The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

Interiors of the New Hermitage. The Room of Ancient Sculpture

1856

Luigi Premazzi

The composition of the Hall of Ancient Sculpture reproduces an ancient peristyle. Its centre is set apart to great effect by white Corinthian columns. The walls of the room are lined with artificial marble in a light violet shade. The eight fluted columns and two square pillars supporting the beams of the ceiling are made of Carrara marble. The coffers and beams of the ceiling carry ornamental motifs derived from Greek painting.
This hall was from the outset intended for ancient sculpture. At the opening of the museum it contained statues of Silenus (a mid-fourth-century Roman copy of a Greek original), Heracles (a Roman copy of the mid-fourth-century B.C. original by Scopas), and Roman sculptural portraits. The Lamb on a Sacrificial Altar in the foreground is also Roman work.