Funerary Relief for Three Former Slaves
Culture: Roman
Period: Augustan period
Date: late 1st century B.C.-early 1st century A.D.
Medium: Marble
Dimensions:
h. 24 15/16 in. (63.4 cm); w. 54 13/16 in. (139.2 cm); d. 17 1/16 in. (43.4 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Gilbert M. Denman, Jr.
Object number: 2001.11.2
Inscribed: Under the left portrait: L(ucius) Gallonius / L(uci) l(ibertus) Ascanio
Under the center portrait: L(ucius) Gallonius / L(uci) l(ibertus) Philodamus
Under the right portrait: Gallonia / L(uci) l(iberta) La{a}is
Provenance: with Cardinal Giovanni Batista Patrizi (1658-1727), Villa Patrizi, Rome, by 1690; by descent to his heirs until after 1820; Japanese collection by 1972 [according to Christie's 2001 catalogue]; sold, Christie's, New York, June 8, 2001, lot 254 to San Antonio Museum of Art
Published References
C. della Rena, Serie degli antichi duchi e marchesi di Toscana (Florence, 1690), p. 173.
R. Fabretti, Inscriptionum antiquarum quae in aedibus paternis asservantur explicatio et additamentum (Rome, 1702), 708, no. 290.
G. Amati, "Inscriptiones annis 1820 et 1834 et Romae et Nomenti inspectae et schedatae," Codices Vaticani Latini 9735, f. 22v, no. 49.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 6.18874.
M. Buonocore, Codices Vaticani Latini. Codices 9734-9782 (Codices Amatiani) (Rome, 1988), 13.
Christie's, New York, 8 June 2001, 146, lot 254.
"Ancient Art Acquisition," San Antonio Museum of Art View Magazine (May-Aug. 2002), 7.
J. Powers and J. Johnston, eds., San Antonio Museum of Art: Guide to the Collection, (San Antonio: San Antonio Museum of Art, 2012), 44.
L. Scalco, Ritratti funerari di famiglia tra Roma e le Alpi. Costruire la memoria personale nell’Italia romana (Padua: Padova University Press, 2022), 267, no. 91.
Label Text
This funerary relief commemorates three former slaves: Lucius Gallonius Ascanio, Lucius Gallonius Philodamus, and Gallonia Lais. All three were the slaves of a Lucius Gallonius, and, as was customary, upon emancipation they took their former master’s name in addition to their own. Like their names, the clothes the figures wear emphasize their new identity and status. The two men wear togas, a garment reserved for Roman citizens. Lais’s veil, a symbol of modesty and chastity, alludes to virtues that characterized the ideal Roman matron. (Jessica Powers, 2008)
On view
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
