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BENEDETTO PISTRUCCI Carte Autografe E Altri Documenti Studi E Ricerche N Bollettino di Numismatica online - Studi e Ricerche n. 3/2017 - Benedetto Pistrucci. Carte autografe e altri documenti MINISTERO DEI BENI E DELLE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI E DEL TURISMO EDEL CULTURALI ATTIVITÀ DEIBENIEDELLE MINISTERO BENEDETTO PISTRUCCI Carte autografeealtridocumenti In copertina: Maria Elisa Pistrucci, Cerere, marmo (part. fig. 47). Lettera di Benedetto Pistrucci al figlio Federico, 1833 (part. fig. 3). Numero 3 – Anno 2017 Benedetto Pistrucci Carte autografe e altri documenti di LUCIA PIRZIO BIROLI STEFANELLI ISTITUTO POLIGRAFICO E ZECCA DELLO STATO MINISTERO DEI BENI E DELLE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI E DEL TURISMO BOLLETTINO DI NUMISMATICA c/o Museo Nazionale Romano - Medagliere Palazzo Massimo alle Terme Piazza dei Cinquecento, 67 – 00185 Roma www.numismaticadellostato.it Direttore Silvana Balbi de Caro [email protected] Capo redattore e coordinatore di redazione Gabriella Angeli Bufalini [email protected] Redazione Simone Boccardi, Fabiana Lanna Responsabile settore grafico Stefano Ferrante [email protected] Comitato tecnico-scientifico Ermanno A. Arslan, Renata Cantilena, Emanuela Ercolani Cocchi, Salvatore Garraffo, Giovanni Gorini, Andrea Saccocci, Aldo Siciliano SOMMARIO S. BALBI DE CARO, Benedetto Pistrucci e il nuovo Museo della Zecca di Roma. p. 1 L. PIRZIO BIROLI STEFANELLI, BENEDETTO PISTRUCCI. CARTE AUTOGRAFE E ALTRI DOCUMENTI Introduzione . p. 7 CARTE AUTOGRAFE E ALTRI DOCUMENTI I. Epistolario famigliare, 1833-1855 ................................... p. 13 II. Lettere di Benedetto Pistrucci, 1816-1855 ............................. » 164 III. Note autografe di Benedetto Pistrucci ................................ » 174 IV. Lettere di William Ewart Gladstone, 1843 ............................. » 176 V. Lettere di Elena e Maria Elisa Pistrucci, 1854 .......................... » 178 VI. Varia, 1816-1986 .............................................. » 180 1989-2015. ADDENDA Cere ............................................................ p. 193 Cammei ......................................................... » 194 Medaglie......................................................... » 201 Sculture ......................................................... » 203 Ritratti di Benedetto Pistrucci.......................................... » 210 I modelli in cera nel Museo della Zecca di Roma............................ » 212 I modelli in cera nel Museo di Roma..................................... » 221 Aggiornamento bibliografico . » 225 Fonti di Archivio ................................................... » 231 NUOVE ACQUISIZIONI Roma, Museo della Zecca ............................................... p. 235 Roma, Museo di Roma............................................... » 246 ABBREVIAZIONI BIBLIOGRAFICHE ................................................. p. 253 INDICI Nomi, opere e cose notevoli citati nel capitolo CARTE AUTOGRAFE E ALTRI DOCUMENTI ...... p. 266 Nomi citati nei capitoli ADDENDA e NUOVE ACQUISIZIONI ........................ » 273 Illustrazioni ...................................................... » 277 REFERENZE FOTOGRAFICHE .................................................. p. 280 BENEDETTO PISTRUCCI E IL NUOVO MUSEO DELLA ZECCA DI ROMA di SILVANA BALBI DE CARO Il 25 ottobre del 2016 è stata inaugurata, alla presenza del Capo dello Stato on. Sergio Mattarella e dei ministri Pier Carlo Padoan e Dario Franceschini, la nuova sede del Museo della Zecca di Roma sita via Salaria 712, in un edificio di massima sicurezza di proprietà dell’Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Sta- to. Si tratta di una piccola gemma che viene ad arricchire, con le sue preziose e originali collezioni, ora presentate al pubblico in veste moderna e dinamica, il patrimonio storico e culturale del nostro paese1. Non si tratta, come in più occasioni sottolineato, di un semplice Museo della moneta, nato dall’esigenza primaria di salvaguardare un insieme di documenti indispensabili per gli studi di natura storica, storico- economico, artistica e, più in generale, per la conoscenza capillare delle strutture socio politiche degli Stati, sia antichi che moderni, ma piuttosto di un Museo che rispecchia in pieno gli ultimi duecento anni di vita dello stabilimento monetario romano, in mano prima ai Pontefici e, dopo il 1870, al Governo italiano. Museo della Zecca di Roma, piano terra “Lo scrigno delle meraviglie. I tesori nascosti del Museo della Zecca di Roma”: La Galleria della Lira (Sez. III). 