Lot 2115 Dα

These two very decorative paintings each represent ancient works of art that were highly admired in the late 18th century. One depicts a marble relief which at the time was located in the Palazzo Rondanini and is therefore still known as the Rondanini Medusa. This ancient piece was described by Goethe, among others, in his "Italian Journey": "Towards and above us in the Rondanini Palace stands a head of Medusa, where, in an over life-sized high relief with beautiful features, the fearful stare of death is unspeakably aptly expressed". The poet himself owned a copy of this mask, while the original was later bought, on Goethe's advice, by the Bavarian King Ludwig I and is now housed in the Munich Glyptothek.
The second picture shows the head of the supreme Olympian god Zeus. The depiction reproduces a bust of Zeus excavated in 1775 in Otricoli in Umbria. It was a sensational discovery, because the sculpture of Zeus was considered at the time to be a true copy after Phidias. The excavation at Otricoli was promoted and financed by Pope Pius VI and thus the bust is still housed in the Vatican Collections.