On Friday we went to the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The collection there is amazing. Lots of ancient busts, statues, parts of buildings, frescos, artifacts, etc. Two REALLY cool sections: one - the Farnese collection. Pope Paul III Farnese, who issued an edict that gave his family the right to excavate in order to obtain marble and stone (with an exclusive claim on all sculpture) for the construction and decoration of his main residence in Rome. Over time, the collection amassed an amazing catalogue of sculptures, paintings, gems, books and drawings; the second - frescos found, taken and restored from Pompeii.
The Farnese (pronounced Far-nay-say) collection includes things like Hercules, the Farnese Bull (an interesting story about a jealous wife who was dragged to death by a bull), a bust of Caracalla (same guy who built the huge baths in Rome) and much more. The frescos? Well, they sort of make Pompeii look like a pile of rocks.
The museum is huge...has to be to house the kind of art within its walls. Lots of walking, unairconditioned, and empty...there were only about 20 people in the place. Compared to places we've been recently...it was a nice reprieve. When we arrive, there's some girl trying to sell hour-long English-speaking tours for 60 euro. What??? Are you kidding me? No way. Not with 4 euro audio tours and 10 euro museum guide books (which we bought). She's all, "Well, you must know that there are no descriptions on the pieces, no background." Yeah. Right. No descriptions in a museum. Does she think all Americans are stupid? We managed just fine. Besides, I planned to spend much longer than an hour in this place.
So, back to the two highlights of the museum (actually there are several pretty cool things). The Farnese Bull. The "Mountain of Marble" (because its really, really, um...really big) represents the myth of the punishment of Dirce. Antiope, impregnated by Zeus and driven away by her father, Nycteur, gives birth to twins, Amphion and Zethus. While in exile, her uncle Lycos (king of Thebes) takes pity on her and allows her to come live with him and his wife, Dirce. Dirce is a real bitch. She' s jealous of Antiope's beauty and treats her like shit. Well, the twins have about enough of that and decide that they are going to avenge their mother's maltreatment. The naughty boys tie Dirce to the horns of a bull. The bull drags her away, tearing her body on the rocks. The moral here is if you're the jealous sort, you could get lucky and end up in a museum...but you might have to endure death by bull-dragging and being torn to shreds on the rocks. Gotta love mythology. The sculpture was found in fragments during the summer of 1545 in the courtyard of the Baths of Caracallas in Rome.
The most impressive stuff here, though, are the Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia frescos. Just like Tut's tomb, when Pompeii (and the other two) was excavated, its explorers pilfered its treasures. Many of the beautiful frescos were taken from the site and have landed in museums in Naples, London and New York. About 50 years ago, someone smart said, "Hey! Stop taking all the stuff! Pompeii will be just a pile of rocks if there's none of the art left." The ruins, thankfully, still benefit from some of their original mosaics, fountains and frescos. BUT for the best collection of the art, the museum in Naples is the place to go.
They take you into the collection in small groups at appointed times. You can't touch this stuff like you can when you're in Pompeii, but simply admiring it is enough. It's fabulous. The colors are vibrant. The subjects range from daily life to portraits to myths. Their condition ranges from rough and barely discernible to pristine and absolutely beautiful.
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