Rome, the Torlonia collection exhibition at last: 90 spectacular marble masterpieces

In Rome, the exhibition The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces will open from October 14, 2020 to June 29, 2021, at the Capitoline Museums. This is an exhibition that has been awaited for years, postponed due to the Covid emergency, and thus finally finds its new dates.

There are more than 90 works selected from the 620 cataloged marbles belonging to the Torlonia collection, the most prestigious private collection of ancient sculptures: significant for the history of art, excavations, restoration, taste, museography, and archaeological studies.

The exhibition, curated by Salvatore Settis and Carlo Gasparri, will take the form of a narrative in five sections, telling the story of the collecting of ancient, Roman and Greek marbles, in a backward journey that begins with the evocation of the Torlonia Museum, founded in 1875 by Prince Alessandro Torlonia, and remained open until the 1940s. The next section brings together nineteenth-century finds of antiquities on Torlonia properties. The third section represents the forms of eighteenth-century collecting, with sculptures from the acquisitions of Villa Albani and the collection of sculptor and restorer Bartolomeo Cavaceppi. This is followed by a selection of the marbles of Vincenzo Giustiniani, one of the most sophisticated Roman collectors of the seventeenth century (he was also a patron of Caravaggio), and finally pieces from the collections of aristocratic families of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The visit concludes with an overlook of the exedra of the Capitoline Museums where the equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman she-wolf, and the Lateran bronzes that Sixtus IV donated to the city in 1471 are reunited for the occasion. An important nexus with the museum that the ancient busts, reliefs, statues, sarcophagi and decorative elements on display create: a reflection of a cultural process in which Rome and Italy had an indisputable primacy.

The exhibition is the result of an agreement between the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and the Torlonia Foundation, while the scientific project for the study and enhancement of the collection is by Salvatore Settis. Electa, publisher of the catalog, is also in charge of the organization and promotion of the exhibition. The exhibition design is by David Chipperfield Architects Milan, in the renovated rooms of the new space of the Capitoline Museums in Villa Caffarelli, brought back to life thanks to the commitment and project of the Superintendency of Roma Capitale. The Torlonia Foundation restored the selected marbles with the contribution of Bulgari, which is also the main sponsor of the exhibition.

However, the project to enhance the collection does not end with the Capitoline Museums exhibition. The Torlonia marbles will be exhibited in other venues around the world, and at the end of this “tour” a permanent exhibition venue will be identified to house a new Torlonia Museum.

For all information you can visit the exhibition website.

Pictured: a selection of the Torlonia marbles. Ph. Credit Lorenzo De Masi

Rome, the Torlonia collection exhibition at last: 90 spectacular marble masterpieces

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