A North American tour of Roman sculptures from the Torlonia Assortment—thought-about to be the best group of Greco-Roman antiquities nonetheless in personal fingers—begins on 15 March on the Artwork Institute of Chicago, marking the primary time these works have been proven exterior of Europe.
The exhibits will characteristic 58 items from the Torlonia Assortment, with works relationship from across the fifth century BC to the early fourth century AD—though the vast majority of the sculptures are from the Excessive Roman Empire interval (first and second centuries AD). After Chicago, Fable and Marble: Historic Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Assortment will journey to the Kimbell Artwork Museum in Fort Value and the Montreal Museum of Fantastic Arts.
Carlotta Loverini Botta, the director of the Torlonia Basis, which oversees the gathering, says that the US leg permits additional scholarly research of the huge assortment. “The museums [are] not solely contributing to the bills of mounting the exhibition but in addition enabling additional research and examinations of works within the assortment, together with detailed scans of sure sculptures, that advance scholarship tied to the exhibition,” she says.
The so-called Maiden of Vulci (first century BC) is likely one of the exhibition’s star items Photograph: Lorenzo De Masi, © Torlonia Basis
The present is organised thematically in six sections, opening with “Icons of the Torlonia Assortment”, that includes Portrait of a Younger Girl, often known as the Maiden of Vulci (first century BC). The following part, “Torlonia Excavations”, contains sculptures discovered on the Torlonia household’s properties in Rome and the encompassing suburbs, in addition to items found on their property in Porto, Portugal, comparable to Attic Votive Aid (fifth century BC).
The “Distinctive Restorations” part will embody an Imperial period statue of a resting goat with a head later added by the Renaissance sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (round 1620). The ultimate part, “Funerary Sculpture”, will current funerary monuments together with “quite a few distinctive sarcophagi, that are among the many largest sculpted works in marble to outlive from historical Rome”, the organisers say in an announcement.
In 1875 Prince Alessandro Torlonia created a non-public museum on Rome’s By way of della Lungara the place 517 sculptures have been housed, rising to over 620 works by 1884. Largely inaccessible after the Second World Conflict, the gathering was moved into three rooms of the constructing within the Seventies by a descendant, Alessandro Torlonia, who transformed the palazzo into flats with out planning permission. After a long time of negotiations with the state, the household formally agreed in 2016 to exhibit the works.
A Roman statue of a resting goat mentioned to have been restored by Gian Lorenzo Bernini within the seventeenth century Photograph: Lorenzo De Masi, © Torlonia Basis
In 2021, following a exhibiting of the works in Rome, the Italian artwork historian Vittorio Sgarbi urged the Italian authorities to purchase the gathering, which he mentioned was value €250m. However that is but to occur.
“The ultimate aim of the muse is to reopen the Torlonia Museum in Rome to the general public completely,” Loverini Botta says. “There has all the time been an ongoing dialogue between the Italian ministry of tradition, the household and the muse to find out the suitable venue, which remains to be to be recognized.”
The posh jeweller Bulgari is funding the restoration of a lot of the Torlonia sculptures (25 works conserved as a part of this undertaking can be proven within the touring present). The following group of sculptures present process research and restoration with Bulgari’s help contains 120 busts. “Moreover, this 12 months, the muse is opening the newly reorganised areas of the Laboratori Torlonia, the place 622 sculptures are being fastidiously restored and can be accessible to students by appointment, Loverini Botta says.
A statue of Cupid and Psyche Photograph: Lorenzo De Masi; © Torlonia Basis
“The preliminary step within the restoration course of is to evaluate the preservation state of every piece and decide the required interventions, all in accordance with trendy preventive conservation ideas. This ensures that the pure patina of the sculptures, which displays their historical past and the passage of time, is fastidiously maintained,” she provides.
The current present Masterpieces from the Torlonia Assortment on the Musée du Louvre in Paris (closed 6 January), which included round 70 works from the gathering, was one of many museum’s most visited exhibitions with 739,000 guests, based on Loverini Botta.
Talking to The Collector journal, the Artwork Institute of Chicago curator Katharine A. Raff praised the importrance of the gathering coming to her establishment, saying that it “is admittedly on a par with the collections of main public museums in Europe, particularly in Rome and museums just like the Capitoline and the Vatican Museums”.
• Fable and Marble: Historic Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Assortment, Artwork Institute of Chicago, 15 March-29 June; Kimbell Artwork Museum, Fort Value, 14 September-25 January 2026; Montreal Museum of Fantastic Arts, 14 March 2026-19 July 2026
