page_title: Camillo Paderni
section_title: Correspondence
hierarchical_section_title: Camillo Paderni / Correspondence
caption_attribution_description: English: The Getty Villa — in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. Fountain and sculpture in the Peristyle Garden of the Getty Villa Roman gardens.
context_page_description: Camillo Paderni, or Camillus Paderni, lived from ca. 1715-1781. He was an illustrator, excavator, and curator at the Museum Herculanense, as part of King Charles VII of Naples royal Palace in Portici, and a Roman.
context_section_description: In a letter from 1752 to Richard Mead, Paderni wrote:
  It is not a month ago, that there have been found many volumes of papyrus, but turn'd to a sort of charcoal, so brittle, that, being touched, it falls readily into ashes. Nevertheless, by his majestys orders, I have made many trials to open them, but all to no purpose; excepting some words §, which I have picked out intire, where there are divers bits by which it appears in what manner the whole was written. The form of the characters, made with a very black tincture, that overcomes the darkness of the charcoal, I shall here, to oblige you, imitate in two short lines (see reference) [..] my fidelity to the king not permitting me to send you any more.
  In 1754 Paderni wrote a letter to Thomas Hollis, briefly describing the discoveries at the Villa of the Papyri:
  In one of these buildings there has been found an entire library composed of volumes of the Egyptian Papyrus, of which there have been taken out about 250; and the place is not yet clear'd or emptied, it having been deem'd necessary to erect props first, to keep the earth, which lies above it, from falling in upon it. These volumes of Papyrus consist of Latin and Greek manuscripts but from their brittleness, occasion'd by the fire and time, it is not possible to unroll them, they being now decayed, and rotten. His majesty however has done his parts having sent for a certain monk from Rome [Abbot Piaggio], who belonged to the Vatican library, in hopes, by his means, to have unfolded them; but hitherto in vain.
  In another letter from 1754, to Hollis, Paderni wrote:
  I shall now proceed to give you some little account of our late discoveries at Herculaneum. We are going on to dig in two places, one towards the road della Torre del Greco; and the other nearer to the neighbourhood of the royal palace at Portici, directly under the wood belonging to the church of the Augustines. [..] Please only to reflect, in which manner the persons employed are obliged to work through the subterraneous passages, and how hard they find the lava; and then you may judge why they advance so slowly. The first thing here discovered was a garden, in which were found divers statues of marble of excellent Greek artists. This route led us towards a palace, which lay near the garden. But before they arrived at the palace, they came to a long square, which formed a kind of Forum, and was adorned throughout with columns of stucco; in the middle of which was a bath. 
  At the several angles of the square was a terminus of marble, and upon every one of those stood a bust of bronze, of Greek workmanship, one of which had on it the name of the artist AnOAAHNIOS APXIOr AeHNAI02 (see image). A small fountain was placed before each terminus which was constructed in the following manner: Level with the pavement was a vase to receive the water, which fell from above: in the middle of this vase was a stand of balustrade work, to support another marble vase. This second vase was square on the outside, and circular within, where it had the appearance of a scallop-shell; in the centre whereof was the spout, which threw up the water, that was supplied by leaden pipes inclosed within the balustrades. Among the columns, which adorned the bath, were alternately placed a statue of bronze, and a bust of the fame metal, at the equal distance of a certain number of palms. 
  It is true, that more statues have been found among these columns than busts; but however, we hope in our progress to find a like number of these latter. The statues, taken out from April 15 to September 30, are in number seven, near the height of six Neapolitan palms; except one of them, which is much larger, and of an excellent expression. This represents a fawn lying down, who appears to be drunk, resting upon the goatskin, in which they antiently put wine. Two other of these statues are of young men, and three of nymphs; all of middling workmanship. September 27, I went myself to take out a head in bronze, which proved to be that of Seneca, and the finest, that has hitherto appeared; being, I as
caption: The Getty Villa architecture was inspired by the Villa of the Papyri.
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