1 Benedetto Pistrucci e il nuovo Museo della Zecca di Roma Una caratteristica che la nuova esposizione ha cercato di evidenziare, in un percorso che, di- stribuito su due livelli, tenta di ricreare atmosfere perdute riportando, da un lato, il visitatore indietro nel tempo, dalla fulminea apparizione dell’astro di Napoleone Bonaparte fino alla nascita dello Stato italiano, Regno prima e Repubblica poi, tra lo sfarzo delle corti europee e le più prosaiche necessità del vivere quotidiano, con, sullo sfondo, la nostra giovane lira, figlia della rivoluzione francese e so- rella gemella del “franco germinale”, e introducendolo, dall’altro, ai segreti di un mestiere antico come quello dei monetieri. Sono conî, sono punzoni, sono modelli in cera che ci testimoniano il lavoro di incisori alta- mente specializzati capaci di trasferire sul duro metallo le aride indicazioni delle autorità monetarie vestendo d’arte la caducità dei messaggi politici, ma sono anche macchine sempre più sofisticate capaci di dare forma e valore reale a quelle idee e a quei progetti trasformandoli in moneta cor- rente, o in quei piccoli capolavori privati che sono le medaglie. Collezioni varie, quindi, nate da una paziente e costante attenzione per i processi produttivi di ieri e di oggi, tra le quali spicca quella formata da oltre quattrocento modelli in cera realizzati da Benedetto Pistrucci che, nato a Roma, dopo aver lavorato per i Napoleonidi si trasferì definitivamente a Londra come incisore del- la Royal Mint. Un insieme straordinario di pezzi che ci documentano l’arte eccelsa di un maestro del neoclassico, capace di far rivivere la suggestione del mito in deliziose composizioni piene di quella stessa vita che ancora oggi rende unici i capolavori dell’antica Grecia, opere che nella se- conda sezione del nostro percorso espositivo vengono proposte al pubblico sotto differenti chiavi Museo della Zecca di Roma, piano inferiore “La fabbrica delle monete: tra conî e punzoni alla scoperta di un mondo inesplorato”: Macchine e uomini nelle officine di via Principe Umberto, 1911. 2 Benedetto Pistrucci e il nuovo Museo della Zecca di Roma Museo della Zecca di Roma, piano inferiore: una visione di insieme con, in primo piano, i resti archeologici del mausoleo di età romana. Museo della Zecca di Roma, piano terra “Lo scrigno delle meraviglie. I tesori nascosti del Museo della Zecca di Roma”: Trasparenze neoclassiche. I modelli in cera di Benedetto Pistrucci (Sez. II). 3 Benedetto Pistrucci e il nuovo Museo della Zecca di Roma Museo della Zecca di Roma, piano terra “Lo scrigno delle meraviglie. I tesori nascosti del Museo della Zecca di Roma”: Trasparenze neoclassiche. I modelli in cera di Benedetto Pistrucci (Sez. II). di lettura2. Si tratta di una selezione di modelli in cera che, in quattro grandi vetrine appositamente studiate per valorizzarne forma e contenuti, ci permettono di accostarci all’uomo Pistrucci seguen- done l’avventura umana e artistica, l’una strettamente all’altra legata dalla passionale personalità del nostro autore: dal Tevere all’Arno, dalla Senna al Tamigi, passando per Waterloo, senza dimen- ticare il fascino esercitato sull’artista romano, impegnato nella realizzazione dei modelli per la nuo- va sterlina, dalla visione dei marmi del Partenone esposti a Londra in una apposita sala del British Museum. Un gioco leggero di luci e di ombre esaltato dalle luminose trasparenze delle cortine in tripolina che, mentre sembrano voler nascondere questi piccoli capolavori all’occhio curioso del visitatore, ne accrescono il mistero e il fascino con, sullo sfondo, una proiezione a parete che, con le sue gigantografie, ne svela i più riposti segreti. Una scenografia allestitiva di indubbio fascino dietro alla quale si cela il difficile lavoro di chi, nel chiuso dei laboratori di restauro, per assicurare alle opere in cera una conservazione ottimale ne analizza ogni minimo particolare riportandole alla originaria freschezza e di chi, grazie ad una diuturna 4 Benedetto Pistrucci e il nuovo Museo della Zecca di Roma Museo della Zecca di Roma, piano terra “Lo scrigno delle meraviglie. I tesori nascosti del Museo della Zecca di Roma”: Trasparenze neoclassiche. I modelli in cera di Benedetto Pistrucci (Sez. II). frequentazione di archivi e biblioteche, fa rivivere la voce di chi non ha più voce, risvegliando il ricor- do di passioni oramai sopite affidate ad un dimenticato fascio di lettere autografe, come nel caso dello studio di Lucia Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli accolto nelle pagine di questo libro3. 1 Progetto espositivo della scrivente con allestimento scenografico curato dall’arch. Giovanni Bulian. Sulla storia del Museo e sui contenuti del nuovo percorso espositivo v. Silvana Balbi de Caro (a cura di), Lo scrigno delle meraviglie. I tesori nascosti del Museo della Zecca di Roma, Catalogo dell’esposizione, Roma 2016. 2 Si veda, in proposito, la presentazione di Silvana Balbi de Caro, Tra mito e realtà osservando uomini e cose. I modelli in cera di Benedetto Pistrucci, in Lo scrigno delle meraviglie, cit.., pp. 39-49. 3 A Lucia Pirzio
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