Four seasons altar of Würzburg

The altar was found in 1886 on the Pincian Hill in Rome, once the site of the Horti Sallustiani and later an imperial property.

There it was acquired for the antiquities division of Martin von Wagner Museum in Würzburg by Erika Simon who recognised the lost altar.

However, despite the larger offer, Fallani sold the altar to Würzburg in accordance with his earlier promise.

The round altar shows four putti evenly spaced around it, which seem from their attributes to represent the four seasons.

The other three personifications allude to deities, who are symbolically associated with the four seasons by authors of the literary tradition, such as Ovid and Lucretius.