Sculpture of the Vatican Museums

On Sunday I had the opportunity to go into the Vatican Museums for the first time. Our good friends the DeBartolos (from the States), spent a wonderful 10 days visiting us and I went in with them. I've seen the Prado in Madrid and several other museums here in Rome but the Vatican Museum trumps them all. The massive amount of art inside really requires more than one day to visit, even for the casual observer. I've broken up the entries into various categories, so for this one I'll just show a sampling of some of the sculpture available.

This is a picture from the Egyptian section showing Egyptian statues. They are in a reconstructed model of Hadrian's villa, who had them displayed as part of his private collection.


Here's a state representing the Nile, from the 1st century AD.


The gallery of busts, one of the extensive galleries containing sculpture.


Ganymede, a Trojan Prince. Hellenistic era.


Nursing woman. Hellenistic Period.


I don't remember who this was, but I'm pretty sure it's Athena.


A bust of the god Janus.


The famous state of Laocoon and his sons, the statue that founded the Vatican Museums over 500 years ago.


Persius with the head of Medusa.


A statue of Mithras slaying the bull. This was probably my favorite one.


Zeus.


A lion killing a horse, although I'm not sure of any other particulars.


And lastly, the famous statue The Thinker.