Artworks Damaged/Destroyed by Islamic Totalitarians: Various Works from the Mosul Museum

Location: Mosul Museum, Mosul, Iraq

Here are a variety of works recently damaged or destroyed by the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq.  I am trying to find "before and after" images of the same works, but this is difficult as many of these works look similar and the Mosul Museum does not appear to have a website.  If you can offer help in this regard, please feel free to do so in the comments.  Additionally, many of these works have been damaged over the centuries, so I can't assume every imperfection was caused by ISIS.

Works Destroyed/Damaged by ISIS:

Artworks Damaged/Destroyed by Islamic Totalitarians: Drawings, Watercolors by Khair Mohammed Khan Yari and other

Nationality: Afghani

Born-Died: 1748-1825

Creation Date: Presumably 20th century

Media: Watercolor(?) and other(?)

Location: Kabul, Afghanistan

I found these images here, which is a brief article about an extremely fascinating and amazing story where a man named Dr. Mohammed Yusuf Asefi preserved "forbidden" artworks from the Taliban by painting over them with watercolor.  The pieces shown below were not so lucky, unfortunately.

Artworks Damaged/Destroyed by Islamic Totalitarians: Great and Minor Buddhas of Bamiyan

Nationality: Persian

Born-Died: 1748-1825

Size:

   Minor: 121 feet

   Great: 180 feet 

Creation Date:  

   Minor: 507 AD

   Great: 554 AD

Media: Sandstone, Mud, Straw, Stucco

Location: Bamiyan province, Afghanistan

"Great" Buddha Before:

Artworks Damaged/Destroyed by Islamic Totalitarians: Nergal Gate at Ninevah

Nationality: Mesopotamian

Creation Date: c. 700 BC

Media: Granite

Location: Nineveh, Iraq

This sculpture was named after Nergal, an ancient Mesopotamian deity.  It was intended to be a protective figure.  More information about this type of human/animal sculpture can be found here. 

In February of 2015 ISIS attempted to deface/vandalize/destroy this huge granite sculpture.  This piece was not in great shape before 2015, but you can see that the are behind the figure's head has been removed.

Before:

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 5: Statue

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Marble
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

(Possibly) Arnolfo di Cambio's "St. Peter"

Nationality: Italian
Born-Died: 1240/c. 1300-1310

Media: Stone

Location: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

This is a detail photograph that I took of a sculpture in St. Peters in Rome.  In my various travels I have seen a lot of sculptures with noses, feet, etc. that have been polished smooth by the countless touches of human hands, but this sculpture is the most worn away I have ever seen.  It looks like the feet have melted--like they have actually lost material.  It's a shame that the work has been damaged in this way, but it's also quite amazing to think of stone being polished and literally eroded away by millions upon millions of soft, human hands over the course of centuries. 

Unknown Portrait by Thomas Sully

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1783-1872

Location: Private Collection

This is an image of a Thomas Sully painting that I saw being sold at an online auction for a very low price. Since Sully is still a relatively famous artist the low price might seem strange...until you see the painting. This painting is in absolutely awful condition. I think it is interesting to see a work that was probably very expensive and cherished at one time only to be abandoned in an attic or basement for a couple hundred years.


This second image has been digitally manipulated by me.

After Polykeitos: Fragments of a marble statue of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head)

Special thanks to Paul for his donation!



This is a Roman copy of a Greek bronze originally made by Polykleitos. Interestingly, parts of this piece are marble and parts are plaster. The plaster portions were cast from another marble copy of the original bronze.

Unknown Roman Artist: Marble head of an athlete

A Stele Sculpture by an Unknown Greek Artist

The tag for this fragment read "Marble head of a bearded man from a stele (a grave marker)" which is a "descriptive title." I mention it to give a little more information, but I don't want to give the impression that it is a title that the original sculptor gave the piece.

An Unknown Roman Artist's "Torso of a Satyr" *

Roman Copy of Praxiteles' "Venus Braschi"