This third volume follows the first two, which focused on ideal sculpture and portraits. It completes the huge task of cataloguing the works of one of the world's finest collection of antiquities, and should not be missed.
This catalogue is unusually elegant thanks to the right balance between the text and the splendid two-tone images by Luigi Spina. The catalogue includes the recording – conducted by leading experts – of the most famous works in the collection. Recently, the collection in Naples’ National Archeological Museum has been re-arranged and re-opened to the public: the colossal Farnese Hercules and the Farnese Bull, the ‘mountain of marble’ from the Baths of Caracalla, once housed in Palazzo Farnese in Rome. In addition to the group of the Horatii and the Curiatii with the famous warriors and the Gladiator, there are also kneeling Persians and other Barbarians in colored marble and several delightful statues of animals, whereas the Farnese Naoforo is one of the most important Egyptian sculptures in the collection. Part of the book is devoted to reliefs, sarcophagi, furnishings and decorative architectural features. There is also a documentary appendix listing the works that have been lost, as well as analytical indices of all three volumes.