ART ADVENTURE: The Naples National Archeological Museum

By Jorge R. Jefferds March 24, 2022

Naples is remarkable for its fame in international cuisine and its association with Pizza. However, many people worldwide ignore how cardinal this metropolis has been due to the support in preserving valuable pieces of the Vesuvian era.

Records of the origin of the collection of these pieces relate it to the figure of Charles of Bourbon. He was on the throne of the Kingdom of Naples in 1734. His cultural policy led him to promote the exploration of the Vesuvian cities buried by the eruption of 79 AD. This process began in 1738 in Herculaneum, then in 1748 in Pompeii. Likewise, he oversaw the construction of a Farnesian Museum in the city, transferring part of the rich collection inherited from his mother Elisabetta Farnese from the residences of Rome and Parma.

The Museum Facade

At the beginning of its life, the local authorities used the building as a cavalry barracks in 1585. From 1616 to 1777, it was the seat of the University of Naples. During the 19th century, after it became a museum, it suffered many changes to the main structure.

The museum hosts extensive collections of Greek and Roman antiquities. Their core is the Farnese Collection, which includes engraved gems. Remarkable are the Farnese Cup, a Ptolemaic bowl made of sardonyx agate and the most famous piece in the "Treasure of the Magnificent," founded upon gems collected by Cosimo de' Medici and Lorenzo il Magnifico in the 15th century and the Farnese Marbles. Among the notable works found in the museum are the Herculaneum papyri, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, discovered after 1752 in Villa of the Papyri.

Interiors

A substantial part of the museum's classical sculpture collection comes from the Farnese Marbles. Most importantly, they include Roman copies of classical Greek sculpture, which are in many cases the only surviving indications of what the lost works by ancient Greek sculptors such as Calamis, Kritios, and Nesiotes seemed to have been. The Museo de Capodimonte welcomed the transfer of many of these works in recent years, especially the larger ones, for their display.

The museum houses a splendid collection of ancient Roman bronzes from the Villa of the Papyri. These include the Seated Hermes, a sprawling Drunken Satyr, a bust of Thespis, another variously identified as Seneca or Hesiod, and a pair of exceptionally lively runners.

The Bronze Runners

The museum's Mosaic Collection includes several renowned mosaics recovered from the ruins of Pompeii and the other Vesuvian cities. The Alexander Mosaic, dating from circa 100 BC, originally from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, is an astonishing piece worth the observation. It depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. Another mosaic found is one of the gladiatorial fighters depicted in a mosaic found from the Villa of the Figured Capitals in Pompeii.

With 2,500 objects, the museum has one of the largest collections of Egyptian artifacts in Italy after the Turin, Florence, and Bologna ones. It is made up primarily of works from two private collections, assembled by Cardinal Stefano Borgia in the second half of the 18th century, and Picchianti in the first years of the 19th. In the recent rearrangement of the galleries, the two nuclei have been exhibited separately, while in the connecting room other items are on display, including Egyptian and "pseudo-Egyptian" artifacts from Pompeii and other Campanian sites. In its new layout, the collection provides both an important record of Egyptian civilization from the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.) up to the Ptolemaic-Roman era.

Erotic Artifacts

The Secret Cabinet (Gabinetto Segreto) (Gabbinete) or Secret Room is the name the Bourbon Monarchy gave the private rooms in which they held their fairly extensive collection of erotic or sexual items, mostly deriving from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Only persons of mature age and known morals gained permission to visit the exhibition. The rooms were also called Cabinets of matters reserved or obscene or pornographic. After the revolution of 1848, the government of the monarchy even proposed the destruction of objects, fearful of the implications of their ownership, which would tarnish the monarchy with lasciviousness. Easy access to the collection for the then-director of the Royal Bourbon Museum terminated, providing the entrance door with three different locks, whose keys were held respectively by the Director of the Museum, the Museum Controller, and the Palace Butler. The highlight of the censorship occurred in 1851 when even nude Venus statues were locked up, and the entrance walled up in the hope that the collection would vanish from memory.

Pompeii Statues

In September 1860, when the forces of Garibaldi occupied Naples, he ordered to place the collection under exhibition for the general public. Since the Royal Butler was no longer available, they broke into it. Limiting viewership and censorship have always been part of the history of this particular art compendium. Censorship returned during the era of the Kingdom of Italy and peaked during the Fascist period when visitors to the rooms needed the permission of the Minister of National Education in Rome. Censorship persisted in the postwar period up to 1967, abating only after 1971 when the Ministry received the new rules to regulate requests for visits and access to the section. Completely rebuilt a few years ago with all of the new criteria, the collection finally flourished to the public eye in April 2000. Visitors under the age of 14 can tour the exhibit only with an adult.

The museum is open from 9 am to 7 pm every day, except Tuesdays. For information about special exhibitions and events, visit https://mann-napoli.it/. There is an option to read the website in English as well.

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