Roman Bronze Neptune Ststue From Lyon Arrives in Rome
From Feb. 6 to June 7, 2026, the Giovanni Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture will host for the first time in Rome the statue of Neptune fromancient Lugdunum, present-day Lyon. The work comes to the capital thanks to a loan from the Lugdunum-Musée et Théâtres romains Museum and is displayed in the museum’s ground-floor room, recently reorganized to accommodate temporary exhibitions.
Discovered in 1859 in the Rhône River, the statue represents the largest bronze depicting Neptune discovered in France and is considered one of the most outstanding examples of bronze statuary of deities preserved in Roman Gaul. Datable to the third century AD, the sculpture was made by a local atelier and depicts the god of the sea and water at the moment of emerging from the waves. Identification is made possible by the ringed curly hair, arranged in a pattern that recalls the effect of wet hair.
The iconography hints at patterns of Greek ancestry, particularly the figure of Poseidon. Scholars speculate that the statue originally held a trident, the main attribute of the deity, in its left hand, while in its right it may have clutched a dolphin. The monumental location of the work was probably a city temple in Lugdunum, capital of the province of Gaul Lugdunensis and a major political and administrative center in the context of Gaul.
The arrival of the Neptune at the Barracco Museum is part of an agreement for the exchange of ancient works between the Roman institution and the Lugdunum-Musée et Théâtres romains Museum, promoted by Roma Capitale, Department of Culture and Coordination of Initiatives Attributable to the Day of Remembrance, and the Capitoline Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, in collaboration with Métropole Grand Lyon. The arrangement was established on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Lyon museum. At the same time, some masterpieces from the Barracco Museum are on display in Lyon in the exhibition C’est canon.
