| Why, one might ask, would modern civilization | | | | sentence, and the emperor committed suicide to |
| owe a debt of gratitude to the unpopular, | | | | avoid execution. Following his death, the lake was |
| infamous Roman emperor Nero, dead two | | | | drained, the Colosseum constructed in its place, |
| thousand years ago by his own hand? For those | | | | and Nero's colossal head was decapitated from |
| folks not tuned in to their own historical roots, | | | | the colossal body of the Neronis, then replaced |
| Nero is an important part of your culture, not just | | | | with the heads of succeeding emperors. Said to |
| a computer software tool for burning compact | | | | be an embarrassment to the city, the Golden |
| disks. Nero gathered a magnificent collection of | | | | House was denuded of its decorations within ten |
| classical Greek sculpture from all over the Roman | | | | years, and subsequently buried beneath new |
| Empire, most of which was lost following his | | | | construction within forty years.That would seem |
| downfall. Why should you care about Nero's | | | | to be the end of Nero's Golden House, but |
| story?--because what happened to him influences | | | | something strange happened to bring it back to |
| the way you look at the world every day.You | | | | life at the end of the fifteenth century. A young |
| may have heard the tale of how Nero fiddled | | | | Roman was walking on the Aventine hill only to |
| while Rome burned in 64 A.D. First, let us lay that | | | | fall into a hole into a subterranean wonderland. He |
| story to rest. Despite the hatred he engendered | | | | landed in the Domus Aurea, buried beneath the |
| in the Roman populace for his many atrocities, | | | | Baths of Trajan. There he saw incredible |
| there is no evidence to support this rumor. In | | | | frescoes, appearing to be freshly painted as if |
| fact, he appears to have been rather helpful to a | | | | new. The site of this accident drew Italian artists |
| devastated Rome during that period. No, we | | | | from far and wide.Raphael and Michelangelo visited |
| cannot give him credit for the burning of Rome, | | | | the site, and some artists of the time inscribed |
| but Nero had many other monstrous acts with | | | | their names into the walls. From the depths of |
| which we can credit him--using Christians as | | | | Nero's pleasure palace, from the frescoes, |
| human torches comes first to mind. One of Nero's | | | | mosaics, and sculpture, they took inspiration, an |
| chief failings was vanity. Nero considered himself | | | | inspiration that would be reflected in the art of |
| to be enormously talented in all things: art, drama, | | | | the High Renaissance. As the Domus Aurea with |
| athletics, and, of course, music, a fiddler | | | | its new antique source material was explored, one |
| extraordinaire he claimed. Perhaps he was. We are | | | | classical Greek sculpture was unearthed on a day |
| told that he won every single competition he | | | | that Michelangelo happened to visit. It was the |
| entered, whether artistic or athletic, from fiddling | | | | Laocoon, a marble work by famed Greek |
| to chariot racing and every thing in between. We | | | | Hellenistic sculptors, Athanadoros, Hagesandros, |
| are further told that the reason he always won | | | | and Polydoros of Rhodes.Laocoon, a mythological |
| was because really unpleasant things happened to | | | | subject, depicts the Trojan priest Laocoon with |
| anyone who bested him.Nero made good use of | | | | his two sons in a struggle against a giant sea |
| the wide-spread destruction of Rome. The | | | | snake, a punishment from the gods for warning |
| emperor's own house, the Domus Transitoria, | | | | the Trojans about the Trojan horse. Its powerful |
| was destroyed in the fire, but free space was | | | | emotional content and vigorous muscularity would |
| now available in the crowded city, now burned | | | | soon be reflected in the works of Renaissance |
| out. Nero took advantage of that space to build a | | | | giants Michelangelo and Raphael. This work and |
| pleasure palace, his Domus Aurea, or Golden | | | | others like it from Nero's private collection of |
| House. The Domus Aurea was not a place for | | | | classical Greek sculpture profoundly influenced |
| sleeping, because Nero had other lodgings for that. | | | | Italian Renaissance art, and it is from this art that |
| Nero outfitted his Domus Aurea with priceless | | | | we have developed our own modern aesthetic |
| treasures, including his collection of classical Greek | | | | sensibilities.Had Nero not been the demented, |
| sculpture.Described by Pliny the Elder, Nero built | | | | despotic monster that he was, had his Golden |
| the Domus Aurea of bricks and stucco, lavishly | | | | House not been entombed, buried beneath the |
| embellished it with gold-leaf decoration and ivory | | | | Baths of Trajan for two millennia, his classical |
| veneer, and he studded the ceilings with | | | | Greek sculpture collection might have been lost |
| semi-previous stones. One ceiling actually rotated | | | | like so many other significant art works of its |
| and sprinkled perfume, cranked laboriously by | | | | kind. Without Nero, we might not appreciate |
| slaves. The Domus Aurea covered 350 acres, | | | | beauty when we see it.Brenda Harness is an art |
| roughly a third of Rome, spanning four of the | | | | historian and former university lecturer writing |
| Seven Hills of Rome in the heart of the city. The | | | | about a variety of topics pertaining to art and art |
| grounds of the Domus Aurea featured villas, | | | | history. She owns Fine Art Touch, a website |
| vineyards, forests, a sacred grove, pastures for | | | | devoted to the exploration of Italian Renaissance |
| livestock, and an artificial lake.Nero erected a 120 | | | | art, featuring articles on works from Renaissance |
| foot bronze statue of himself in the center | | | | giants such as Michelangelo and Leonardo to |
| dressed as the sun god, Sol, his Colossus Neronis. | | | | lesser-known artists such as Verrocchio and |
| The Colossus would be the sole survivor of Nero's | | | | Perugino. The articles include images of the |
| Golden House. In 68 A.D. the Roman Senate | | | | artwork to help the reader better understand the |
| declared Nero an enemy of the state, a death | | | | work being discussed. |