A: HERAKLES AND THE ARGONAUTS OR IN THE UNDERWORLD OR WARRIORS AT MARATHON (?), WARRIORS, ONE LYING, ATHENA, DRAPED MAN IN PETASOS WITH HORSE, YOUTH SEATED, DEVICES, WHEEL, SNAKE (RECOVERY OF THESEUS ? ODYSSEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD ?) | B: DEATH OF NIOBIDS, SOME FLEEING, APOLLO AND ARTEMIS, TREE
Provenance
4 recorded events
Excavation
c. 1830s
Orvieto (ancient Volsinii), Umbria, Italy
Excavated at the Etruscan site of ancient Volsinii (modern Orvieto), an important Etruscan federation centre.
Purchase
c. 1840s
Marchese Giovanni Pietro Campana — Campana Collection
Rome, Italy
Entered the Campana collection — the largest private assemblage of classical antiquities in 19th-century Rome.
Confiscation
1857
Papal States
Rome, Italy
Marchese Campana convicted of fraud and embezzlement. His collection of over 10,000 objects seized by the Papal government.
The Campana trial was one of the great scandals of the Papal States. Campana had diverted funds from the Monte di Pietà to fund his collecting. The seizure and dispersal of his collection remains contentious.
Purchase
1861
Napoleon III — Musée du Louvre
Paris, France
Napoleon III purchased the bulk of the Campana collection for France at a cost of 4.36 million francs. The finest pieces went to the Louvre; others were distributed to provincial museums across France.
Louvre acquisition records
Images courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)