Etruscans and fashion: the Castellani Collection on display at the Rovati Foundation in Milan

In Milan, the Luigi Rovati Foundation is hosting, from October 25 to March 3, the exhibition Etruscan Treasures. The Castellani Collection Between History and Fashion, curated by Giuseppe Sassatelli, Giulio Paolucci and Valentino Nizzo. On display are some 80 pieces including Etruscan jewelry, faithful nineteenth-century reproductions and Attic and Mediterranean ceramics, chosen from the Castellani collection of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, to complement the permanent collection of the Foundation’s Art Museum. The exhibition is produced in collaboration with the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome and delves into the history of the Castellani family of goldsmiths, collectors and antique dealers. It is the story of their extraordinary collection and goldsmith’s workshop, which launched a new genre of goldsmithing “in the style of the ancients,” aimed at reproducing in form and working techniques ancient jewelry. A genre that soon became a fashion for a vast international clientele deeply fascinated by its evocative value and refinement.

The activity of Fortunato Pio Castellani and his sons Alessandro and Augusto was intertwined with the season of the great excavation discoveries in the territories formerly inhabited by Etruscan and Italic peoples. Their collection was donated partly to the Villa Giulia Museum in 1919 and partly scattered to museums around the world. Over the years, the Castellani family also developed an intense activity of collecting and exchanging antiquities from the peninsula, in which historical interest, study needs, national sentiment and international trade were intertwined.

The tour is divided into six thematic sections: Masterpieces, Mediterranean productions, Female life, Goldsmiths, Gods and heroes, and The Castellani family. On display are numerous Etruscan jewelry and nineteenth-century reproductions, such as the gold Acheloo head pendant; Attic ceramics, such as the kylix attributed to the Painter of Phrynos; and Mediterranean ceramics, such as the hydria produced in Caere and attributed to the Painter of Aquila. Also on display from the archives of the Caetani Foundation are two albums of drawings by Michelangelo Caetani, the man who gave inspiration to the Castellans for the production of 19th-century jewelry. The Blue Room on the main floor hosts a dialogue between Etruscan goldsmithing, flanked by the 19th-century production of the Castellani workshop, with contemporary jewelry by Chiara Camoni. The artist presents a series of jewelry-sculptures obtained by fusing other jewelry in an inverse process, which “from form returns toward the formless, and from which other beauty is unexpectedly generated.” To create her jewelry, Chiara Camoni researches and experiments with different techniques: she collects multiple materials, natural such as feathers and shells or artificial such as plastic, just as she fuses precious objects. Through fusions and combinations of precious and poor materials, new harmonies are born that become contemporary treasures. On the underground floor, the visit is accompanied by projections by Zeranta, inspired by the decorations of the exhibits. In addition, from Oct. 18, anticipating the opening of the main exhibition by a week, in the Art Pavilion an image trail tells the story of the Castellani family and its various members between the 17th and 20th centuries. The timeline begins in 1794, the year of Fortunato Pio Castellani’s birth, and runs through the production of the workshop’s first archaeological-style jewelry, marks the first purchases of artifacts from Cerveteri and Palestrina to donations to the Capitoline Museums and the Villa Giulia Museum, and finally the closing of the workshop.

Giuseppe Sassatelli, president of the National Institute of Etruscan and Italic Studies, says, “It is true that exhibitions are made for the public. Most of the time, however, especially in the tradition of archaeological exhibitions, they are made with insiders in mind. This, on the other hand, is an exhibition intended, thought out and organized, really and only, for the public, with a very effective selection of materials to capture the attention on some major themes of the civilization of the Etruscans. It would have been very much appreciated by the Castellans who welcomed in their house specialists of the ancient world but also and above all a wide audience of curious people and enthusiasts.”

Giovanna Forlanelli, President of the Luigi Rovati Foundation, stresses, “Hosting today in the spaces of the Art Museum the Castellani collection of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia is a significant and concrete sign of the collaboration between public and private, between a national public museum and a museum of a private foundation. Many artifacts from the Castellani collection are now in major museums around the world, but the most important part, donated by Augusto Castellani, forms one of the founding nuclei of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia. It was a philanthropic gesture in the European tradition of the enlightened bourgeoisie of the 19th century. The Luigi Rovati Foundation today gives continuity to this tradition.”

Commented Valentino Nizzo, Director of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia: “Until now, it had never happened that the masterpieces of the Castellani collection left the Villa Giulia Museum. The museum of the Luigi Rovati Foundation is undoubtedly one of the most interesting novelties in recent years. In a modern city like Milan, whose Etruscan origins, however, are suspected, an Etruscan museum is born by private initiative. The Etruscans are striking for their great modernity, and the museum of the Luigi Rovati Foundation interprets this identity by merging works of contemporary art with a collection of ancient objects. And the building that houses them itself has an ancient shell, respectful of its location, but an interior of experimental architecture and design. We are glad that this is happening and that it has international prominence-I think the Castellans would be too.”

Accompanying the exhibition is the catalog Etruscan Treasures. The Castellani Collection Between History and Fashion published by the Luigi Rovati Foundation and Johan & Levi Editore with texts by Maria Paola Guidobaldi, Antonella Magagnini, Daniel Neumann, Valentino Nizzo, Giulio Paolucci, Giuseppe Sassatelli, and Annalisa Zanni (35 euros).

Image: a room of the exhibition. Photo: Daniela Portanome

Etruscans and fashion: the Castellani Collection on display at the Rovati Foundation in Milan

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