Masterpieces from the Torlonia collection

The largest ever private collection of ancient Roman sculptures, assembled throughout the 19thcentury by the Torlonia princes in Rome, is being shown to the public for the first time since the mid-20th century in a series of special exhibitions. 

The Louvre will have the privilege of hosting the Torlonia marbles for their first showing outside Italy, in the renovated summer apartments of Anne of Austria – home to the museum’s permanent collection of ancient sculpture since its creation in the late 18th century.
 

Displaying the Torlonia marbles alongside the French national collection will shed new light on the origin of museums and the interest in antiquity – a founding element of Western culture.

Showcasing masterpieces of ancient sculpture, the exhibition will present some truly exquisite treasures of Roman art and explore the origins of museums in Europe during the Enlightenment and the 19th
century.

Exhibition curator : Cécile Giroire, Director of the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Musée du Louvre.

Research curator : Martin Szewczyk, curator in the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Musée du Louvre.

Co-curators : Carlo Gasparri, University of Naples Federico II, Accademia dei Lincei, and Salvatore Settis, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and member of the Institut de France, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres.

Acknowledgments :  

With the exceptional support of the Fondation Bvlgari and the support of Deloitte.