After the famous fire of 64A.D., in
which his house, the Domus Transitoria (Transitory House)
was destroyed, he ordered the construction of the most
fantastic imperial residence ever built in Rome.Nero,
appropriated huge areas of central Rome for his proposed
pleasure dome. The complex was eventually to spread
over a quarter of the city, covering the Esquiline,
Coelian and Palatine hills (today valley of the Colosseum).
Over a surface of 100 hectares alternated,
as Svetonio says, porches and palaces, pavilions and
baths (fed direct either by sea water or from sulphurous
springs), gardens, pastures, vineyards and forests "
full of domestic and wild animals of all species ".
Around the central pond, the architects
in charge, Severo and Celere, erected buildings "so
big as real towns ", adorned with hundred of statues
sacked in Greece and Asia Minor, preceded by a 30mt
statue of the emperor (called the " Colossus ",
after which the Colosseum got its name ). What remained
of the Domus was used as foundations for the Baths of
Trajan. They consists of two wings with several rooms
displayed around a rectangular courtyard. The most famous
ones: the rooms to the south of the great peristyle,
divided in two identical apartments with bedrooms, perhaps
private residence of the imperial couple (" room
of the yellow vault ", " room of the black
vault", " room of the vault of the owls"
and other symmetrical rooms); the hall that overlooks
the polygonal court, with a famous decoration with gilded
stuccoes and mythological scenes, badly preserved but
famous for its Renaissance motifs (" room of the
gilded vault "); the huge octagonal room, with
nearly non- existent walls which led into other rooms.
This room , together with the surrounding rooms in a
radial disposition, constitutes one of the masterpieces
of Roman architecture.
The decorations, in great part lost,
are a work at least of two hands (one is perhaps of
the famous Fabullo, skilful painter who painted wearing
a toga). Some paintings are in the traditional style,
with fine architectonic and fantastic elements that
enclose small landscapes painted with rapid brush strokes.
Others paintings present an innovation in the decorative
system, widely articulated with the insertion of figures
in the several sections (first example of " fourth
style"). Nothing remains of the dining rooms with
" ceilings composed of movable ivory tiles pierced
with holes so that flowers or perfume could be sprinkled
on the guests below" and even the columns, the
coverings and the pavements in marble of the rooms have
been removed and red-used for the Baths of Trajan. Discovered
in the Renaissance, the Domus has been visited by many
artists who where inspired by the decorative motifs
of the frescoes (called "grotesque ") and
who left their names scratched on the walls. |
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