Greetings!

During the Gladiatoris design process, we have used hundreds of archaeological sources as a base for our gladiators’ initial sketches, both 2D and 3D.

This week we went to Getty Villa, the spectacular Greek, Etruscan and Roman museum at Malibu, near Los Angeles, located at a wonderful site with views to the Pacific Ocean.

We could see there some of the weapons we used as sources for our Samnite from the red Great Shields, the breastplate decorated with three circles that Alfonso didn’t allow us to use (and we had to observe his criterion), or the spectacular Greek helm (bronze, South Italy, 350-300 b. C.) with a griffon head at the top.

We also found the statue of Leda and the swan. We talked about it on February, 2016, when we discussed for weeks (yes, weeks!) about the orange acrobat Paegniaria‘s hairstyle 😛

This sculpture is a 1st century A.D. magnificent Roman work, copied from a Greek original c. 300 B.C., attributed to Timotheus. You can also enjoy another version of this statue at Madrid (Museo del Prado).

There are also some small bronze statues of gladiators and… what a coincidence! The very same urn I used back in 2004 for the Greek Heroes cover, with Heracles and Iolaus in it! I strongly recommend paying it a visit (I also recommend Universal Studios, of course).

It’s an Etruscan terracotta hydria, with a black painting in it, Heracles and the Hydra, dated around 525 B.C. One of the Getty collection masterpieces!