(Finance) – The Gallerie d’Italia in Piazza Scala in Milan, Intesa Sanpaolo museumpresent from 25 May to 18 September 2022 the exhibition “The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces. The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces”: 96 marbles from the Torlonia Collection, the most important private collection of classical statuary, in a large exhibition which, with five new restored works, inaugurates the global exhibition program of the Collection.
The majestic consular sarcophagus from via Ardeatina will welcome visitors, with a group of Roman togates, in the wide-ranging spaces of the Galleries, where the colossal prisoner Dace similar to the examples of the Forum of Trajan will find its ideal location, next to the portraits of Domitian and of Antinous, recently restored, part of the famous gallery of the 122 busts of the Collection. The exhibition route – explains Intesa Sanpaolo in a note – ends with a section entirely dedicated to restorations where the Hercules composed of 112 pieces, already exhibited in Rome, will dialogue with the sculpture of the Leda with the swan: in both works different phases of the cleaning intervention, to talk about the challenges facing contemporary restoration.
The exhibition “I Marmi Torlonia. Collecting Masterpieces. The Torlonia Marbles. Collecting Masterpieces” was born from a agreement between the Torlonia Foundation and the Ministry of Culture, with the Directorate General of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape and the Special Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Rome. The May 2022 appointment is the first stop on a tour of important international museums that will end with the identification of a permanent exhibition site of the new Torlonia Museum; while, at the Torlonia Laboratories in via della Lungara, the restoration of the sculptures from the Collection continues.
In the Milan office, the design of the new exhibition was entrusted toarchitect Lucia Anna Iovieno.
“After the exhibition dedicated to Canova and Thorvaldsen, the Galleries of Piazza Scala are once again celebrating sculptural art by hosting the extraordinary Roman marbles collected by the Torlonia family of bankers and patrons. The initiative, – affirms Giovanni Bazoli, president Emeritus of Intesa Sanpaolo – the result of the synergy between public and private institutions and the curatorial commitment of Salvatore Settis and Carlo Gasparri, enriches the Milanese exhibition offer with a proposal of the highest quality, which contributes to spreading the knowledge of an authentic treasure of our country “.
“The exhibition event – he declares Daniela Porro, Special Superintendent of Rome – marks the second concrete stage of the agreement between the Ministry of Culture and the Torlonia Foundation signed in 2016, before embarking on an international tour. Strong sign of an uncommon collaboration between private and public institutions and the family, represented by the Torlonia Foundation “.
“A collection resulting from the Family’s passion for art, which in the elegant narration of the curators – he says Alessandro Poma Murialdo, president of the Torlonia Foundation – tells of some fundamental moments of our civilization. The exhibition at the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan represents the evolution, after the inaugural exhibition at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, towards the international tour of a choral project, born thanks to a historic agreement between public and private which ensures the transmission of this exceptional artistic heritage, an essential component of our cultural identity, to the new generations “.
“At its opening in 1875, in a Rome that had recently been the capital of Italy, the Torlonia Museum – explain the curators Salvatore Settis and Carlo Gasparri – it was a far-reaching and ambitious undertaking. This exhibition, which brings to the consciousness of all the treasures of an unparalleled collection, covers less than one sixth of the Torlonia marbles; but it embodies the intention, shared between the Ministry of Culture and the Torlonia Foundation, to reopen the museum in its entirety. Moving from Villa Caffarelli on the Campidoglio to the much larger spaces of the Gallerie d’Italia in Piazza della Scala, the exhibition appears renewed not only because it includes five more sculptures, but also for the new layout by Lucia Anna Iovieno, which preserves the narrative thread through the history of collecting, but proposes new and unexpected points of view and interrelationships between marbles “.
“For Bulgari, to be the main sponsor of restoration – he comments Laura Burdese, Bulgari Marketing & Communication vice president – means helping to preserve and pass on a unique heritage of art and beauty. The Greek and Roman roots of the brand deepen the harmony with this wide-ranging project which aims to make these treasures be discovered by the widest possible audience. The Milanese stage is another important step in this direction, in the conviction that from the knowledge of the masterpieces comes the precious awareness of our cultural and aesthetic universe “.