The 10 highlights of… the Capitoline Museums (Palazzo dei Conservatori)

The Capitoline Hill, usually simply called “the Capitol”, has been inhabited for at least 3,500 years. According to the authoritative Atlas of Ancient Rome, a stable settlement came into existence here during the Middle Bronze Age, around 1600 BCE.[1] When in about 750 BCE this settlement was merged with the villages on the other hills, the city of Rome was born. The northern summit of the Capitol was the Arx, where during the Age of Kings and the subsequent Republican era the citadel of Rome was situated. On the southern summit arose the magnificent temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, which according to tradition was consecrated as early as 509 BCE. Jupiter himself was worshipped in the central cella, while the left cella was dedicated to Juno and the right cella to Minerva. Together they formed the Capitoline Triad.

The temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus has been gone for ages, just like the other religious buildings that must have once stood on the Capitol. In the Middle Ages the hill was home to the Palazzo Senatorio, built in the twelfth and thirteenth century as the seat of the Roman Senate. The Palazzo Senatorio had been constructed over the Tabularium, the (presumed) archive of Ancient Rome about which much is still unclear. To the right of the Palazzo Senatorio stood the Palazzo dei Conservatori. It was used by a governing body of three local magistrates called conservatori. The palazzo had been commissioned by Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455). One of his successors, Pope Paulus III (1534-1549), played the host when the emperor Charles V, one of the mightiest monarchs in the world, visited Rome in April of 1536. The Holy Father was so embarrassed by the pitiful state the Capitol was in that he hired the services of the great architect Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) to embellish the hill.

Michelangelo renovated the Palazzo dei Conservatori but the project was only completed after his death by Giacomo della Porta (1532-1602). He also laid out the central piazza – the Piazza del Campidoglio – and was responsible for the monumental staircase – the Cordonata – that grants access to the Capitol from the west side of the hill. By adding all sorts of elements from Ancient Rome, Michelangelo literally created a bridge between Antiquity and the Renaissance. At the foot of the Cordonata the visitor is greeted by Egyptian lions, while at the top the twins Castor and Pollux stand guard next to their horses. The brothers are said to have granted the Romans a victory over the Latins in the early fifth century, and their temple could be found on the Forum Romanum behind the Capitol. On the balustrade statues were placed of the Christian emperors Constantine the Great (306-337) and his son Constantine II (337-340). Other decorations are the first and seventh milestone of the Via Appia, by far the most famous Roman road. With the construction of the Cordonata, Michelangelo also changed the orientation of the hill. People traditionally ascended the hill from the east side, i.e. from the Forum Romanum. But when the Cordonata was completed, visitors took the stairs from the west side, being the side where Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican are located.

And Michelangelo had more in store for the Capitol. To create a perfectly symmetrical arrangement on the hill, the architect had also designed a palazzo to the left of the Palazzo Senatorio. This was intended to be an exact copy of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. However, work on the building did not start until 1654, almost a century after Michelangelo’s death. The architects involved were Girolamo (1570-1655) and Carlo (1611-1691) Rainaldi, a father and son. They faithfully followed the design made by their great predecessor, so that the Palazzo Nuovo – the “new palace” – has indeed become a replica of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. It was completed by Carlo Rainaldi in 1663.

The Palazzo Senatorio still serves as the city hall of Rome while the Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo are now the two wings of the Capitoline Museums. The history of the museums goes back to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) in the first year of his pontificate donated a number of important bronze statues from Antiquity to the city. These became the nucleus of the future museums. The founding of the Capitoline Museums must, however, be attributed to Pope Clemens XII (1730-1740), who opened the collection to the public in 1734, thus creating the first public museum in the whole world. In the 1920s the museums were enlarged by annexing the Palazzo Caffarelli, which stands behind the Palazzo dei Conservatori and has a charming inner garden (see below). In the 1930s the two wings of the Capitoline Museums were connected by an underground passageway, which is used as a lapidarium. Like so many other museums, the Capitoline Museums too have infinitely more objects than they can put on display. Since 1997 part of the collection can be seen in the Centrale Montemartini, to which I dedicate a separate post.

After this extensive history lesson, it is now about time to take a look at the highlights in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. I will mention my ten personal favourites. The Palazzo Nuovo will be discussed in a second post.

1. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius

Even before they reach the museums, visitors to the Capitol already meet this famous emperor-philosopher in Michelangelo’s large piazza (photo above). Marcus Aurelius ruled over the immense Roman Empire between 161 and 180. His equestrian statue in the piazza is a copy of the ancient statue, made in the 1980s. The original statue was moved to a more secure location inside. There is actually just one reason why we can still admire the original work: in the early Middle Ages, the equestrian statue was erroneously identified as a statue of the emperor Constantine the Great. And as Constantine happened to be the first Christian Roman emperor, the statue did not suffer the same fate as so many other bronze statues from Antiquity. In other words, it was not melted down to mint coins from the bronze. Instead, it was erected next to the Lateran palace, the residence of the popes. I must say it is rather puzzling that the man on the horse was ever identified as Constantine, if only because this emperor never had a beard. The confusion is also a bit painful, as during the reign of Marcus Aurelius Christians were persecuted in Gaul. Although the emperor had not initiated these persecutions, he does not seem to have felt much sympathy for Christianity.[2]

The Romans quickly discovered that the equestrian statue did not represent Constantine at all. The twelfth-century travel guide Mirabilia Urbis Romae stated that for a long time people believed that the rider was Constantine “sed non ita est” (but that is not correct).[3] Fortunately the Romans had by now become less vengeful with regard to pagan emperors, so the equestrian statue was spared. Pope Paulus III moved it from the Lateran palace to the Capitol, where it was placed in the centre of the new piazza designed by Michelangelo. In the 1990s the statue was moved inside, and since 2005 it can be found in the Esedra di Marco Aurelio, an aula of glass and steel that was constructed over a garden between the Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Caffarelli. If we inspect the bronze statue closely, we can conclude that it must have been entirely gilded once. The emperor has raised his right arm, which indicates that he is addressing the troops that have gathered before him, the so-called adlocutio. Although the emperor preferred to see himself as a philosopher and a prince of peace, in reality he spent the largest part of his reign fighting wars against invading Germanic peoples such as the Marcomanni and Quadi. When Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March 180, these wars had not been ended yet.

2. Reliefs of the Arch of Marcus Aurelius

We stick with Marcus Aurelius, for in the large staircase (Scalone) we find three beautiful reliefs depicting this emperor. They represent a number of episodes from the wars against the Germanic tribes. Successively we see the surrender (deditio) of the defeated, the triumph of the emperor in Rome (triumphus) and his sacrifice on the Capitol (sacrificium), the traditional end of a triumph. The details of the reliefs are splendid. They range from barbarians begging desperately to the decorations on the chariot of the emperor, who is accompanied by winged Victoria. The relief with the sacrifice is perhaps the best of the series, as it shows us the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in full glory, with three entrances and a skilfully sculpted tympanum. Only the horses pulling the chariot are rather stiff and static, a bit like the horses of a merry-go-round.

It is not entirely clear where exactly the Arch of Marcus Aurelius stood. The most plausible location is next to the Senate building, the Curia Julia, at an entrance to the Forum of Julius Caesar.[4] Here we now find the church of Santi Luca e Martina, which is almost always closed. The church was built on the spot where the Senate building from the Republican era, the Curia Hostilia, once stood. The three reliefs discussed here were found at the church and had been incorporated into the building, until at the beginning of the sixteenth century they were transferred to the Capitol. Already in the early fourth century eight other reliefs had been incorporated into the triumphal arch of Constantine the Great next to the Colosseum. Of the twelfth and final relief only a fragment survives, which is currently kept in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. As there were very likely no more than twelve reliefs in total, almost the entire collection has been preserved.

3. Reliefs of Hadrianus

In the Scalone we also find three reliefs featuring the emperor Hadrianus, a predecessor of Marcus Aurelius and emperor from 117 until 138. Two of the reliefs were used as decorations for a monument called the Arco di Portogallo. This arch does not survive, but it still has a marker on Google Maps. The monument stood on the Via del Corso, the Via Lata of Ancient Rome, at the intersection of this road and the Via delle Vita, not far from the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina. The Arco di Portogallo got its name from the nearby residence of the Portuguese ambassador. In 1662 the arch was demolished by Pope Alexander VII (1655-1667) and two years later the reliefs were moved to the Capitol. In the first we see Hadrianus distributing food among poor Roman children, in the second the emperor is witness to the apotheosis of his wife Vibia Sabina, who died in 136 or 137. The empress is taken up to heaven on the shoulders of a winged eros, and no one will blame you if this makes you think of the later Christian images of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

