The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces Vademecum
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Vademecum The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces Exedra of Marcus Aurelius The Torlonia Bookshop Marbles. Collecting ↓ ↓ Masterpieces This exhibition offers a selection of 92 works from the Museo Torlonia, founded by Prince Alessandro Torlonia in 1875. V. ↓ The collection consists of 620 sculptures originating partly V. from excavations and partly from historic collections. V. The itinerary of the exhibition travels backwards in time, in five Sections: • Section I (Room 1) V. III. Evocation of the Museo Torlonia • Section II (Room 2) ↓ ↓ ↓ Sculptures from the Torlonia excavations of the 19th century ↓ • Section III (Rooms 3, 4, 5) IV. III. Sculptures from 18th century collections ↓ (Villa Albani and the Cavaceppi Studio) ↓ III. • Section IV (Rooms 6, 7, 8, 9) IV. IV. Sculptures from the Giustiniani collection (17th century) ↓ • Section V (Rooms 10, 11, 12, 13) ↓ Sculptures from 15th and 16th century collections II. In Room 14 (Epilogue) the impressive Museo Torlonia catalog is exhibited (1884–5) The visit concludes in the Exedra of Marcus Aurelius, where IV. for this occasion all the antique bronzes donated to the Roman People in 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV have been brought together. I. Ticket office ↓ 1 The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces Section I. This Section aims to evoke the Museo Torlonia in some of The Museo Torlonia its most significant elements: • the only bronze of the collection, a Germanicus excavated (Room 1) in 1874 and promptly restored and repaired; • three famous portraits: the Girl, possibly from Vulci; the so-called Euthydemus, formerly believed to be an Oriental- - Greek sovereign; and the Old Man, perhaps from Otricoli (formerly believed to represent Galba); - • twenty busts from the gallery of imperial portraits (or so believed), of varied provenience, arranged following - the chronological order of the figures portrayed. ↑ 1. 4. Portrait of a Girl Statue of Germanicus From Vulci (Visconti), From Cures in Sabina, about 50–40 BC 1st century AD White marble Bronze MT 489 MT 255 ↑ 2. 5. Male portrait, called Male portrait on a Conceived around 1859 when Rome was capital of the Papal Euthydemus of Bactria modern bust, called States, the Museum was founded in 1875, when Rome had become From the Giustiniani collection, Sulla or Pseudo-Albinus capital of the Kingdom of Italy. late 3rd–early 2nd century BC From Villa Albani, Greek marble late 1st century AD Eight editions of the Catalog, including some in French and MT 133 Pentelic marble for the head English, were printed between 1876 and 1885, edited by Pietro and Italic for the bust Ercole Visconti and then by his nephew Carlo Ludovico. 3. MT 508 The impressive Catalog of 1884–1885, exhibited in Room 14, contained photographs of all the 620 sculptures of the Museum Male portrait on a modern bust, 6. and was the first example of a catalog of antique sculptures called the Old Man of Otricoli entirely reproduced in phototype. From Otricoli (Visconti), Portrait of Pompey the Great about 50 BC on a modern bust The Museo Torlonia was located in a vast building Greek marble for the head, Torlonia purchase, first half in Via della Lungara, between Porta Settimiana and Palazzo Italic for the bust of the 1st century AD Corsini, and the sculptures were exhibited in 77 rooms. MT 533 White marble MT 509 Some were thematically organized: “Animals”, “Muses”, sarcophagi, and a vast gallery of 122 portrait busts: “an immense treasure of erudition and art” (P. E. Visconti). 2 3 The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces 7. 11. 16. 20. Bust of a goddess, called Livia Portrait of Titus (reigned Bust of Marcus Aurelius Portrait of Giulia Domna, Probably from the Cavaceppi 79–81 AD), on a modern bust (reigned 161–180 AD) on an unrelated antique bust Studio, early 1st century AD From Villa Albani, From Ardea (Visconti), From the Cavaceppi Studio, White marble for the head, late 1st century AD 170–180 AD early 3rd century AD Pentelic for the bust White marble Pentelic marble (?) White marble MT 514 MT 537 MT 553 MT 573 8. 12. 17. 21. Portrait of Agrippina the Elder Female portrait on a modern Bust of Lucius Verus (reigned Portrait of Caracalla on a modern bust bust, called Iulia Titi with Marcus Aurelius, 161–169 AD) (reigned 198–217 AD), From the Tivoli area (Visconti) From the Giustiniani collection, From Acquatraversa (Visconti), on an unrelated antique bust or from the Cavaceppi Studio, late 1st century AD 160–170 AD From Villa Albani, around 40 AD White marble White marble early 3rd century AD White marble MT 538 MT 556 White marble MT 523 MT 569 18. 9. 13. 22. Modern portrait of Salonina Portrait of Commodus Portrait of Flavia Domitilla on Matidia, called Plotina (reigned 180–192 AD), Bust of Plautilla a modern bust, called Messalina Torlonia purchase, 1874–1883 on an unrelated antique bust Giustiniani collection, From the Giustiniani collection, White marble From Ardea (Visconti) or from early 3rd century AD late 1st century AD MT 542 the Cavaceppi Studio, 180–190 AD Luna marble White marble White marble MT 609 MT 527 MT 559 14. 