| Why, one might ask, would modern civilization owe a | | | | suicide to avoid execution. Following his death, the |
| debt of gratitude to the unpopular, infamous Roman | | | | lake was drained, the Colosseum constructed in its |
| emperor Nero, dead two thousand years ago by his | | | | place, and Nero's colossal head was decapitated from |
| own hand? For those folks not tuned in to their own | | | | the colossal body of the Neronis, then replaced with |
| historical roots, Nero is an important part of your | | | | the heads of succeeding emperors. Said to be an |
| culture, not just a computer software tool for | | | | embarrassment to the city, the Golden House was |
| burning compact disks. Nero gathered a magnificent | | | | denuded of its decorations within ten years, and |
| collection of classical Greek sculpture from all over | | | | subsequently buried beneath new construction within |
| the Roman Empire, most of which was lost following | | | | forty years.That would seem to be the end of |
| his downfall. Why should you care about Nero's | | | | Nero's Golden House, but something strange |
| story?--because what happened to him influences the | | | | happened to bring it back to life at the end of the |
| way you look at the world every day.You may have | | | | fifteenth century. A young Roman was walking on |
| heard the tale of how Nero fiddled while Rome | | | | the Aventine hill only to fall into a hole into a |
| burned in 64 A.D. First, let us lay that story to rest. | | | | subterranean wonderland. He landed in the Domus |
| Despite the hatred he engendered in the Roman | | | | Aurea, buried beneath the Baths of Trajan. There he |
| populace for his many atrocities, there is no evidence | | | | saw incredible frescoes, appearing to be freshly |
| to support this rumor. In fact, he appears to have | | | | painted as if new. The site of this accident drew |
| been rather helpful to a devastated Rome during that | | | | Italian artists from far and wide.Raphael and |
| period. No, we cannot give him credit for the burning | | | | Michelangelo visited the site, and some artists of the |
| of Rome, but Nero had many other monstrous acts | | | | time inscribed their names into the walls. From the |
| with which we can credit him--using Christians as | | | | depths of Nero's pleasure palace, from the frescoes, |
| human torches comes first to mind. One of Nero's | | | | mosaics, and sculpture, they took inspiration, an |
| chief failings was vanity. Nero considered himself to | | | | inspiration that would be reflected in the art of the |
| be enormously talented in all things: art, drama, | | | | High Renaissance. As the Domus Aurea with its new |
| athletics, and, of course, music, a fiddler | | | | antique source material was explored, one classical |
| extraordinaire he claimed. Perhaps he was. We are | | | | Greek sculpture was unearthed on a day that |
| told that he won every single competition he | | | | Michelangelo happened to visit. It was the Laocoon, a |
| entered, whether artistic or athletic, from fiddling to | | | | marble work by famed Greek Hellenistic sculptors, |
| chariot racing and every thing in between. We are | | | | Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of |
| further told that the reason he always won was | | | | Rhodes.Laocoon, a mythological subject, depicts the |
| because really unpleasant things happened to anyone | | | | Trojan priest Laocoon with his two sons in a struggle |
| who bested him.Nero made good use of the | | | | against a giant sea snake, a punishment from the |
| wide-spread destruction of Rome. The emperor's | | | | gods for warning the Trojans about the Trojan |
| own house, the Domus Transitoria, was destroyed in | | | | horse. Its powerful emotional content and vigorous |
| the fire, but free space was now available in the | | | | muscularity would soon be reflected in the works of |
| crowded city, now burned out. Nero took advantage | | | | Renaissance giants Michelangelo and Raphael. This |
| of that space to build a pleasure palace, his Domus | | | | work and others like it from Nero's private collection |
| Aurea, or Golden House. The Domus Aurea was not | | | | of classical Greek sculpture profoundly influenced |
| a place for sleeping, because Nero had other lodgings | | | | Italian Renaissance art, and it is from this art that we |
| for that. Nero outfitted his Domus Aurea with | | | | have developed our own modern aesthetic |
| priceless treasures, including his collection of classical | | | | sensibilities.Had Nero not been the demented, |
| Greek sculpture.Described by Pliny the Elder, Nero | | | | despotic monster that he was, had his Golden House |
| built the Domus Aurea of bricks and stucco, lavishly | | | | not been entombed, buried beneath the Baths of |
| embellished it with gold-leaf decoration and ivory | | | | Trajan for two millennia, his classical Greek sculpture |
| veneer, and he studded the ceilings with | | | | collection might have been lost like so many other |
| semi-previous stones. One ceiling actually rotated and | | | | significant art works of its kind. Without Nero, we |
| sprinkled perfume, cranked laboriously by slaves. The | | | | might not appreciate beauty when we see it.Brenda |
| Domus Aurea covered 350 acres, roughly a third of | | | | Harness is an art historian and former university |
| Rome, spanning four of the Seven Hills of Rome in | | | | lecturer writing about a variety of topics pertaining to |
| the heart of the city. The grounds of the Domus | | | | art and art history. She owns Fine Art Touch, a |
| Aurea featured villas, vineyards, forests, a sacred | | | | website devoted to the exploration of Italian |
| grove, pastures for livestock, and an artificial | | | | Renaissance art, featuring articles on works from |
| lake.Nero erected a 120 foot bronze statue of | | | | Renaissance giants such as Michelangelo and |
| himself in the center dressed as the sun god, Sol, his | | | | Leonardo to lesser-known artists such as Verrocchio |
| Colossus Neronis. The Colossus would be the sole | | | | and Perugino. The articles include images of the |
| survivor of Nero's Golden House. In 68 A.D. the | | | | artwork to help the reader better understand the |
| Roman Senate declared Nero an enemy of the state, | | | | work being discussed. |
| a death sentence, and the emperor committed | | | | |