THE GALLERY
Welcome to the All Things Vesta Gallery!
Please wander around to enjoy beautiful artwork featuring the Vestal Virgins and the world of Vesta and ancient Rome. You’ll also find artifacts and other items of interest.
Hall One: Interactive Images—tap the image for more
Dedication of a New Vestal Virgin
Vestal Virgins Enjoying Front Row Seating in the Colosseum
The Vestal Virgins in Gerome's Pollice Verso
An Ancient Fresco of Vesta
Statue of Rome's Last Vestal Virgin
Statues of Vestal Virgins, Shown Shortly After Excavation in the Forum
A Vestal Statue Shortly After Excavation
A Well-Preserved Statue of a High Priestess of Vesta
A Statue of a Vestal Priestess in the Roman Forum, in the House of the Vestals
An Illustration of Rhea Silvia Being Brought to the Temple of Vesta
A Painting Depicting Mars and Rhea Silvia
A Sculpture Showing Mars Approaching Rhea Silvia
An Ancient Bronze Coin with Mars and Rhea Silvia
The Condemnation of Rhea Silvia
The Vestal Virgins Pass Through Rome in a Chariot
Original Watercolor of Angus McBride's Vestal Virgins
School of the Vestals
Painting of Albinus Giving His Carriage to the Vestal Virgins
Metellus Saves the Palladium
Ancient Coin Depicting the Trial of a Vestal Virgin
A Vestal Virgin Being "Buried Alive"
A Vestal Virgin Being Interred Underground
Ancient Coin Showing the Abduction of the Sabine Women
Tarpeia's Punishment
Ancient Coin of Tarpeia Being Crushed by Shields
Ancient Coin Showing Tarpeia Buried in Shields
Ancient Roman Coin Showing Vesta at a Lighted Altar
Ancient Roman Men's Seal Ring with Image of Vesta
Temple of Vesta in Tivoli
Tomb of Cossinia
Ancient Coin - Vesta Mater
Ancient Coin - Vesta Aeterna
Ancient Coin - Vesta Felix
A Very Special Terracotta Votive
Ancient Bronze Coin of Vestals
The Vestal Tuccia
Antique Map Showing Location of Temple of Vesta
Etching of the Temple of Vesta
The Rostrum - Decorative Relief
Ancient Simpulum or Ritual Ladle
The Temple of Vesta Shortly After Restoration
Ancient Bronze Statuette of Vesta
Ancient Oil Lamp
Ilus Offering at Lit Altar
The Procession of the Trojan Horse
Ancient Coin of Aeneas
Ancient Coin of Roman She-Wolf
Forum Excavations
Donkey in Forum Boarium
Shrine of Vesta on Palatine Hill
Statue of Rhea Silvia with Infants Romulus and Remus
Novice Vestals drawing water
Inauguration of a Vestal Novice
Vestalis Maxima and Pontifex Maximus
Gold Aureus of Julius Caesar, Showing a Veiled Vesta
Vestal Virgins on the Ara Pacis
A Painting Showing the Vestal Virgins at the Sacred Hearth
The Vestalis Maxima Presents the Will of Augustus to Tiberius
Invocation of a Vestal Virgin
Relief Showing Vestals at a Banquet
Hall Two: More Images—tap the image for a closer look
An etching / reconstruction that shows the Temple of Vesta between the Temple of Caesar on the left and the Temple of Castor and Pollux on the right. The Palatine Hill ascends on the right.
A pretty painting showing Vestals and attendants at a shrine to Vesta
A vintage postcard showing a pretty scene: a temple in the Forum Boarium first thought to be a Temple of Vesta, but now thought to be a Temple to Hercules (since this area is where Hercules was believed to have arrived in Rome via the Tiber River)
Slide of a relief section of the Rostrum (Rostra) the great speaker’s platform in the Roman Forum. The Vestals would have watched many amazing speeches and ceremonies from this structure. It is decorated with images of the sacrificial animals - a pig, a sheep, and an ox.
This is perhaps the ultimate antique - a meteorite fragment of the asteroid called Vesta. It is the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt which is located, suitably enough, between Jupiter and Mars.
The astronomical symbol of the asteroid named Vesta; a stylized version of the flame emanating from the hearth
The reverse of a denarius depicting the white sow of Lavinium (sometimes called the sow of Alba Longa). The sow was a divine sign to Aeneas, showing him where to build his city of Lavinium and heralding the founding of Alba Longa (birthplace of Rhea Silvia and Romulus and Remus) thirty years later.
This is an ancient Roman silver coin (a denarius) featuring Coelius Caldus: I’ve included it here because this man was an ancestor of the Vestalis Maxima Coelia Concordia (who is the subject of my novel Coelia Concordia: The Last Vestal Virgin of Rome). On the coin’s reverse there is a depiction of the Epulum Jovis, a banquet in honor of Jupiter and the gods.
An ancient coin showing Vesta holding a staff and patera (dish for making offerings). The words VESTAE SANCTAE for Holy Vesta can be seen
The punishment of Tarpeia. This frieze of Tarpeia being crushed by shields was on the Basilica Aemelia in the Roman Forum
A vintage illustration showing the Vestal Virgins inside the temple, offering into the sacred fire
A painting by Leroux, showing a Vestal seated under a lamp
An illustration after the Veiled Vestal statue by Raffaelle Monti
A French engraving of a seated Vestal Virgin
Illustration of a Vestal Virgin in the Campus Sceleratus (or Evil Field) being led to a ladder that extends into the underground vault in which she will perish
A 16th century fresco (detail) by Carracci, showing the She-Wolf Suckling Romulus and Remus
Illustration of a Vestal Virgin interred underground and awaiting death
A photo of the Temple of Vesta as it appears today; the high hill behind the temple is the Palatine Hill where the emperor lived
A photograph of some of the Vestal statues lining the ruins of the courtyard in the House of the Vestals in the Roman Forum
A 17th century painting by Thomas Blanchet depicting Tuccia proving her innocence by carrying a sieve of water from the Tiber to the temple without a drop falling out
White not a depiction of a Vestal per se, this painting of Elizabeth I shows the English queen holding a sieve, thereby aligning her purity with that of the Vestal Virgin Tuccia; Elizabeth is known as "The Virgin Queen"
A 17th century painting of the Vestal Virgins, by Anthoni Schoonjans, tending to the sacred fire by adding wood and employing a bellows
A late 19th century oil painting, by Deckler, of a Vestal hanging ivy
Left: A drawing made of the medallion on Coelia Concordia's statue. Right: A modern reproduction
A painting showing a Vestal Virgin pardoning a criminal before the Temple of Vesta (Vestals had this legal power)
This 20th century painting of the Vestal Virgins, by Fedor Rerberg, is a stark one. Every time I see it, I feel the despair the Vestals must have felt when the sacred fire was extinguished (on the orders of the Christian Emperor Theodosius in the late 4th century)
Relief of a Vestal from the Hadrian period, found on the Palatine Hill - a beautiful face looks at us from the past