2014 Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence: The Rape of Polyxena #3
The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi, unveiled 1866
(Rape in this sense means kidnapping)
Ployxena was the daughter of Hecuba and the King of Troy.
This statue shows Achilles'son Neoptolemus taking the Trojan princess Polyxena who has offered herself in exchange for the return of her brother Hector’s body. He grasps Polyxena securely in his left arm while he raises the sword with his right arm to beat back Queen Hecuba, Polyxena’s mother, who clings desperately to her daughter.
Achilles had fallen in love with Ployxena. Achilles kills another of her brothers, Hector.
Ployxena offers herself as a slave to Achilles in return for Hector's body. Ployxena discovered Achilles' heel betraying him to his brother Paris. Paris kills Achilles, as he is dying, Achilles asks that Polyxena “Sacrificed” to him, and Ployxena is stabbed to death.
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals.
The vivacious construction of the Loggia is in stark contrast with the severe architecture of the Palazzo Vecchio.
It is effectively an open-air sculpture gallery of antique and Renaissance art.
Featured Loggia art
1) On the façade of the Loggia , below the parapet, are trefoils with allegorical figures of the four cardinal virtues (Fortitude, Temperance, Justice and Prudence) by Agnolo Gaddi. Their blue enamelled background is the work of Leonardo, a monk, while the golden stars were painted by Lorenzo de' Bicci. The vault, composed of semicircles, was done by the Florentine Antonio de' Pucci.
On the steps of the Loggia are the Medici lions; two Marzoccos, marble statues of lions, heraldic symbols of Florence; that on the right is from Roman times and the one on the left was sculpted by Flaminio Vacca in 1598.
2) Statues Left-Right: far left is the bronze statue of Perseus and Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini.
The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi
Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus
Hercules beating the Centaur Nesso by Giambologna
Rape of the Sabine women by Giambologna
3) Along the back of the Loggia are five marble female statues (three are identified as Matidia, Marciana and Agrippina Minor), Sabines and a statue of a barbarian prisoner Thusnelda from Roman times from the era of Trajan to Hadrian.
They were discovered in Rome in 1541. The statues had been in the Medici villa at Rome since 1584 and were brought here by Pietro Leopoldo in 1789. They all have significant, modern restorations.
4) The Medici Lions - Left lion, by Flamino Vacca; Right lion, Roman age sculpture
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loggia_dei_Lanzi
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Loggia_dei_Lanzi
2014 Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence: The Rape of Polyxena #3
The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi, unveiled 1866
(Rape in this sense means kidnapping)
Ployxena was the daughter of Hecuba and the King of Troy.
This statue shows Achilles'son Neoptolemus taking the Trojan princess Polyxena who has offered herself in exchange for the return of her brother Hector’s body. He grasps Polyxena securely in his left arm while he raises the sword with his right arm to beat back Queen Hecuba, Polyxena’s mother, who clings desperately to her daughter.
Achilles had fallen in love with Ployxena. Achilles kills another of her brothers, Hector.
Ployxena offers herself as a slave to Achilles in return for Hector's body. Ployxena discovered Achilles' heel betraying him to his brother Paris. Paris kills Achilles, as he is dying, Achilles asks that Polyxena “Sacrificed” to him, and Ployxena is stabbed to death.
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals.
The vivacious construction of the Loggia is in stark contrast with the severe architecture of the Palazzo Vecchio.
It is effectively an open-air sculpture gallery of antique and Renaissance art.
Featured Loggia art
1) On the façade of the Loggia , below the parapet, are trefoils with allegorical figures of the four cardinal virtues (Fortitude, Temperance, Justice and Prudence) by Agnolo Gaddi. Their blue enamelled background is the work of Leonardo, a monk, while the golden stars were painted by Lorenzo de' Bicci. The vault, composed of semicircles, was done by the Florentine Antonio de' Pucci.
On the steps of the Loggia are the Medici lions; two Marzoccos, marble statues of lions, heraldic symbols of Florence; that on the right is from Roman times and the one on the left was sculpted by Flaminio Vacca in 1598.
2) Statues Left-Right: far left is the bronze statue of Perseus and Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini.
The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi
Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus
Hercules beating the Centaur Nesso by Giambologna
Rape of the Sabine women by Giambologna
3) Along the back of the Loggia are five marble female statues (three are identified as Matidia, Marciana and Agrippina Minor), Sabines and a statue of a barbarian prisoner Thusnelda from Roman times from the era of Trajan to Hadrian.
They were discovered in Rome in 1541. The statues had been in the Medici villa at Rome since 1584 and were brought here by Pietro Leopoldo in 1789. They all have significant, modern restorations.
4) The Medici Lions - Left lion, by Flamino Vacca; Right lion, Roman age sculpture
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loggia_dei_Lanzi
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Loggia_dei_Lanzi