slender alabastra. Ancient Greek ceramics were famous far beyond the frontiers of Greece and were w.dely exported.

The small-size bronze sculpture of the sixth and early fifth centuries, including statuettes of youths and a stand for a mirror in the form of the goddess Aphrodite, introduces us to the archaic style in sculpture. The figures are static and are portrayed en face, with characteristically prominent eyes, and the hair and the folds in the clothes are represented schematically (cabinet 3, cases 5 and 9).

The statue of Hyacinth, attributed to Pythagoras of Rhegium, is evidence of the realist features of Greek art in the first half of the fifth century B.C. The famous sculptor gave the lean, supple body of the youth spatial life. Hyacinth is portrayed watching the flight of the discus with intence interest.

“Vase with a Swallow”. Greece, late 6th century B.C.

Room 112. The art of the Golden Age (500-400 B.C.). The basic theme of the classical period is the portrayal of the athlete, the victor ludorum, the bold, valiant defender of his native town, as well as the representation of the gods who personified the wealth and power of the state. The most eminent Greek sculptors during the Golden Age were Myron, Polycletus, and Phidias. Myron, who worked in bronze and whose work survived only in Roman copies, was the creator of the famous statue Discobolus. Similar in style to the works of Myron are the statues of a woman (No. 95), of the god of healing Aesculapius (No. 94), and also the head of a fist-fighter (No. 143) displayed in room 113.

Gold earring. Greece, 4th century B. C.

The basalt head of a youth (No. 140) with a classically regular, tranquil face belongs to the sculpture of Polycletus’ circle. It recreates the celebrated Doryphoros (The Spear-bearer) done by Polycletus in strict conformity with his Canon, a tractate on the proportions of the human body. Polycletus, like Myron, worked in bronze, but his originals have not been preserved. Other works of the same circle are the torso of an athlete (No. 104a) and the statue of Hermes (No. 104).

Room devoted to Greek art. 400-500 B. C.

The name of Phidias is associated with the imposing architectural and sculptural ensemble of the Acropolis in Athens, In this city, which in the fifth century B.C. as a result of the victory of democracy became the political and cultural centre of all Greece, was erected the marble temple of the Parthenon in honour of the protectress of the city, the goddess Athena. The temple was adorned with a statue, twelve metres in height (over 37 ft.), of Athena Par-thenos (Athena the Virgin); her clothes and armaments were made of gold, the face and hands of ivory. The works of Phidias have not survived to our time, and so of special value is the embossed representation of the head of Phidias’ Athene, made by an unknown fourth century Greek jeweller, on gold pendants which were found in the Kul-Oba burial-mound and are now kept in the Gold Room of the Hermitage. The Roman copy of a fifth century marble statue gives us some idea of Phidias’ style; the warrior goddess is portrayed in a calm, majestic pose, leaning against a spear (No. 98), the head of Athena is crowned with a helmet, and the dress, descending in a series of folds, emphasizes the magnitude of the frontally portrayed figure. This representation personified the unshakable power of the Athenian state. Two stelae, the tombstones of Philost-rata and Theodotus (Greek originals), give us some idea of the classical relief at the time of Phidias.

Heracles Slaying the Lion of Nemea. 1st-2nd century Roman copy of iysippus’ original
The Resting Satyr. 1st-2nd century Roman copy of Praxiteles’ original

Room 114. Greek art, 400-300 B.C. The complex social and political situation in Greece during the fourth century B.C. brought about the development in art of several trends, of which Scopas, Praxiteles and Lysippus are good representatives. These great sculptors, differing enormously in their creative individuality, are united by their interest in man’s inner world; their portraits of the gods are even more “human” than was the case in the fifth century B.C. Several sculptures in the exhibition are from the school of Scopas (his work has survived only in Roman copies); one of these is the statue of Heracles (No. 272). The hero’s muscular body appears tired, and the deeply sunken eyes and the mouth half-open in suffering lends a mournful expression to his face. The fervour of passions – suffering, ecstasy, fury – is the basic theme of Scopas’ work.

His contemporary, Praxiteles, worked mainly in marble. Praxiteles’ heroes are usually portrayed in some light reverie, and in poses full of indolent grace. The smoothly outlined figures are notable for their proportions, elongated in comparison with Polycletus Canon. Acquainting the visitor with the work of the great sculptor is a whole series of items: The Resting Satyr, a copy of one of the sculptures by Praxiteles most popular in antiquity; the head of Aphrodite (No. 300), similar to the type of the celebrated Aphrodite of Cnidus; Satyr Pouring Wine, a copy of one of Praxiteles’ early works, and others. The portrait of the Greek dramatist Menander was executed by Praxiteles’ sons, Cephisodotus and Timarchus.

The Gonzaga Cameo. 300-200 B. C.

