the Farnese Bull. Paul III came from the powerful Farnese family, and many of the ancient sculptures discovered during the sixteenth century have retained the names of the aristocratic collections into which they passed. Many sculptures went into the vatican Collections (Musei Vaticani), established by Pope Julius II (r. 1503–1513); Paul III established the office of the Papal Commissioner of Antiquities (Commissario delle Antichità), which existed from 1534 until the formation of the modern archaeological bureaucracy in 1870 with the unification of Italy.

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The Canopus, Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli

(from G. Piranesi, Le antichità romane [Rome, 1756])

Paradoxically, although the sixteenth century witnessed a great deal of destruction of classical monuments, it was also a time when interest in such monuments peaked. Clearances in Rome produced much new information, and antiquarians and topographers as well as some of the greatest artists and architects of the day (such as Palladio and Raphael), were drawn into their study. Excavations outside Rome began to grow in importance, not only in the environs of the city (such as at Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli) but also and particularly in Etruria. To this period can be dated the start of the patriotic Tuscan movement centered on the etruscans, with Cosimo I “the Great” de’ Medici (1519–1574) crowned Magnus Dux Etruria (Grand Duke of Etruria). Etruscan tombs were opened at Chiusi, Volterra, Tarquinia, and elsewhere, and the images found in them had a demonstrable effect on the work of a number of Renaissance artists, such as Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Michelangelo.

The pace of the discovery of ancient works of art slowed somewhat during the seventeenth century, although many new sculptures appeared, along with wall paintings that caused a sensation. One such painting was the so-called Aldobrandini Wedding, excavated on the Esquiline Hill in Rome in 1604 and much admired by visiting