Apollo Exposed: Investigating an Ancient Bronze

With trained eyes, the two men read the foot x-ray, assessing the status of the dislocated right ankle while scrutinizing pre-existing trauma essential to their prognosis. 

This may sound like a scene from a TV medical drama, but in truth describes the work of curators David Saunders and Erik Risser at the Getty Villa.

Their ‘patient’ is a bronze statue of Apollo, on loan from the National Archaelogical Museum in Naples.  Their ‘case’ required an in-depth examination to learn how the figure was originally assembled; researching how it was discovered and restored in the 19th century; then determining the best methods of preserving their subject.

The results of their exhaustive efforts — which lasted eighteen months — can be seen in an intriguing interactive exhibit entitled “Apollo From Pompei: Investigating an Ancient Bronze”, on view at the Getty Villa through Sept. 12. 

“The story of his discovery is really puzzling and interesting and is one of three main strands of the exhibition,” said David Saunders, assistant curator of antiquities. “The exhibition focuses on discovery, how it was made in antiquity and how he was restored after he was discovered.   And in presenting all this together we hope to show how Erik and myself came about this whole project.”

The statue of Apollo was found in fragments in 1817 and 1818, centuries after the city of Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. 

“To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first large bronzes to be found in Pompeii,” said Saunders.  “He was initially found as three large pieces — his legs, his body and his head.” 

Later, soldiers patrolling the area discovered his missing right leg, right hand, and parts of its left arm.  By 1825, the statue had been reassembled, using among others things, iron straps secured with brass screws and solder.  But that’s only part of Apollo’s long story.

To unravel its many mysteries, conservationists utilized enough high-tech equipment to fill a C.S.I. episode:  endoscopy, radiology, ultraviolet, X-ray florescence, gas chromatography, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.  These methods helped them peer inside the statue and gain a better understanding of how bronzes were assembled in antiquity; distinguish between ancient and restoration materials; plus identify alloys and applied pigments. 

“You can very clearly see there are layers of history added on, different philosophies, different times, having a huge impact of this piece,” said Erik Risser, assistant conservator of antiquities.

The Getty conservation team’s chief objectives were devising a mechanical structural support for the right ankle and addressing the heavy drapery hanging off Apollo’s arms.

“Looking at the other restorations, you start to say ‘there is something very odd about this drapery,’” said Risser. “And in looking back at the archival evidence, and illustrations in the early 19th century, you saw that they had a entirely different drapery on it in 1825. So that tells us we were right in thinking something was off.”  

In fact, studies revealed the drapery ends, weighing roughly 80 pounds, were added around the mid-1860’s. Realizing the added weight wasn’t original and created undo stress on the statue, Getty conservators chose to match how the Apollo looked upon its discovery.

 “The drapery fragments were recreated in light-weight modern materials and attached to the figure in a mechanical way to facilitate their reversibility if need be with little disturbance or risk to the ancient figure,” said Risser.  “No attempt was made to reconstruct the ancient drapery because we do not know their form for certain.  This is in stark contrast to the motives of the restorers of the nineteenth century. As to their finishing, the new drapery fragments are monotone and matte to distinguish them from the ancient or nineteenth century portions of the statue so as not to hide the recent work nor try to deceive the viewer as to their authenticity.”

Saunders and Risser also found that the surface of the statue had been dramatically altered, resulting in an archaic form of plastic surgery.

“The surface of the statue was cleaned after discovery in 1817 and 1818 to remove uneven or obscuring corrosion, to reveal a smoother, more even surface,” said Risser. “This would have resulted in large patches of exposed metal that would have given the figure an irregular color and appearance.  Equally, bolts used to reassemble the figure would have been visible on the exterior and unsightly.  To rectify both of these issues, restorers of the time completely covered the surface with pigments to conceal the evidence of their work and to give a more uniform and 'ancient' appearance to the statue.”

Risser points out that if faced with the same situation today, such cleaning methods would be avoided, which helps distinguish the difference between modern conservation and restoration.  “Preserving the historical and informative values of an object are conservation's principle objective,” said Risser. “Whereas traditionally restoration placed more of an emphasis on aesthetics or recreating an object's original splendor.

When asked what he hopes visitors take away from this exhibit, Risser said: “An insight into the type of work undertaken in museums and the techniques used to unravel the great number of stories and information that an individual object contains and what these can tell us about so many differing facets of the ancient world, as well as how historically people have interacted with and viewed antiquity to make it their own.”

The hope is that visitors will enjoy interacting with the exhibit, perhaps tapping into their inner archeological sleuth while peeling back the layers of its rich history. It beats just walking by yet another ancient sculpture in a museum.