This outstanding example of Roman figural relief sculpture once covered a well in Ostia, the port town of ancient Rome, probably at a sumptuous villa along the Tiber River. Carving from a single block of marble, the sculptor seamlessly combined two cautionary tales from Greek mythology that relate to water: the story of Echo and Narcissus (best known from Ovid’s Metamorphoses), and the tale of the handsome hero Hylas being abducted by nymphs as he was fetching water.
Scientific analysis tells us that the wellhead, like many ancient sculptures and monuments, was originally painted. Visible-induced infrared luminescence has revealed small remains of Egyptian blue, the earliest known synthetic pigment. A particle analyzed in situ with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy was found to contain copper, supporting the identification of Egyptian blue. The shallower, incised landscape elements would presumably all have been painted, adding to the work’s illusionistic effect.
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Shallow relief carving of an olive branch that would have been painted
Artwork Details
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Title:Puteal (wellhead) with Narcissus and Echo, and Hylas and the Nymphs
Period:Antonine or Severan
Date:2nd century
Culture:Roman
Medium:Marble
Dimensions:Height: 40 15/16 in. (104 cm) Diameter: 26 3/8 in. (67 cm) Height of base: 8 11/16 in. (22 cm)
Classification:Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Howard S. and Nancy Marks, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald S. Lauder, The Jaharis Family Foundation Inc., Philodoroi, Leon Levy Foundation, Renée E. and Robert A. Belfer, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Moran, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Fisch, Annette de la Renta, Beatrice Stern, Frederick J. Iseman, The Abner Rosen Foundation Inc., Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Chilton Jr., Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Barbara G. Fleischman, in memory of Lawrence A. Fleischman, and Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation Gifts; and The Bothmer Purchase and Diane Carol Brandt Funds, 2019
Accession Number:2019.7
Excavated in 1797 in Ostia, the port of ancient Rome
Spring 1797, excavated by Robert Fagan near the Bovacciano Tower, Ostia; from 1797, with Robert Fagan (Rome, Naples, England); before 1853, acquired by Francis Wemyss Charteris Douglas, the 8th Earl of Wemyss and March; from before 1853 to 2019, collection of the Earls of Wemyss and March, Gosford House, East Lothian, Scotland; acquired in 2019, purchased from Wemyss Chattels Trust.
Fea, Carlo. 1802. Relazione di un Viaggio ad Ostia e alla Villa di Plinio detta Laurentino. p. 45, Rome: Antonio Fulgoni.
Guattani, Guiseppe Antoinio. 1805. "Parapetto di pozzo con bassorilievo d'Ila e Narciso." Monumenti antichi inediti, ovvero, notizie sulla antichità e belle arti di Roma per l'anno 1805, 8. pp. 39–47, pls. 7–8, Rome.
Nibby, Antonio. 1837. Analisi storico-topografico-antiquaria della carta de'dintorni di Roma. p. 469, Rome: Tip. delle Belle arti.
Wieseler, Friedrich. 1844. Die Nymphe Echo. Eine kunstmythologische Abhandlung. p. 9, Göttingen: Dieterich.
Türk, Gustav. 1895. De Hyla. no. 2, pp. 78–79, Breslau: Verlag von Wilhelm Koebner.
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Ashby, Thomas. 1912. "Recent Discoveries at Ostia." The Journal of Roman Studies, 2: p. 162.
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Rizzo, Giulio Emanuele. 1929. La Pittura Ellenistico-Romana. pp. 63–64, pl. 130, Milan: Fratelli Treves.
Manino, Luciano. 1952-1953. "Ara funeraria con rilievi mitologici nel museo antichità di Torino." Bollettino della Società Piemontese di Archeologia e di Belle Arti, 1952-1953: pp. 45–46, fig. 8.
Zanker, Paul. 1966. "'Iste Ego Sum' Der naïve und der bewußte Narziß." Bonner Jahtbucher des Rheinischen Landesmuseums Bonn, 166: p. 153, fig. 1.
Brommer, Frank. 1971. Denkmälerlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, I. Herakles. Roman relief no. 4, p. 85, Marburg: N.G. Elwert.
Hartmann, Jürgen, Prof. Dipl.-Ing and Klaus Parlasca. 1979. Antike Motive bei Thorvaldsen : Studien zur Antikenrezeption des Klassizismus. p. 157, pl. 106.1–.3, Tübingen: E. Wasmuth.
Ling, Roger. 1979. "Hylas in Pompeian Art." Melanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome : Antiquité, 91.2: no. 24, p. 806.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1986. Vol. 3: Atherion-Eros. "Echo," p. 683, no. 15, pl. 534, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1990. Vol. 5: Herakles-Kenchrias. "Hylas," p. 576, no. 21, pl. 398, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Bignamini, Ilaria. 1995. "I Marmi Fagan in Vaticano. La Vendita del 1804 e altri Acquisizioni." Bollettino - Monumenti, musei e gallerie pontificie, 16: p. 381.
Ricciardi, Maria Antonietta and Valnea Santa Maria Scrinari. 1996. La Civiltà dell' Acqua in Ostia Antica, Vol. 1. p. 16, figs. 3, 3A, Rome: Fratelli Palombi.
Golda, Thomas Matthias. 1997. Puteale und verwandte Monumente : eine Studie zum römischen Ausstattungsluxus. no. 65, p. 110, pl. 71.3, Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Bignamini, Ilaria. 2003. "Ostia, Porto e Isola Sacra : scoperte e scavi dal Medioevo al 1801." Rivista dell'Istituto nazionale d'archeologia e storia dell'arte, 26: pp. 62, 67, figs. 17–18.
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Zahle, Jan. 2012. Thorvaldsens afstøbninger efter antikken og renæssancen : en komplett samling. p. 84, fig. 52, Copenhagen: Thorvaldsens Museum.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2020. ART = Discovering Infinite Connections in Art History. p. 032, New York: Phaidon Press.
Hemingway, Seán, Joan R. Mertens, Sarah Lepinski, and Alexis M. Belis. 2021. "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection 2018–2020." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 78(3): pp. frontispiece, 11–12.
Hemingway, Seán. 2023. "The Gosford Wellhead : An Ancient Roman Masterpiece." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 80(3): pp. 5–45, figs.1, 11, 24, 28, 30–32, 36, 39–41, 49–58.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.