| TITLE
| Temple of Vespasian |
| CREATOR | unknown |
| DATE | 1860 |
| DIMENSIONS | 29 x 10 x 10 in. |
| ORIGINAL FORMAT | Sculpture |
| MEDIUM | Marble |
| PHYSICAL NOTE | Antique marble replica of architectural monuments at the Roman Forum commissioned in 1860 |
| DONOR | Dr. Alexis Caswell |
| DATE OF ACCESSION | 1861 |
| LOCATION | Providence Athenæum: Philbrick Rare Book Room |
This architectural model of the Temple of Vespasian (part of the Roman Forum in Italy), shows the three columns of the Temple dedicated to Vespasian by his son Domitian, rendered in miniature proportion.
While its artist is unknown, it is assumed it was sculpted in the first half of the nineteenth-century, as it was donated to the Athenæum in 1861. The donor, Dr. Alexis Caswell, was director of the Athenæum for eight years and vice president for eight more.
“Every visitor in Rome makes it almost his first business to hasten to the Forum.....[A]s I gazed again and again upon them, it occurred to me that I could not render a better service to the Providence Athenæum, than by placing accurate copies of these much admired remains of ancient art in its halls.” - Dr. Alexis Caswell
Lancaster, Jane.
Inquire Within: A Social History of the Providence Athenæum Since 1753. Providence, RI: Providence Athenæum, 2003, p. 89.
"Column of Phocas, Temple of Vespasian, Temple of Castor & Pollux, Roman Forum."
The Providence Athenæum, 2019,
www.providenceathenaeum.org/collections/art-collection/sculpture/. Accessed 26 June 2019.
Edwards, Olivia. “Temple of Vespasian.” 2016. ARTH 401: Cataloguing Curiosity, Wheaton College, student paper.