Gardens and Baths
A number of well-known large stone vases sculpted in relief from the Imperial period were apparently mostly used as garden ornaments; indeed many statues were also placed in gardens, both public and private. Sculptures recovered from the site of the Gardens of Sallust, opened to the public by Tiberius, include:
- the Obelisco Sallustiano, a Roman copy of an Egyptian obelisk which now stands in front of the Trinità dei Monti church above the Piazza di Spagna at the top of the Spanish Steps
- the Borghese Vase, discovered there in the 16th century.
- the sculptures known as the Dying Gaul and the Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife, marble copies of parts a famous Hellenistic group in bronze commissioned for Pergamon in about 228 BC.
- the Ludovisi Throne, found in 1887, and the Boston Throne, found in 1894.
- the Crouching Amazon, found in 1888 near the via Boncompagni, about twenty-five meters from the via Quintino Sella (Museo Conservatori).
Roman baths were another site for sculpture; among the well-known pieces recovered from the Baths of Caracalla are the Farnese Bull and Farnese Hercules and over life-size early 3rd century patriotic figures somewhat reminiscent of Soviet Social Realist works (now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples).
Found in the Gardens of Sallust
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Falling Niobid, discovered in the site in 1906 (Museo Nazionale Romano)
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Borghese Vase
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Dying Gaul, sometimes called The Dying Gladiator at the Capitoline Museum entered by way of the Campidoglio
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Ludovisi Throne (Palazzo Altemps); probably an authentic Greek piece in the Severe style
Read more about this topic: Ancient Roman Sculpture
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I produced the orchards, gardens and groves.
It is I who made the glass out of stone,
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“After the baths and bowel-work, he was dead.”
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