Part 1 - The statues of Liborio and Giovanni Michilli
Unfortunately, today in Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli almost nothing is left of its original decoration, which was extremely refined and precious. Very little is left on site; the rest is in museums or disappeared.
From the 16th century onward Popes, cardinals, and Roman nobles promoted excavations in search of statues to enrich their collections of "antiques," which were a status symbol to demonstrate their erudition and love of the arts. The statues were the most coveted find for treasure hunters.
At least four hundred statues were discovered at Hadrian's Villa, which are now scattered among museums and collections around the world, and in some cases disappeared. Several partial publications exist, but a comprehensive study updated with the latest discoveries is lacking.
The statues, found in the Accademia building (like the Furietti Centaurs that we will discuss later), are published in our book «Villa Adriana, Architettura Celeste. I segreti dei Solstizi» (italian edition only)
The best pieces were found in the 17th and 18th centuries, and expertly restored by great specialists in the field, who used original Roman marbles found during excavations to replace the missing pieces. Indeed, to be valuable, a sculpture had to be intact, although Cavaceppi complained that certain restorers would remake an entire statue starting from an original finger, and then passed off the classic swindle to the wealthy English lords, who wanted to bring back home an exceptional souvenir.
Most of the sculptures found at Hadrian's Villa had been broken into several pieces. In some cases, this was due to the abandonment of the buildings, whose collapse damaged them. In other cases, they were intentionally broken into pieces to burn the marble and make lime. Or, especially if they were of Egyptian iconography, they were destroyed because they depicted pagan deities and were blasphemous.
An exception to this rule are four magnificent statues discovered in the mid-18th century by the brothers Liborio and Giovanni Michilli, owners of some land in Hadrian's Villa in the area of the Hundred Chambers. The Michillis donated them to Pope Benedict XIV to enrich the Capitoline Museums' collections, in exchange for a highly profitable tobacco selling monopoly.
The Michillis discovered four statues, all of which are today in the Capitoline Museums of Rome. They include a Harpocrates, the so-called Pancraziaste, an Antinous Osiris, and a statue of Flora.
According to antiquarian sources, they were found in the Hundred Chambers, which belonged to the Michillis in the 18th century, but have an endless number of rooms. More specifically, Giovan Battista Piranesi in his 1790 plan, marks the find spot with n. 4, a section of the Hundred Chambers substructures near the Casino Michilli.
It is clearly visible in an 1830 engraving by Agostino Penna. The Casino was built on Roman ruins, like many other buildings in the Villa (as the Casino Fede and the Casino Braschi), it later became the Casino Triboletti, where the Didactic Museum of Hadrian's Villa was created in the 1980s.
The statues were in an exceptional state of preservation, almost intact, and only small details were restored. The statue of Flora was so well preserved that some scholars doubted its authenticity.
The statues were likely transported to the substructures, perhaps awaiting relocation. In late antiquity, before its final abandonment, the Villa was stripped of statues and other decorations to be reused in other imperial buildings. Otherwise, the statues were hidden to protect them from plunder, and in any case, their memory was lost until the successful excavation by the Michillis.
The first statue depicts Harpocrates, the infant Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, who symbolized the rising sun. The gesture of placing a finger to his mouth, which identifies him, was considered by the Greeks and Romans as an exhortation to keep silence and secrecy regarding the rituals of the mystery cult of Isis and Osiris.
The second is the Egyptian-style Antinous Osiris, with a rigid pose and one leg extended, wearing a skirt that conceals the junction between two blocks of marble. He wears the Egyptian headdress (nemes) and holds a cylindrical object, perhaps a papyrus, in his hand. Minor restorations are visible on the tip of the nose, part of the lips, the right hand, some folds of the skirt, and the lower part of the right leg with its support.
It was probably created after the death of Antinous, who drowned in the Nile in 130 AD, and to whom a cenotaph in the Villa is presumed to have been dedicated.
The third statue is the so-called Pancraziaste or Hermes, made with two blocks of marble whose junction is hidden by the upper part of the drapery. Few restorations have been made: the tip of the nose, some fingers of the left hand, fragments of the right arm and hand, but the plinth, the lower part of the right leg, and the rock-shaped support are entirely intact.
The fourth statue represents Flora, an ancient Italic goddess of probable Sabine origin. Flora was also the sacred and secret name of Rome. Restorations are very few, including some flowers from the crown, the left hand and fingers of the right hand, and reattached fragments of the neck and right forearm.
The feast of the Floralia from April 28th to May 3rd, was dedicated to the goddess Flora.