The Arch of Titus (Arco di Tito)

Date1757

Credit LineGift in Memory of Vee and Dick Adair from Mrs. Olga C. de Goizueta, Mr. and Mrs. William Astrop, Mr. and Mrs. Bahman Irvani, Dr. and Mrs. Benedict Benigno, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Inman, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Ridley, Mr. and Mrs. M. Dale Henson, Mr. and Mrs. Randolph W. Thrower

Dimensions28 x 40 in. (71.1 x 101.6 cm)

Object number2006.012.001

Label TextThe marble arch, at the summit of the Sacred Way at the southern end of the Roman Forum, commemorates the 71 triumph of Titus and his father Vespasian celebrating their conquest of Judaea. It was erected in 81 by Domitian (81-96) after his brother's death. The relief visible within the arch represents the procession approaching a triumphal gate bearing the spoils taken from the Temple of Jerusalem: the menorah, the golden table, the silver trumpets. (The relief opposite shows Titus driving a quadriga or four-horse chariot). In the Middle Ages the arch had been incorporated within the fortifications of the Frangipani family and remained so in Piranesi's day. It was not excavated and reconstructed until the early nineteenth century. Piranesi seems to have approached this view as an opportunity to display the virtuosity of his etching technique in depicting varieties of texture, whether gnarled trees or monuments ravaged by time, and stark contrasts of light and shade.
Exhibition HistoryDiscovering Rome: Maps and Monuments of the Eternal City, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 16, 2006 - January 14, 2007
Antichità, Teatro, Magnificenza: Renaissance and Baroque Images of Rome, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 24 - November 17, 2013
Published ReferencesAntichita, Teatro, Magnificenza (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2013), 49 and 61, figure 8.

ProvenancePurhcased by MCCM from Antiquarius sas, Rome, Italy.

Status

Not on view

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