Museo Torlonia
The Museo Torlonia is the ancient collection of the Torlonia family in Rome .
History of the collection
The Torlonia family achieved great prosperity in Rome in the late 18th and 19th centuries, particularly through their activities as bankers. In the tradition of the great old Roman noble families, she began to build up a collection of antiquities. Giovanni Torlonia started the collection for the Palazzo Torlonia in Piazza Venezia . The art dealer Pietro Vitali bought numerous pieces from older Roman collections (Carpi, Caetani, Caesarini) for him. From 1800 onwards, large parts of the antiquities were acquired from the estate of the sculptor Bartolomeo Cavaceppi . Since 1816 Torlonia has acquired about 130 antiques from the Giustiniani collection . In 1866, Alessandro Torlonia acquired the Villa Albani along with its rich art collection. The collection was also expanded to include antiquities found on the Torlonia estates in the vicinity of Rome, such as pieces from excavations on the Via Appia ( Villa dei Quintili , Villa di Massenzio , Caffarella), on the Via Latina (Roma Vecchia), in Anzio , Centocelle and Portus . Alessandro Torlonia had the Museo Torlonia built for the collection in Palazzo Torlonia on Via della Lungara in Trastevere in 1859 . The collection with its approx. 620 pieces of Greek and Roman sculpture was exhibited in 77 rooms. Pieces from the Torlonia property that had been kept in the Palazzo Torlonia in Piazza Venezia, in the Villa Torlonia in the Via Nomentana and in the Villa Albani ended up here. A catalog was made by Pietro Ercole Visconti . During the Second World War, some antiques were moved from the Museo Torlonia to Villa Albani, where they are still today, including the paintings of the Tomba François .
Public access
The collection was open to the public upon registration until 1976, when the palace was converted into apartments and the collection was put into storage. Negotiations since then between the Italian state, the city of Rome and the family about the future of the collection did not lead to a result until 2017: In 2020, 96 pieces from the collection will be on display for the first time, after which the pieces will be shown in various museums around the world become. In the long term, a public museum is to be set up in Rome for the collection.
literature
- Pietro Ercole Visconti: Catalogo del Museo Torlonia di Sculture Antiche. Rome 1876. 2nd edition 1880 ( digitized ). 3rd edition 1883.
- Carlo Lodovico Visconti : I monumenti del Museo Torlonia riprodotti con la fototipia. Rome 1885 ( text , plates ).
- Carlo Gasparri: Materiali per servire allo studio del Museo Torlonia di scultura antica. (= Atti de la Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei Memorie 8, 24, 2). Rome 1980.
- Carlo Gasparri, Olivia Ghiandoni: Lo studio Cavaceppi e le collezioni Torlonia. (= Rivista dell'Istituto Nazionale d'Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte 48 = Ser. 3, 16). Rome 1994, ISBN 88-7275-100-4 .