Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art
By TOM CAPELONGA
September 21, 2010

Greek, Attic (ca. 510 B.C.). Hydria. Black-figure terracotta. Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art.

Roman, Julio-Claudian (14-37 A.D.). Portrait of the Emperor Augustus. Marble. Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art.

 
Located at Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, New York, the Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art boasts an impressive collection of antiquities in a quiet academic setting. Situated on the first floor of the William D. Walsh Family Library, it opened in 2007 to both students and the public. The 4,000-square-foot gallery exhibits some 260 ancient Near Eastern, Greek and Italian works. They date from the Bronze Age to the 3rd Century A.D.
 
The antiquities are tucked into a corner of the library that doubles as a study space for the renowned Jesuit institution’s pupils. The room that houses them blends into the larger fabric of the building in a relatively unassuming manner. Some of the earliest works on display include a Babylonian tablet (ca. 2100-2000 B.C.) with a cuneiform (wedge-shaped) inscription and a set of Bronze Age spearheads. Objects dating from the 7th and 6th Centuries B.C. onward constitute the majority of the museum's holdings.
 
Highlights of the Collection
On view is a wealth of terracotta vessels from Greece, Etruria and Rome, many adorned with red and black figures. Their painted images depict important characters from classical mythology, among them Herakles, Athena and Medusa. Equally fascinating are marble portrait busts of the Roman emperors Augustus, Hadrian and Caracalla. They're joined by a carved stone Sarcophagus (2nd or 3rd Century A.D.) that commemorates a young boy. Labels provide adequate supplemental information throughout the gallery, although their printed texts are a bit too small to be read plainly.
 
Fordham Museum's impressive collection, similar to those housed at Princeton University, Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania, conveys an air of prestige for an institution in the midst of a self-proclaimed period of renewal. According to the school's Web site, the Excelsior Campaign lays out a series of academic, physical and fundraising efforts intended to bring Fordham "into a new era of pre-eminence by 2016." The addition of these valuable objects to its library facilities seems a fitting step in bolstering the college’s reputation as an acclaimed educational establishment. The artifacts’ net worth is estimated to be within the $5-6 million range.
 
A detailed and color-illustrated catalogue of Fordham Museum's ancient artworks is highly anticipated.
 
The Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art is open to the public free-of-charge Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

 

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