Italian, circa 1870, in antique style, The massacre of the Niobids

said to have been excavated in autumn 1870 in the ruins of the temple of Diana at Nemi, in the territory of Ariccia

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selon la tradition, trouvé dans les fouilles pendant l'automne 1870 dans les ruines du temple de Diane à Nemi, sur le territoire d'Ariccia

G. Henzen, "Scavi di Nemi," Bulletino dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica, 1871, p. 54 ;

H. Heydemann, "Über unedierte Niobiden-relief," Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaft zum Leipzig, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, 1877, pp. 97-103

IV,2 ;

M. Cook, Niobe and her Children, 1964, Cambridge, p. 51, no. 30.

Ovid's Metamorphoses tells the story of the massacre of the Niobids, where Niobe, daughter of Tantalus and wife of Amphion, king of Thebes, is known to have a large number of children, girls and boys, the Niobids. Proud of her offspring, she claimed to deserve the worship normally addressed to Leto, who had only two children, Apollo and Daphne. The latter, offended, asked her children to avenge him: with his arrows Apollo killed the sons of Niobe and Diana, the daughters. Overwhelmed with grief, Niobe, in tears, was transformed into a rock, from which flows a spring.

This relief has been published in 1871 and 1878 in an engraving, illustrating it as an antique fragment discovered in the ruins of the Diana Nemorensi's temple near Lake Nemi, in the Albanese mountains, south-east of Rome.

The Nemi provenance for this relief must have been invented by forgers and dealers prior to 1870 in order to deceive potential buyers. The relief, which had probably been carved shortly before it was sold, was thus given a pedigree as prestigious as it was imaginary. It is even possible that the object was buried in Nemi's ruins, thus deceiving the archaeologists and art historians of the time. Heydemann published the object as ancient solely on the basis of a drawing that had been communicated to him before the object entered the antiquities market in Rome.

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Issu des Métamorphoses d'Ovide, le massacre des Niobides raconte l'histoire de Niobe, fille de Tantale et épouse d'Amphion, roi de Thèbes, qui eut un grand nombre d'enfants filles et garçons, les Niobides. Fière de sa progéniture, elle prétendit mériter le culte adressé normalement à Léto, qui n'avait que deux enfants, Apollon et Daphné. Cette dernière, offensée, demanda à ses enfants de le venger: de ses flèches Apollon tua les fils de Niobé et Diane, les filles. Accablée de chagrin, Niobé en larmes fut transformée en un rocher, d'où coule une source.

La provenance de Nemi pour ce relief était clairement l'invention de faussaires et d'antiquaires destinée à tromper les acheteurs potentiels. L'objet avait probablement été sculpté peu de temps auparavant et ainsi donné un pedigree aussi prestigieux qu'imaginaire. Il est probable qu'il ait été enfoui dans les ruines de Nemi, trompant ainsi les archéologues et historiens de l'art de l'époque, lesquels publièrent l'objet comme authentique sur la seule base d'un dessin qui leur avait été communiqué avant que l'objet n'atterrisse sur le marché des antiquités à Rome.