Uffizi acquires Roman sculptures and epigraphs

The Uffizi Galleries are acquiring two female sculptures from the Roman period, adding to the vast collection of more than 1,200 Roman marbles owned by the museum.

They were purchased as part of an auction by Pandolfini in Florence, along with two Roman epigraphs.

These are a life-size statue dating from the first half of the first century AD depicting a woman clad in a ritual robe, perhaps a garment sported by newlywed brides, and a bust with a female head with a complex hairstyle typical of the Trajanic and early Hadrianic ages.

The epigraphs come from theTivoli area: one commemorates Marcus Aveieno, a public auction collector who lived in the first century AD, and the other is an unpublished fragment of a monumental epigraph that presumably accommodated an imperial dedication.

“The purchase testifies in the clearest way to the renewed interest in the Uffizi Galleries’ collection of ancient marbles, historically the true heart of the museum, which, in terms of quality and number of works, boasts few comparisons in Italy or abroad. This incredible collection, filled with more than a thousand statues, is entirely due to the Medici and Lorraine collectors who, for centuries, systematically purchased on the market the finest marble works returned from the ground. These latest acquisitions, then, are fully part of what, for centuries, has been the predominant cultural policy in the formation of the Gallery’s collections,” said the director of the Uffizi Galleries, Eike Schmidt.

Fabrizio Paolucci, the museum’s curator of classical art, added, “The works, all from ancient collections, not only perfectly reflect the nature of the marbles already in the museum, but also have a formal quality and historical interest that make them fully worthy of being among the best marbles already on display.”

Pictured, Portrait Head (Rome, Hadrianic age, pre-130 AD)

Uffizi acquires Roman sculptures and epigraphs

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