The Boxer and Winged Victory, the two bronzes exhibited together for the first time in Brescia's Capitolium

TheMunicipality of Brescia and Fondazione Brescia Musei with the Museo Nazionale Romano unveil the new exhibition project for the year of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture: The Boxer and the Victory. The Boxer at Rest, from the National Roman Museum, and the Winged Victory, the two bronzes from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, both the subject of recent enhancements, will be displayed together for the first time in the Capitolium of Brixia. Archaeological Park of Roman Brescia.

The ambitious project, which will be presented to the public on July 12, seals a valuable new part of the enhancement and redevelopment program that Fondazione Brescia Musei is developing around thearchaeological area of Roman Brixia, which began with theinstallation within the Capitolium of the Winged Victory and which this year, on the occasion of the two-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the excavations that brought to light the city’s archaeological heritage, opens up particularly significant scenarios. In parallel with the well-established Archaeological Stages itinerary, which sees works by contemporary artists placed side by side with the finds of Ancient Brescia, inaugurated with the works of Francesco Vezzoli, continued with Emilio Isgrò and which will see this year the participation of Fabrizio Plessi, Brescia Musei, with Il Pugile e la Vittoria, leans toward the founding art of European culture, sealing the relationship between the Brescian Victory and Hellenistic and Roman culture.

Supporting the new exhibition will be Intesa Sanpaolo, already a Special Partner of the Foundation as part of Alleanza per la Cultura, Main Partner of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture and now also a Partner in the new exhibition project that will offer a comparison between the two masterpieces. The two works have different chronologies (the Boxer 4th-1st century B.C. and the Winged Victory mid-1st century A.D.) and different histories of the early part of their existence: the athlete certainly displayed in a public space, perhaps in Greece, and an object of admiration as indicated by the surfaces worn by the caresses of admirers; the Winged Victory probably displayed in the temple in Brescia as a votive offering donated by Emperor Vespasian. Both were discovered during archaeological excavations conducted in the nineteenth century and from that time became the object of attention and care and were included in public museum collections. The abstract theme that links these two bronzes, in absence and personification, is that of success, of a positive outcome, of victory. For the Boxer it is the referee’s response at the end of the clash in which he strenuously defended himself with no holds barred, as indicated by the wounds and hematomas expertly rendered in the bronze with very high technical skill; for the Winged Victory it is the designation of the victor on the battlefield and the restoration of peace, the cessation of conflict. The one awaits the words of the judge, toward whom he turns his rehearsed gaze; the other pays homage to the military victor by entrusting the bronze of the shield, which he was originally supposed to hold in his hands, with his name.

The Boxer and the Victory, exhibited from July 12 to October 29, 2023 in the hall of the Capitolium of Brescia with a spectacular new installation curated by architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg, already the author of the evocative placement of the Winged Victory, will be an opportunity to reduce the distance, which separated the two works in ancient times, with a triangulation of elements that will allow to understand it, but at the same time to grasp the many links.

In the space of the hall, with harmonic counterpoints, a conceptual narrative about the absolute values that the sculptures still represent for contemporary man will unfold within a few meters. Particularly significant is also the choice to present the project at the Italian Capital of Culture launched: a major event of the Brescian summer to which, not surprisingly, the exceptional opening of the archaeological site on summer nights will be dedicated for the first time. The path that led to the definition of the project The Boxer and the Victory inevitably starts from far away, but presenting it now, in conjunction with the flourishing of the proposals that will animate Brescia during the summer season, intends to be an unexpected gift to the city, a new opportunity to visit or return to see it.

Contributing to the project The Boxer and the Victory are technical partners Capoferri and iGuzzini, who have already collaborated on the remounting of the Winged Victory in 2021 in the new Capitolium, and who have offered their expertise in the engineering of the basement and stage set (Capoferri) and the lighting design in the eastern hall of the temple (iGuzzini), ensuring a respectful balance of architectural values in line with Baldeweg’s project.

“It is a great honor for Fondazione Brescia Musei to establish a fruitful collaboration with the Museo Nazionale Romano with an event that projects our project to enhance the archaeological area of Roman Brescia into the mainstream of great international archaeology,” said Francesca Bazoli, president of Fondazione Brescia Musei. “In the year when Brescia is the Italian Capital of Culture, with the communication and culture promotion platform that goes with this title, to be able to welcome such a bronze masterpiece, equal in artistic quality and evocative power to our Winged Victory, means to mark the centrality of Brescia but also to offer all visitors to the Capital an unprecedented, extraordinarily poetic and certainly unrepeatable juxtaposition. Our gratitude to Intesa Sanpaolo, which has grasped in this original project a great opportunity to enhance the heritage of the city of Brescia by deciding to support the Foundation in the organizational undertaking of the event.”

“It is not only the extraordinary quality of the two bronzes brought together for the first time, and it is not even in the interest derived from similar techniques of realization that is the great novelty and interest of this operation,” explained Stefano Karadjov, Director of Fondazione Brescia Musei. “This temporary juxtaposition in a site-specific operation, curated by the same architect, Juan Navarro Baldeweg who created the installation set-up of the Winged Victory, leads us to think about the concept of victory, and more generally about the concept of success connected in one case to the political affirmation of the pax latina, the Winged Victory, and in the other to the sporting one, the Boxer of the National Roman Museum. In this lies the promise of suggestion that the cultural project launches from Brescia Capital of Culture to the world, and in Brescia we expect, thanks to the evocative power of this combination, tens of thousands of admiring visitors in the coming months.”

“The National Roman Museum is pleased to contribute to the celebrations for the year of Brescia Capital of Culture with an iconic work from its collections,” added Stéphane Verger, Director National Roman Museum. “The bronze statue of the Boxer at Rest, a masterpiece of the Hellenistic age found on the slopes of the Quirinal and exhibited at the National Roman Museum, thanks to the strength and power it expresses, caught in a moment of rest and recovery between two fights, has risen to a symbol of resilience and restart particularly suited to the historical moment we are living: the dialogue of this work with the Winged Victory creates a sort of contemporary sculptural group, a balance between strength and renewed pacification. This exhibition also allows the National Roman Museum to carry out important operations of renovation of the displays and restoration of its masterpieces, such as the Boxer and the bronze statue of Valentinian found under Ponte Sisto in Rome.”

Extraordinary hours for Brixia. Roman Brescia Archaeological Park on the occasion of the exhibition.

From July 12 to September 10: Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sept. 11 to Oct. 1: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
October 2 to 29: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Closed on non-holiday Mondays. Open Monday, August 14.

Free admission for residents of the City of Brescia, in line with other civic museums.
Restricted entry: online reservations strongly recommended.

Online reservations active from May 11 at bresciamusei.com.

Image: The Boxer © National Roman Museum

The Boxer and Winged Victory, the two bronzes exhibited together for the first time in Brescia's Capitolium

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