Here is the Chamber of Deputies' Christmas gift: the portal with its art collection

A portal to learn about the artistic heritage of the Chamber of Deputies: the website arte.camera.it was launched today, a rich platform to see what works are on display in the halls of Montecitorio. The site shows not only the works owned by the Chamber, but also the deposits granted by some of the most important Italian museums, such as the Uffizi, the National Galleries of Ancient Art, the Pinacoteca di Brera, the National Museum of Capodimonte, and the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art.

The site consists of three main sections: the first is called Highlights and is a roundup of major works. There are, for example, a Jupiter and Antiope by Titian on deposit from the Corsini Gallery, a Madonna by Sassoferrato on deposit from Palazzo Barberini, a copy of Salvator Rosa’s celebrated Temptations of St. Anthony and anAllegory of Africa by Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani on deposit from the Uffizi, a painting depicting Alexander before the dead body of Darius by Alexander Campi from the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, a navy by Claude Lorrain from the Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, and then paintings owned of the Chamber such as a 1938 Composition by Mario Sironi, a Student in Love by Mario Mafai (1928), a Landscape by Giorgio Morandi (1927), a Winter on the Lake by Carlo Carrà (1944), and a Medea by Achille Funi (1966). The second section, Collections, subdivides the holdings by type (paintings, drawings, sculptures, tapestries, busts, watercolors) and also allows you to search the site by taking advantage of the works’ filing (several filters available), while the third, Works, is the complete catalog, also equipped with a search engine.

For each of the works included in the portal (which is connected to the General Catalogue of Cultural Heritage and those of the main national and international preservation institutions), it is possible to have a complete overview of the collections, since it also allows one to learn about the paintings and sculptures that are not usually seen during guided tours of Montecitorio. Not only that: for each painting, the (very accurate) fact sheets provide various technical data, such as the dating, subject matter and technique, dimensions, the name of the owning institution, the inventory number, the date of purchase if known, and even the exhibitions in which the work has been exhibited. Plus, good-resolution photographs and also links to major online resources (e.g., the Encyclopedia Treccani, the Europeana catalog, the SBN and many other sites) where you can learn more about the author of the work.

“With this project,” says House Speaker Roberto Fico, “Montecitorio continues its path of opening and enhancing the historical, documentary and artistic heritage, all the more valuable at a time when visits and exhibitions are suspended due to the health emergency. Citizens will be able to discover the treasures held by the Chamber as in a virtual exhibition, a way to make usable works of great historical and artistic value that belong to our community.”

The digitization of the Chamber’s works thus allows, the project presentation reads, “even those who are not in the material possibility of doing so, to ’enter’ Palazzo Montecitorio and admire its artistic treasures, even those that are not normally displayed along the visiting itineraries. But there is more. The artworks themselves also tell the exciting story of the construction of national identity through creative expression. A complex and multifaceted story that requires, as such, the most intense integration among all the institutions that, in different capacities, are involved in the promotion and preservation of artistic heritage. This is the reason why the Chamber of Deputies has deemed it necessary to share and make homogeneous the information contained in the portal with that in the General Catalogue of Cultural Heritage: an integration that allows the visitor to access a wide-ranging experience, with the intention of making the knowledge of a given work or artistic school as broad and unified as possible through the links, citations and the many cross-references that the portal makes available. In this context, the daily relationships that the Chamber maintains with the relevant government bodies, superintendencies and Italian museums make it possible to consolidate a circular and widespread idea of protection and the widest sharing of the artistic heritage of the parliamentary institution.”

Here is the Chamber of Deputies' Christmas gift: the portal with its art collection

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