Pompeii Casts. Victim numbered 3, found 5th February 1863 in Vicolo degli Scheletri.
Found with victim numbers 1, and 2, a small distance from victim number 4.
![Victims numbered 2 (left) and 3 (behind right). 5th Feb 1863. G Sommer photo no. 1242. Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.
In his description of these plaster-casts in his Guida di Pompei, 1877, Fiorelli described –
“Two women [nos. 2 and 3], one next to the other. The older resting on her side; the younger face down, with her face in her arm.
(Reg.VII, Insula XIV, via quarta).”
See Fiorelli, Guida di Pompei, [Rome, 1877,] p.88-89.
See Dwyer, E., 2010. Pompeii’s Living Statues. Ann Arbor: Univ of Michigan Press, (p.94).
According to Maiuri, these plaster-casts were badly mutilated during the 1943 bombing of the antiquarium –
“Among the rubble, there surfaced broken fragments of the cases and, lying in ruin, contorted and mutilated, like the victims of the recent catastrophe, the casts of the dead of two millennia ago, the victims that the lapilli and cenere of the eruption of 79 had reverently contained and that a more inhuman violence had mutilated and dishonoured in violating their sacred peace of the dead.”
According to Dwyer, -
“Most of the contents of the museum were beyond repair. Fiorelli’s original casts of 1863 were destroyed. Aside from conserving those of the earlier casts that could be salvaged, Maiuri added to the museum only one of the casts made during his long superintendency: the cast of a muleteer.”
See Dwyer, E., 2010. Pompeii’s Living Statues. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. (p.121).](victim%203_files/image001.jpg)
In his description of these plaster-casts in his Guida di Pompei, 1877, Fiorelli described –
“Two women [nos. 2 and 3], one next to the other. The older resting on her side; the younger face down, with her face in her arm.
(Reg.VII, Insula XIV, via
quarta).”
See Fiorelli, Guida di Pompei, [Rome,
1877,] p.88-89.
See Dwyer, E., 2010. Pompeii’s Living Statues. Ann Arbor: Univ of Michigan Press, (p.94).
According to Maiuri, these plaster-casts were badly mutilated during the 1943 bombing of the antiquarium –
“Among the rubble, there surfaced broken fragments of the cases and, lying in ruin, contorted and mutilated, like the victims of the recent catastrophe, the casts of the dead of two millennia ago, the victims that the lapilli and cenere of the eruption of 79 had reverently contained and that a more inhuman violence had mutilated and dishonoured in violating their sacred peace of the dead.”
According to Dwyer, -
“Most of the contents of the museum were beyond repair. Fiorelli’s original casts of 1863 were destroyed. Aside from conserving those of the earlier casts that could be salvaged, Maiuri added to the museum only one of the casts made during his long superintendency: the cast of a muleteer.”
See Dwyer, E., 2010. Pompeii’s Living Statues. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. (p.121).
Victims numbered 2 and 3. 5th Feb 1863. G Sommer and E. Behles, stereoview no. 356, 1867–1874. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.
Plaster-casts of victims numbered 2 and 3, photographed on an upper floor (possibly from VII.6.7), looking north towards Vicolo di Modesto and Vesuvius.
Centre-left can be seen the rebuilt School of Archaeology on Via Consolare. Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.
Victims 2 and 3 in upper picture and victim number 1 in
lower picture.
See Niccolini F,
1862. Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei:
Volume Secondo. Napoli, Descrizione Generale, Tav. XVIII.
According to Dwyer –
“Errors crept into the Museum, as the contents were frequently moved to make room for new castings.
On one Brogi photograph (no. 5578), the casts of the two women, numbers 2 and 3, are described as “Body of man and boy”.
See Dwyer, E., 2010. Pompeii’s Living Statues. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, (p.108).
Plaster casts of victims 2 and 3. 1870. Drawing by Breton.
According to Breton, “She lies flat on her stomach, her legs contracted and her face pressed against her left arm.
Her hand grasps a fold of her garment, in which she apparently tried to wrap her head.
The form of this head is perfectly preserved, and a large
portion of the cranium itself is exposed.”
See Breton, Ernest. 1870. Pompeia, Guide de visite a Pompei, 3rd ed. Paris, Guerin. (p.280-282)
See Dwyer, E., 2010.
Pompeii’s Living Statues. Ann Arbor: Univ of Michigan Press. (p.63).