Mosaic of Orpheus
Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum, Palermo
The Mosaic of Orpheus, dating from the third century AD, comes from the Roman archaeological complex in Piazza della Vittoria, in the area of present-day Villa Bonanno in Palermo. Discovered in 1868, it decorated a large reception room in Building A, part of a wealthy residence from the Roman Imperial period.
At the centre of the composition, Orpheus is shown playing the lyre and enchanting the animals, in a subject associated with the Orphic tradition. The refined polychrome surface combines opus tessellatum in the borders and background with opus vermiculatum in the figurative areas, using carefully arranged small stone and glass tesserae.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the mosaic was detached and transferred to the Archaeological Museum of Palermo. Divided into eighteen sections and remounted several times during the twentieth century, it is now housed in the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum.
The conservation project
To mark the reopening of the second floor of the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum, the Isabel und Balz Baechi Foundation supported an extraordinary maintenance treatment of the Mosaic of Orpheus.
The work included the study of the mosaic’s execution technique and conservation history, the consolidation of unstable tesserae, surface cleaning, and the review of fills and integrations. Small losses were integrated with incised mortar, while fills in larger losses were replaced and chromatically adjusted to the mosaic surface.
Particular attention was devoted to removing earlier protective coatings and non-original materials that had altered the mosaic’s colours and legibility, restoring stability and an appropriate visual balance to the entire decorative composition.
Collaborations
Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum, Palermo – Sicilian Region
Maria Lucia Ferruzza, archaeologist – Technical direction
Alessandra Carrubba, conservator-restorer
Conservation treatment
Paola Potenza, conservator-restorer in charge and Head of Conservation Projects at the Isabel und Balz Baechi Foundation
Annalisa Savio, conservator-restorer
Project support
Isabel und Balz Baechi Foundation
Presentations and publications
L’Isola dei Tesori. Ricerca archeologica e nuove acquisizioni, International Conference, Pietro Griffo Regional Archaeological Museum, Agrigento, 14–17 December 2023.
- L. Ferruzza, A. Carrubba, P. Potenza, A. Savio, Il mosaico di Orfeo che incanta gli animali da Piazza della Vittoria: il nuovo intervento conservativo alla luce delle fonti archivistiche, in M. C. Parello (ed.), L’Isola dei Tesori. Ricerca archeologica e nuove acquisizioni. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Ante Quem, Bologna, 2024.