23. 10. Bust of Hadrian 19. (reigned 117–138 AD) Bust with female portrait, called Portrait of Vespasian Formerly at Villa Albani, Bust of Septimius Severus Aquilia Severa or Giulia Mesa (reigned 69–79 AD), around 130 AD (reigned 193–211 AD) From Torsapienza (Visconti), on an unrelated antique bust Greek insular white marble From the Villa of Livia at early 3rd century AD From Villa Albani, last quarter MT 545 Veio (Visconti), or from Luna marble of the 1st century AD the Cavaceppi Studio, MT 577 White marble late 2nd–early 3rd century AD MT 536 15. Pentelic marble (?) MT 572 24. Portrait of Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161 AD), on a Female portrait on a modern modern bust bust, called Elena Fausta From the Giustiniani collection, From the Cavaceppi Studio, 150–160 AD second half of the 4th century AD White marble Luna marble (?) MT 549 MT 614 4 5 The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces Section II. Room 2 presents a selection of marbles from the 19th century Torlonia Excavations Torlonia excavations: • two exceptional reliefs: one from the slope of the Acropolis (19th Century) of Athens, probably brought to Rome in the 2nd century AD by Herodes Atticus; the other, a view of a port with ships, unique for (Room 2) its theme and the traces of polychromy; • two sarcophagi from the necropolis of the Via Appia and the Via Latina; • three athletes, from Caffarella and Porto; • the Eirene and Ploutos (“Peace” and “Wealth”) group, copy after a lost original in bronze by Kephisodotos (circa 370 BC), father of Praxiteles; • the two statues of a Satyr and a Nymph, found together in the Villa dei Sette Bassi, which form the Hellenistic group known → → by the modern name of Invitation to the Dance. 25. 27. Attic votive relief Sarcophagus of the centurion From the vicinity of the Lucius Pullius Peregrinus Giovanni Raimondo Torlonia (1754–1829) and then his son tomb of Cecilia Metella Found between the Via Appia Alessandro (1800–1886), the founder of the Museo Torlonia, on the Via Appia, and the Via Latina, conducted intense excavations in their properties around Rome: late 5th century BC around 240–250 AD the estates of Roma Vecchia and Caffarella, the Villa of the Quintili, Pentelic marble Proconnesian marble the Villa dei Sette Bassi, the Villa of Maxentius and other important MT 433 for the coffer; white with archaeological areas. gray stripes for the lid MT 424 From these sites, the ruins emerged of the villa of the Greek 26. magnate, philosopher and patron, Herodes Atticus (2nd century AD), who had displayed precious sculptures there, imported from Athens. Bas-relief with a view 28. of the Portus Augusti During the 19th century, the Torlonia excavations also extended From Porto (1864), Sarcophagus with lid along the Via Appia and the Via Latina, where there were important around 200 AD and decorated with burial grounds in antiquity. Pentelic marble with Labors of Hercules traces of polychromy From Roma Vecchia, The acquisition of other large estates (at Porto, in Sabina and in MT 430 about 160–170 AD Tuscia) led to successful excavations; outstanding among these are Thasos marble the investigations at Portus Augusti, Rome’s principal outlet to the MT 422 sea in the imperial period, and those of ancient Cures (Fara Sabina), the findspot of the bronze Germanicus in Section I (Room 1) of the exhibition. 6 7 The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces 29. 33. Section III. Athlete, copy of the Unfinished statue Villa Albani and Dresden-Pitti “Oil Pourer” of a Dacian Captive From Porto, about 80–120 AD Work not on show the Cavaceppi Studio Greek insular marble From Via del Governo Vecchio, MT 476 early 2nd century AD (18th century) Luna marble 30. MT 412 (Rooms 3, 4, 5) Male statue, copy of 34. Many sculptures in the Museo Torlonia come from two great the Amelung Athlete cores formed in the 18th century: the collections of Villa Albani From Porto, about 80–120 AD Statue of a Nymph, copy and the marbles of the famous sculptor Bartolomeo Cavaceppi Greek insular marble after the group called (1716–1799), which at his death were in his studio in Via del MT 470 Invitation to the Dance Babuino, in Rome. From Roma Vecchia, Villa dei Sette Bassi, copy of late Villa Albani, constructed from 1747 by Cardinal Alessandro 31. 1st–early 2nd century AD Albani (1692–1779) to house his extraordinary sculpture from an original of the collection, was bought by Alessandro Torlonia in 1866. Diadumenos (athlete 2nd century BC girding his head), copy Thasos marble The original layout, to which the great German scholar of the statue by Polykleitos MT 470 Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) had contributed, From Porta San Giovanni, had been modifed following French spoliations and other events.