The Farnese Hercules
Plus the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
In a museum boasting a staggering collection, the Farnese Hercules dominated the room. I kept walking around him, wondering how such a work of art is possible. How can such tension and flow, such a range of textures, be caught in a single piece of marble?
There is obviously more to Naples’ Archeological Museum than Hercules. Much of the Farnese Collection has ended up here, as well as works recovered from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Along with an extensive Ancient Egyptian collection, the museum has a large collection of Greek and Roman art, plus gems collected by the Medici. There is also the titillating ‘Secret Room’ which (apparently, I didn’t visit!) displays an extensive collection of erotic items, largely from Pompeii. Once walled up in the hope the collection would fade from memory, it has only been open to the public since 2000.
Wandering around Naples I couldn’t help but think this is how Rome should be, or perhaps how Rome was during those idyllic days of The Grand Tour. The streets were busy but not over-crowded, enough for the place to feel alive but not congested with tourists. We were the only ones…
