Pietro Ercole Visconti

Pietro Ercole Visconti (* 1802 in Rome ; † October 14, 1880 there ) was an Italian archaeologist .

Life

Pietro Ercole Visconti, son of Alessandro Visconti (1757–1835) and grandson of Giovanni Battista Visconti , became a full member of the Accademia di Archeologia in 1822 , one year later its honorary academician, and from 1830 its permanent secretary. For this institution he provided his first work on early Christian inscriptions and Roman finds in 1823. In 1825 he carried out a less than successful excavation on the grounds of the Circus des Maxentius on the Via Appia owned by the Torlonia family . In 1830 he excavated in private . As part of the excavations in Caere , the modern Cerveteri , initiated by Prince Alessandro Torlonia in 1834 , he uncovered the necropolis on Monte Abatone in 1835 and discovered the Tomba Torlonia, an important grave of the 4th century BC, named after his client. In 1836 he published the results of these excavations. In the same year he was appointed as successor to Carlo Feas Commissario delle Antichità and was in this position responsible for the antiquities of the Papal States . He held the office until the dissolution of the Papal States in 1870, and was also presidente del Museo Capitolino .

In 1852 he was a founding member of the Commissione di Archeologia Sacra . From 1855 he led on behalf of Pius IX. systematic excavations in Ostia , where he was supported from 1859 by his nephew Carlo Lodovico Visconti (1818-1894); the finds ended up in the Museo Lateranense . From 1868 to 1870 he excavated on behalf of the Pope in the area of ​​the Roman Emporium between Ponte Testaccio and Ponte Sublicio on Monte Testaccio . The excavation was very productive and produced numerous pieces of marble. In memory of this excavation, Pope Pius IX. built a well from a Roman sarcophagus and placed an inscription celebrating the fruits of the excavation. Finally, in the years 1869/1870 he carried out archaeological investigations in the papal possessions on the Palatine . For his excavations Pietro Ercole Visconti was under Pius IX. raised to the baron rank.

From 1856 Pietro Ercole Visconti was Professor of Archeology, in the academic year 1870/71 of Archeology and Ancient History, at the University of La Sapienza . Because he refused to take an oath on the newly established Kingdom of Italy , he lost his chair. Until 1873 he taught Roman topography at the Académie de France à Rome, succeeding Antonio Nibby, who died in 1839 . After the end of the Papal States and the abandonment of all his offices, Pietro Ercole Visconti worked from 1872 for the archaeological commission of the city of Rome. In 1876 he was a founding member of the Società Romana di Storia Patria . In the same year he published the first catalog of the Museo Torlonia .

Pietro Ercole Visconti, who wrote poetry himself and was famous for his epigrams, also devoted himself to folk art and collected folk songs from the Papal States Province of Campagna e Marittima , which he published in 1830. On the occasion of Alessandro Torlonia's wedding to Teresa Colonna-Doria on July 16, 1840, he published a critical edition of Vittoria Colonna's poems, including a biography, as a private print . The print also contains sonnets and madrigals by various authors in praise of the poet. His story of the families of the Papal States remained unfinished.

Memberships and honors

Pietro Ercole Visconti was a member of numerous Roman and international academies and institutes, such as the Accademia dell'Arcadia , the Accademia di San Luca , the Accademia del Pantheon . He was a member of the board of directors of the German Archaeological Institute and a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts . He was a member of the Legion of Honor (1841), the Russian Order of Saint Stanislaus (1846), the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle (1860) and the Dutch Order of the Oak Crown (1871).

Publications (selection)

• Aperçu sur l'origine et les antiquites de Rome pour servir d'explication au Panorama de la tour du capitole. Louis de Romanis, Rome 1826 ( digitized version ).
• Saggio de 'canti popolari della provincia Marittima e Campagna. Salviucci, Rome 1830 ( digitized version ).
• Antichi monumenti sepolcrali scoperti nel ducato di Ceri. Tipografia delle belle arti, Rome 1836 ( digitized version ).
• Le rime di Vittoria Colonna corrette su i testi a penna e pubblicate con la vita della medesima dal cavaliere Pietro Ercole Visconti. Salviucci, Rome 1840.
• Città e famiglie nobili e celebri dello Stato Pontificio. Dizionario storico. 4 volumes. Tipografia delle Scienze, Rome 1847–1848 ( digital copies ).
• Catalogo del Museo Torlonia di sculture antiche. Tipografia Editrice Romana, Rome 1876 ( digitized version ).

literature

• Giulio Quirino Giglioli : Visconti. In: Enciclopedia Italiana. Volume 35, 1937, pp. 444-445, here p. 445. ( online ).
• Daniela Pacchiani: Un archeologo al servizio di Pio IX: Pietro Ercole Visconti (1802-1880). In: Bollettino dei Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie. Volume 19, 1999, pp. 113-127.
• Ronald T. Ridley: To Protect the Monuments. The Papal Antiquarian (1534-1870). In: Xenia Antiqua 1, 1992, pp. 152-154.

Remarks

1. ^ Nancy Thomson de Grummond : Rediscovery and Recognition. In: Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Lisa Pieraccini (eds.): Caere. University of Texas Press, Austin 2016, pp. 271-276, here p.
2. ^ Maria Lanckorońska: A princely private print. In: Börsenblatt for the German book trade - Frankfurt edition. No. 89, November 5, 1968, pp. 2941-2946.