It is, by the way, completely unclear when the Arco di Portogallo was built exactly. It may have been around the year 85 during the reign of the emperor Domitianus (81-96), and it is possible that the arch was renovated around 398 under the emperor Honorius (395-423).[5] From all this uncertainty we may at the very least conclude that the reliefs of Hadrianus and Sabina were not made for the Arco di Portogallo. This also applies to the third relief that we find in the staircase. It represents the arrival or return (adventus) of Hadrianus in Rome. The emperor is greeted by the goddess Rome and the Roman people and Senate. As this relief was also found in the vicinity of the Via del Corso, it is quite conceivable that it is part of the same series as the other two.

4. The statue of Constantine the Great

I vividly remember that, during my first visit to the Capitoline Museums, I was deeply impressed by the remains of what must have once been an enormous statue of the emperor Constantine the Great (306-337). The remains, made of Parian marble, have been grouped together in the courtyard (Cortile) of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. They consist of a piece of the right arm, a head, a right knee, a wrist, a right hand with the index finger stretched, a right shin and two feet. The cheeks of the emperor are clean-shaven, and his eyes are looking up towards heaven. The statue originally stood – or rather: sat – in the apse of the Basilica Nova on the Forum Romanum, inaugurated by Constantine in the year 315. The basilica is nowadays known as the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine but the building was in fact predominantly a work of the former, who had been defeated by the latter at the battle of the Milvian bridge in 312. Constantine only added the finishing touch by making the entrance in the long south side of the basilica instead of the short east side. The statue of the seated emperor must have been some thirteen metres high.

The head seems a bit small compared to the other body parts that have been preserved. It is possible that it was originally a statue of Jupiter or Hadrianus that was reworked to resemble Maxentius. Constantine then had it reworked again to resemble himself.[6] A lot of marble must have been chiselled away in the process. Jupiter and Hadrianus definitely had beards, but Maxentius only had some stubble on his chin, while Constantine chose to remove all his facial hair. As a consequence, the face of the statue was quite literally shaven. What is truly awesome is that we nowadays find a reconstruction of the statue in the garden of the Palazzo Caffarelli. Visitors of the museums enter the garden through the Esedra di Marco Aurelio but the garden can also be accessed for free from the Via di Villa Caffarelli. People who have already been to the museums but have not yet seen the reconstruction (unveiled in 2024) can therefore save themselves a ticket. The reconstruction, by the way, does make clear that the statue of Constantine was never fully made of marble. It was a so-called acrolith, which means that the clothed parts were made of metal or painted stucco and only the uncovered parts of marble.

5. The bust of Commodus

During the late Republican era and early Imperial age, Rome was surrounded by horti, which literally means gardens.[7] These gardens were basically large estates belonging to noble Roman families. Famous examples include the gardens of the general and statesman Lucius Licinius Lucullus (ca. 118-56 BCE) and those of the statesman and historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus (ca. 86-35 BCE). Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) owned gardens on the other side of the river Tiber (in modern Trastevere) which were turned into a public park after his assassination. Relevant for this post are the Horti Lamiani, named after the consul of the year 3, Lucius Aelius Lamia, and later imperial property. The link to the imperial family explains why in 1874 a magnificent bust of the emperor Commodus (180-192) as Hercules was found here.

Commodus was the son and successor of Marcus Aurelius. He was just eighteen years old when he became emperor, and his reign got off to a good start when he ended his father’s wars. Unfortunately, a conspiracy during his first years on the throne seems to have made him paranoid. By the year 191 he had developed a virtually maniacal devotion to the Greek hero Hercules. He dressed himself in animal skins and wore a club, calling himself Hercules. He also supposedly changed the colossal statue of the sun god Sol next to the Colosseum into a statue of himself as the hero. The stories match well with the bust of Commodus as Hercules. The emperor has a full beard, the skin of the Nemean lion draped over his head, a club in his right hand and a number of apples of the Hesperides in his left. One of the two Amazons at the foot of the bust has regretfully been lost. Slaying the Nemean lion, stealing the apples and bringing back the belt of the Amazon queen were three of the twelve labours that Hercules had to perform to atone for the crime of killing his own children in a fit of madness.

