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Gallery Text

This terracotta is modeled after a marble relief on the inside of the Arch of Titus, in Rome. It shows soldiers carrying sacred trophies looted from the Temple of Jerusalem while they proceed through a triumphal arch, just as actual soldiers would have entered the Arch of Titus en route to Vespasian’s Temple of Peace in the Forum. A masterpiece of Roman art from the first century CE, the arch was much admired and copied, and its sculptures served as models for artists who came to the Eternal City to study its ancient monuments. Although it is difficult to attribute the large numbers of copies that were produced in the late eighteenth century to specific artists, this relief has been associated with Jean-Guillaume Moitte, a French sculptor who first came to the French Academy in Rome in 1771, and who made an impressive number of drawings and small terracottas of the city’s ancient treasures.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1993.204
People
Jean-Guillaume Moitte, French (Paris 1746 - 1810 Paris)
Title
The Triumphal Procession Carrying the Spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem
Other Titles
Alternate Title: A Scene from the Arch of Titus, Rome
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
relief, sculpture
Date
c. 1797
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/226923

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
34.3 x 59.4 x 6.7 cm (13 1/2 x 23 3/8 x 2 5/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Private collection in France, until 1992-93, sold; [to Daniel Katz, Ltd, London, 1993, sold;] to Harvard University Art Museums by exchange, 1993.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, by exchange
Accession Year
1993
Object Number
1993.204
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • "Principales acquisitions des musees en 1993", Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1994), 123, p. 57, fig. 251

Exhibition History

  • Eighteenth Century European Ceramics, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/02/2005 - 06/09/2008
  • 32Q: 2210 West Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/02/2019

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu