Among the twelve Hours, the Third Hour of the Day is without doubt the most admired and coveted. She has been executed in hardstone by master carvers of the 19th century and by shell carvers, not always with equal skill. She turns up in other jewelry forms and on items for home decor. Above her is the sign of Jupiter, both planet and supreme god of Olympus; this, and the smoking censer in her hands, are reminders that this time of day is the hour for prayer and devotional practices.
Her strong resemblance to Raphael's Galatea, in the Villa Farnesina, provides the clearest evidence for a link between the great artist and these now lost frescoes. Scholarly consensus has ruled that the paintings were not done by Raphael, instead by one or more of his most advanced students/apprentices. With not quite so much conviction they conjecture that the master may have done the drawings on which the paintings are based.
The two hardstone pieces by Luigi Rosi (left) and Filippo Tignani (center) and one shell example by Tommaso Saulini (right) are extremely faithful to the original.
At just under 4.5cm//2inches, the shell cameo shown above is relatively large. Most shell examples we see are bracelet panels, so necessarily fairly small, and deal with this delicate nymph rather roughly. The censer in particular undergoes alterations or receives short shrift.
The many examples that enlarge the flame while minimizing the smoke cause the censer to appear as a lamp and lead to this Hour being identified as other figures, those connected with light, such as Aurora, or with fire, such as Vesta. The variant at right may have crossed the line and be seen more plausibly as Aurora than as her Hour inspiration.
This unusual reworking of the Third Hour of the Day/Galatea was idenified by the seller as St. Philomena, one of whose symbols is an anchor. For the argument against this, see Anchor of Hope.
Cameos are not the only place this alluring Hour appears. The vase at left was made by Meissen, one of a pair. The companion piece can be seen in the article on the Fourth Hour of the Night. The pendants below were also done on porcelain.