6. Bronze statue of Hercules

In the Esedra di Marco Aurelio the foundations of the temple of Jupiter are still visible. Against these foundations an intriguing bronze statue of Hercules has been placed that dates from the second century BCE. There are some similarities between this statue and the bust of Commodus, but also remarkable differences. The club and apples of the Hesperides are present again, but this Hercules is clean-shaven. He is moreover larger than life, standing 241 centimetres tall. The statue bears a strong resemblance to the so-called Mastai Hercules, which comes from the theatre complex of Pompeius and can currently be admired in the Vatican Museums (see Rome: Area Sacra di Largo Argentina).

The Hercules of the Capitoline Museums was one of the bronze objects that Pope Sixtus IV donated to the city of Rome (see above). The statue was found in the Forum Boarium, the former cattle market of Rome. In Antiquity there stood a large open-air altar dedicated to Hercules here, the Ara Maxima. In the vicinity there was a circular temple dedicated to Hercules Olivarius or Hercules Victor. Hercules was apparently a very popular deity in this part of Rome. Traces of the Ara Maxima are still visible below the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, while the temple of Hercules Olivarius (from ca. 100 BCE) was later converted into a church and is still standing thanks to recent restorations. Visitors can therefore still admire this remarkable round temple, although as far as I know there is no possibility to enter it. Next to the aforementioned church stood yet another round temple for Hercules, which the Atlas of Ancient Rome calls the Aedes Aemiliana Herculis.[8] That temple was built by the Roman general and statesman Scipio Aemilianus, who was censor in 142-141 BCE. It is certainly possible that the bronze statue of the Greek hero stood in this temple.

7. The Capitoline Wolf

The world-famous Capitoline Wolf was also part of the donation of Pope Sixtus IV. This bronze statue probably does not need much introduction. A watchful she-wolf, her mouth half opened and teeth clearly visible, is suckling the twins Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome. It was an ancient image, also to be found on, for instance, the very first silver coins that the Romans started minting from about 268 BCE onwards. Before it was moved to the Palazzo dei Conservatori, the statue stood in the church of San Teodoro, south of the Forum Romanum. No one really knows how it ended up there, although the Lupercal – the cave where the she-wolf supposedly suckled the boys – was in the vicinity (see Rome: Sant’Anastasia). The twins were, by the way, only added in 1471 to the statue of the wolf. Romulus and Remus are usually attributed to Antonio del Pollaiuolo (ca. 1431-1498).

So, the twins are a work of the Renaissance but the she-wolf herself was made by an Etruscan sculptor and dates from the fifth century BCE, right? This was a long-held view, and it is still what the museum claims. It does not in any way mention the recent theory that the Capitoline Wolf is, in fact, a medieval work. Two important clues support this theory. First, the wolf was cast in one piece, which matches with a casting process common in the Middle Ages. In Antiquity, statues were usually composed of several separate parts. Even more important is research based on carbon dating. This indicates that we are dealing with a statue from the eleventh or twelfth century. On the other hand, there is also certainly evidence supporting the original theory of an Etruscan statue. The loam core that was used in the casting process came from Etruria (modern Tuscany and the heartland of the Etruscans), the bronze came from a mine on Sardinia and the style is more reminiscent of Etruscan than of medieval mythology.[9] The statue has its own room in the museum (Sala VII) but in 2024 I found it with the other bronze objects in the Esedra di Marco Aurelio.

8. The Aristonothos Krater

The rooms X, XI and XII are dedicated to the collection of the goldsmith, collector and art dealer Augusto Castellani (1829-1914), who made several donations to the Capitoline Museums. An intriguing object in the collection is a krater or mixing vessel from the seventh century BCE, which comes from the Etruscan town of Caere (at the time Caisra and currently Cerveteri). The krater was made by a certain Aristonothos, who was presumably a Greek potter that had settled in Caere. On the left an oared warship with three warriors in full panoply enters the scene. Its prey is the merchant vessel on the right, with a round bow and a mast with sails (although the sails are not visible). On this ship there are three armed warriors as well, ready to repel the attack. All the warriors are armed identically, with large round shields, spears and helmets with waving crests. In the Greek world the Etruscans had a reputation for piracy, while conversely the Greeks themselves practiced piracy as well. It is therefore quite plausible that we see a confrontation between a Greek and an Etruscan ship but it is not clear which of the two peoples is the villain and which the victim.[10]

