On the left is a relatively modern statue by Pio Fedi (1815 – 1892). A rather confusing work, particularly in the name it is usually known by, The Rape of Polyxena. No rape, in the modern sense, was involved in the original story. Polyxena was the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and Queen Hecuba. Following the fall of Troy, she was taken off by Neoptolemus to be sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles, to whom she was betrothed. Some versions say that she was complicit in the death of Achilles. Polyxena and Neoptolemus are the main figures, but there are two others. The female figure is Hecuba, protesting at the death of her daughter. There is some debate on who the other male figure may represent: Polyxena’s brother Polites, or Hector, leading warrior of the Trojans. Both had died long before the sacrifice of Polyxena

In the centre of the group is what is claimed to be a piece of 1^st century Roman marble statuary. The title, 'Menelaus Supporting the Body of Patroclus' comes from an event in the Trojan war featuring these two characters. Patroclus died in battle, and his body was protected from the vindictive Trojans by Menelaus, as described in the Illiad:
          On the cold earth divine Patroclus spread,
          Lies pierced with wounds among the vulgar dead.
         Great Menelaus, touch'd with generous woe,
         Springs to the front, and guards him from the foe.
                 (Translation by Alexander Pope.)

But how much is Roman, and how much the product of much later Italian ‘restoration’, or to be more accurate, the creation of a new sculpture using a Roman original as the base? The head of Menelaus, for example, was attached to the original headless sculpture.

The third sculpture shows Heracles (or Hercules if you prefer) slaying the Centaur Nessus. It was sculpted by the Flemish sculptor Giambologna, who completed it in 1599 from a single block of marble.
  Heracles and his wife Deianira were being separately conveyed across the River Evenus by Nessus the centaur. Nessus took a fancy to Deianira and started to misbehave. Heracles was much put out, and he shot the centaur through the heart with an arrow. The dying Nessus fooled Deianira into believing that his blood was a love potion she could use on Heracles. It wasn’t, it was poisonous, resulting in the death of Heracles.
  As you may expect, there is an issue with this. Here Heracles is sitting on the centaur, beating him with a club, not shooting him at a distance with a bow and arrow as the legend tells us. Heracles had other run-ins with centaurs, so this identification may not be correct.

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