OSSERVAZIONI SULLA STORIA COLLEZIONISTICA DELLA COSIDDETTA STELE DEL PALESTRITA NEL MUSEO GREGORIANO PROFANO (INV. 559)

Abstract

This paper makes some observations on the collection history of a mid- 5th century BCE Greek funerary stele, which represents an athlete with a young attendant. The provenance of the relief is not documented, but the fact that it comes from excavations made in the city of Rome during the Renaissance period is sufficiently attested to by its presence in Rome in 1527, when it was reproduced in Marco Fabio Calvo’s book, Antiquae Urbis Romae cum regionibus Simulachrum. This paper investigates the collection history of the stele before 1550, when Ulisse Aldrovandi and others saw it in the Cesi gardens. By focusing on the reception network of the relief at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the author tentatively suggests that the relief might have belonged to Cardinal Francesco Armellini, the rich and powerful treasurer of Pope Clement VII, who sponsored Fabio Calvo’s publication.