Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco

The Giovanni Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture presents a comparative collection of Egyptian, Assyrian, Phoenician, Cypriot, Etruscan, Greek, Roman and medieval works. Giovanni Barracco gave his collection to the City of Rome in 1902, with the intention of showing ancient sculpture across cultures.

Why it matters

Barracco's collection was conceived as a “small museum of comparative ancient sculpture.” Its works place Greek art alongside Egyptian and Near Eastern traditions, and extend through Cypriot, Etruscan and Roman art to a small group of medieval pieces.

What to notice

The Egyptian galleries include a female sphinx of an Eighteenth Dynasty queen, found at the sanctuary of Isis in Campo Marzio, and a head of Sethi I recovered at Grottaferrata. Assyrian relief fragments come from Nineveh, Nimrud and Khorsabad. A Cypriot sculpture of Herakles-Melqart reflects the encounter of different traditions. Greek and Roman works include copies after Myron, Phidias, Polyclitus and Lysippus. The collection also includes medieval panels from Sorrento Cathedral and a mosaic fragment from the old St Peter's.

Context and history

The museum's home, the Farnesina ai Baullari, was built between 1520 and 1523 for Thomas le Roy, a Breton prelate in the Roman curia. Its architectural attribution is disputed: Antonio da Sangallo was once proposed, while more recent scholarship favours Jean de Chenevières. The name “Piccola Farnesina” derives from the heraldic devices of its original owner, not from the Farnese family. Excavation beneath the building revealed a third- or fourth-century Roman house with hunting and fishing frescoes. Barracco's original museum, designed by Gaetano Koch, opened in 1905 and was demolished in 1938. The collection was stored at the Musei Capitolini before being installed in the Farnesina ai Baullari in 1948.