15th Room.—
This and the next room are devoted to objects recently found in the excavations at Ostia.
Left Wall:
Mosaic in a niche.
16th Room.—
In the Centre:
Reclining statue of Atys.
Right Wall:
Frescoes of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, from a tomb at Ostia.
The Christian Museum, founded by Pius IX., and arranged by Padre Marchi and the Cavaliere Rossi, is of great interest. In the first hall is a statue of Christ by Sosnowsky, and in the wall behind it three mosaics,—two from the catacombs, that in the centre—of Christ with SS. Peter and Paul—from the old St. Peter's. Hence we ascend a staircase lined with Christian sarcophagi. At the foot are two statues of the Good Shepherd.
"Une des compositions de Calamis ne doit pas être oubliée à Rome, car ce sujet païen a été adopté par l'art chrétien des premiers temps. Les représentations du Bon Pasteur rapportant la brebis, expressions touchante de la miséricorde divine, ont leur origine dans le Mercure porte-bélier (Criophore). Quelquefois c'est un berger qui porte un bélier, une brebis ou un agneau; l'on se rapproche ainsi a l'idée du bon pasteur. En général, le bon pasteur, dans les monuments chrétiens, porte une brebis, la brebis égarée de l'Évangile; mais quelquefois aussi il porte un bélier; et alors le souvenir de l'original païen dans la composition chrétienne est manifeste."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 256.
The sarcophagus on the left, which tells the story of Jonah, is especially fine. The corridor above is also lined with sarcophagi. The best are on the left; of these the most remarkable are, the 1st, the marriage at Cana; 4th, the Good Shepherd repeated several times among vines, with cherubs gathering the grapes; 7th, a sarcophagus with a canopy supported by two pavonazzetto columns, and on the wall behind, frescoes of the Good Shepherd, &c. At the raised end of the corridor is the seated statue of Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto in the third century (the upper part a restoration), found in the Catacomb of Sta. Cyriaca, and moved hither from the Vatican Library; upon the chair is engraved the celebrated Paschal Calendar, which is supposed to settle the unorthodoxy of those early Christians who kept Easter at the same time as the Jews.
Hence, three rooms lined with drawings from the paintings in the different catacombs, lead to,—
The Picture Gallery.