Description

The Volta Dorata is the vault of Room 80 in Rome’s Domus Aurea, built by Emperor Nero in AD 64–68. The function of Room 80 as a luxury triclinium, its central location, and the artistic taste of its owner all played a prominent role in the elaboration and definition of the refined decorative system of the vault. This book provides a critical analysis and comparison of all graphic works – including drawings, watercolours, and coloured engravings – depicting the Volta Dorata since its discovery in the 1470s by early Renaissance artists and antiquarians. The research mainly addresses two strictly related issues. One issue concerns the original appearance of the vault and the relation between its decoration and the myths that literary sources indicate as Nero’s favourites and those of Neronian literature. The other issue regards the working methods employed across the centuries by artists copying the Neronian vault and the Volta Dorata’s influence on artists and artefacts.

Marco Brunetti is a postdoctoral fellow at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, working on Renaissance drawings of Roman antiquities and the Renaissance topography of Rome. After receiving an academic education at the University of Bologna and the IMT – School for Advanced Studies of Lucca (Italy), he was awarded fellowships by the DAAD Germanic Academic Exchange Service (2019–2020) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2022–2024). He spent time training and researching at the British Museum and Gallerie degli Uffizi, and is currently collaborating with the Census Project of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Euploos Project of the Gallerie degli Uffizi. He has published articles in renowned scientific journals, such as Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome and Papers of the British School at Rome.