The small marble group called Heracles Slaying the Lion of Nemea is a reduced-size copy of a bronze sculpture by Lysippus from a series devoted to the twelve labours of Heracles. Lysippus was a master of sculpture in the round. The powerful figure of Heracles and the body of the beast are represented in such a way that the group can be viewed from all angles. The sculptor depicts the climax of the duel between man and beast; Heracles is strangling the lion, which, as its strength is sapped, sinks down onto its hind paws. The extent of Lysippus’ creative scope can be seen from his Eros Stringing the Bow and the statuette The Feasting Heracles. He also worked in the field of portraiture, and the head of the great Greek philosopher Socrates was based upon Lysippus’ original. His work crowned the achievements of Greek art of the fifth and fourth centuries B. C.

Room 121. The Hellenistic period is the traditional name for the era beginning with the conquests of Alexander the Great and ending with the Roman conquest of Egypt. On the lands of the Hellenistic states (Egypt, the kingdom of the Seleucidae, the kingdom of Pergamum, etc.) there grew up several schools of art, the foremost of which were in Alexandria, Pergamum and Rhodes.

Nowadays we have only isolated examples of original works of Greek marble sculpture, whereas much terra-cotta has been preserved. Elegant terra-cotta statuettes were made in many cities in Greece, Asia Minor and the northern Black Sea coastlands, though particularly highly esteemed were the items produced in the Greek town of Tanagra, whose craftsmen were influenced by the work of Praxiteles. The Hermitage collection of Tanagra terra-cottas of the fourth and third centuries B.C. ranks among the finest in the world (cases 3-6). The figurines of girls, youths and children in the costume of that time provide interesting material for studying the Greek way of life. Frequently terra-cottas reproduce in miniature famous statues of antiquity which have not come down to the present day.

In almost all the rooms of the department devoted to the art of antiquity there are displays of gems – carved stones, which were no less prevalent in the world of antiquity than in the countries of the ancient East. Carving on precious and semi-precious stone was done by hand and on the lathe, which was known in Greece as early as the sixth century B.C. The Hermitage collection includes hundreds of specimens of beautiful intaglios and cameos. The former were known in the Hellenistic period among the aristocracy, who surrounded themselves with luxury previously unheard of. Cameos were inserted into diadems, fibulae and rings, they were used to embellish valuable vessels, or simply preserved as works of art. In one of the horizontal cases by the window is the Gonzaga Cameo, exceptionally beautiful and among the largest of its kind (15.7 X 11.8 cm. – 6.14×4.65 in.). On a three-layered sardonyx, almost transparent and fancifully coloured by nature, two exquisite profiles were carved in high relief,- the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy Phila-delphus and his wife Arsinoe. The Gonzaga Cameo was made in the third century B.C. in Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt and one of the leading centres of Hellenistic culture. The Alexandrian school, in which genre themes in particular were widely developed, frequently treated with naturalistic details, is represented in the exhibition by some characteristic examples: The Satyr with a Splinter and Shepherd with a Lamb. Such marbles were traditionally placed in the corners of gardens. In this room should be noticed three items representing the school of Pergamum which was influenced by Scopas: the heads of a dying Gaul (No. 501), a dying giant (No. 21a) and of the dead Patroclus (No. 75)-and also moulded copies of the sculptural frieze from the Altar of Pergamum (room 105). From the Rhodes school is the fragment of a statue,- the head of a dying companion of Odysseus (No. 86).

Rooms 108 and 109. Graeco-Roman decorative sculpture. The architecture of room 108, completed about 1851 by the architect Yefimov according to Leo Klentze’s design, reproduced the inner courtyard of a grandiose Hellenistic or Roman house.

The fountain with the statue of Aura, the goddess of the air and the gentle breeze, and some examples of decorative sculpture – Eros Holding a Shell, The Infant Heracles Strangling the Snakes and Boy with a Bird – at one time adorned similar courtyards and rooms in ancient houses. The realistic portrayal of the child was one of the most significant achievements of the art of the Hellenistic period.

The Venus of Tauris. 1st-2nd century Roman copy of a Greek original (300-200 B.C.)

Room 109 contains a wonderful collection of marbles which decorated palaces, villas, gardens and parks during Hellenistic and Roman times; these include statues of Dionysus, Aphrodite, dancing satyrs, and figures of the Muses. Of wide renown is the statue of the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite, later called the Venus of Tauris after the Tauride (Tavrichesky) Palace in St Petersburg, where it was kept from the end of the eighteenth century until the mid-nineteenth. An unknown craftsman of the third century B. C, inspired by the conception of the Aphrodite of Cnidus, portrayed the beautiful goddess nude; her well-proportioned body is more fragile, her beauty more refined than that of Praxiteles’ goddess. The Venus of Tauris, ceded to Peter the Great by Pope Clement XI after protracted diplomatic negotiations, was, in 1720, the first antique statue to appear in Russia.

The following exhibitions are open to view:

The Art and Culture of Ancient Greece: 800-100 B.C.

The Art and Culture of Ancient Towns on the Northern Black Sea Coastlands: 700 B.C.-3rd century A.D.

The Art and Culture of Ancient Italy and Rome: 700 B.C.- 4th century A.D.