Frieze and Sculptures

Portale del Filarete in St. Peter, Rome. Detail: Crucifixion of Saint Peter

Portale del Filarete in St. Peter, Rome. Detail: Crucifixion of Saint Peter

Filarete's 15th century reconstruction of the tomb on the bronze door of St. Peter (lower right corner of the panel) includes a frieze of garlands and bulls' heads on the square base and on the drum. On the corners of the square base are pilasters with decorated capital.1

 

Bronze Peacock from Hadrian's Mausoleum

Bronze Peacock from Hadrian's Mausoleum 

Bronze peacocks origianally decorated the square base. They symbolize eternal life.2 

YQ

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Mary T. Boatwright, Hadrian and the City of Rome (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987), 170. 

2 Thorsten Opper, Hadrian: Empire and Conflict (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2008).