Rome, big Torlonia marble exhibition starts (already thinking about the final venue). Photos

The Capitoline Museums in Rome are hosting, from October 14, 2020 to June 29, 2021, the exhibition The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces, which displays for the first time to the public the extraordinary Torlonia collection, a collection of ancient marbles that can be counted among the best and most important classical art collections in the world. The history of the Torlonia marbles began in 1800, when the family acquired the first nucleus of sculptures, thanks to the legacy of sculptor Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, best known as a restorer of ancient marbles, who had died the previous year. The Torlonia family, in the following years, managed to increase their collection, with several important pieces, starting with the conspicuous series of imperial busts and portraits. This was also because the Torlonia family could count on numerous estates from which archaeological discoveries frequently emerged.

Then, in 1825, the acquisition of part of the Giustiniani collection (to which belonged the famous Hestia Giustiniani, one of the highlights of the collection) and, fifty years later, the founding of the “Torlonia Museum” (which was open to visitors until the 1960s), which was followed by the catalog of works edited by Pietro Ercole Visconti and then again, in 1884, by that edited by Carlo Ludovico Visconti. Then, in the early 1970s, a project to renovate the villa at the Lungara that housed the museum (consisting of 77 rooms) decreed the beginning of the end: the rooms of the villa became small apartments to rent and it was discovered that the statues had ended up crammed into some family-owned warehouses, in rooms that the Court of Cassation, in the building abuse proceedings, defined as “cramped” and “dangerous.” Then, the statute of limitations and negotiations between the state and the Torlonia heirs to at least make the collection visible to the public: the exhibition is the first result of years of dialogue between the Ministry of Culture and the family, culminating in 2016 with the agreement for the exhibition that now finally comes to life.

The Capitoline Museums exhibition, set up in the new venue of Villa Caffarelli and curated by archaeologists Carlo Gasparri and Salvatore Settis, showcases to the public 90 works of the 620 that make up the Torlonia collection. The exhibition is organized as a narrative, divided into five sections, in which the history of collecting ancient marbles is told, as well as that of the collection itself. The first section of the exhibition evokes what used to be the Torlonia Museum in the Villa della Lungara, the second will talk about the sculptures that emerged from the Torlonia excavations, the third about the sculptures acquired from other collections, the fourth is a focus on the Giustiniani collection, and finally the fifth is on the statues from collections of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The display is designed to showcase both the variety of Torlonia marbles and the layering of the Mons Capitolinus. It consists of pavements and plinths that emerge at different heights as extrusions of the pavements continuae, composed of handmade bricks from dark gray clay, a reference to ancient Roman brick architecture and the stone foundations of theAedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini, the great building that existed in the Capitol, below Villa Caffarelli.

For Minister Dario Franceschini, it is the first step on a road that will lead to at least part of the collection always being visible to the public. And a possible location has already been identified: Palazzo Silvestri Rivaldi, for whose restoration substantial resources have already been allocated under the Great Cultural Heritage Projects plan. “Today,” Franceschini said, “a path is being taken that will ignite the attention of the whole world, because after decades works that take one’s breath away, absolute masterpieces long hidden, will be visible again. This is an important first step because the road we want to take leads to the identification of a place in Rome, shared with the Torlonia heirs, where these works can be made visible forever. The state is willing to devote adequate locations and resources to such a museum. In this sense, a prestigious venue such as Palazzo Rivaldi, for the restoration of which 40 million euros in funding has already been deliberated, could lend itself to hosting the Torlonia collection.”

Once the exhibition at the Capitoline Museums is over, a tour of the Torlonia marbles around the world is planned, but the stages have not yet been defined. Then, after the international tour is over, a possible permanent home will be considered.

The exhibition opens daily from 9:30 am to 7:30 pm. The full ticket costs 13 euros, reduced 11 for children and young people aged 6 to 25, over 65, journalists, teachers and MIC Card holders, (special school groups 4 euros), special family 22 euros (for 2 adults plus children under 18). Free for children under 6, disabled and accompanying person; EU tour guides; EU tourist interpreters when their work alongside the guide is needed, by showing valid license issued by competent authority; ICOM members; ICOMOS members; members of foreign and national cultural institutes such as Accademia dei Lincei, Istituto Studi Romani, Amici dei Musei di Roma and ICCROM. The exhibition, promoted by MiBACT, the Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Rome, Roma Capitale, the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, and the Fondazione Torlonia, is organized by Electa, and is accompanied by a catalog also published by Electa. For all info you can visit the exhibition website.

Below are some photos of the installation (all ph. Credit Oliver Astrologo)

Rome, big Torlonia marble exhibition starts (already thinking about the final venue). Photos

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