9. The statue of King Charles of Anjou

The Palazzo dei Conservatori has more than just items from Antiquity, as is evidenced by the last two highlights that I want to discuss. The first remaining highlight is the statue of King Charles of Anjou (ca. 1226-1285). Charles was the younger brother of the French king Louis IX. Looking for a throne for himself he became embroiled in a succession war in the kingdom of Sicily, which comprised the island itself and almost all of Southern Italy. King Manfred of Sicily was not recognised by the pope, so Charles took up arms to expel him. On 5 January 1266 he was crowned king himself by five Roman cardinals (Pope Clemens IV was in Viterbo). Charles then took the field with his army and defeated Manfred’s forces in late February. Two years later he also defeated Conradin, the last Sicilian king from the line of the Hohenstaufen.

Charles had won the throne that he so coveted but he was more interested in Southern Italy than in Sicily and seldom visited the island. On Sicily there was great unrest about the king’s tax policy and his predilection for appointing French and Provençal noblemen in high positions. In 1282 this led to the revolt that is known as the Sicilian Vespers. King Peter III of Aragon – who was married to Manfred’s daughter – landed on Sicily and quickly captured it. Charles for his part held on to the mainland, which he ruled from Naples. Upon Charles’ death in 1285 the conflict had still not been ended. A formal end only came with the Treaty of Caltabellotta in 1302. The reason that we find Charles here in Rome, is that he had also been appointed a Roman senator in 1265. He was then reappointed in 1268-1278 and 1281-1284. It is therefore very well possible that the statue originally stood in the Palazzo Senatorio. It is usually attributed to the famous Florentine sculptor and architect Arnolfo di Cambio (ca. 1240-1300/10) and dated to ca. 1275-1277. Once it must have been entirely painted, including a golden crown. Nothing of these decorations has survived, and the globe in the left hand of the king has disappeared as well.

10. Caravaggio’s Fortune Teller

While Pope Clemens XII can be seen as the founder of the Capitoline Museums, it was his successor Pope Benedictus XIV (1740-1758) who added a picture gallery to the museums, the Pinacoteca Capitolina. Among the paintings in the Pinacoteca are also two works of the famous Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi, who is better known as Caravaggio (1571-1610). With his painting of the Fortune Teller, I conclude this post.

Caravaggio painted the Fortune Teller in Rome in the mid-1590s. The museum dates the work to 1597, but earlier dates are also possible. The first owner of the painting was cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte (1549-1626), an avid collector who was highly enthusiastic about young Caravaggio’s work. The powerful cardinal would become Caravaggio’s first patron. The canvas shows us how a young Roman man wearing expensive clothes and with a sword on his hip is approached by a pretty young woman. She is a zingara, a female gipsy or – using a more contemporary and less stigmatising word – Roma woman. The woman pretends to be reading the young man’s hand and no doubt tells him beautiful stories about his future. The young man is mesmerised and fails to notice that he is actually being robbed: the woman carefully slides the ring from his finger. There is a second, presumably later version of this work in existence, which can be found at the Louvre in Paris.

Notes

[1] The Atlas of Ancient Rome, part 1, p. 149.

[2] In his Meditations we find just one passage mentioning the Christians. The emperor appears to chastise them for stubbornness and theatrics when faced with death (Book 11.3). It is, however, possible that the phrase “like the Christians” was added later.

[3] Dick de Boer, Emo’s Reis, p. 274.

[4] The Atlas of Ancient Rome, part 1, p. 176; The Atlas of Ancient Rome, part 2, Tab. 41 and 270-271.

[5] The Atlas of Ancient Rome, part 1, p. 488-489; The Atlas of Ancient Rome, part 2, Tab. 202a.

[6] Henk Singor, Constantijn, p. 278.

[7] See The Atlas of Ancient Rome, part 2, Tab. III.

[8] The Atlas of Ancient Rome, part 2, Tab. 174a.

[9] Gareth Harney, De Schatkist van Rome, p. 52-54.

[10] See Dominique Briquel, De Etrusken, p. 52-53.