Masterpieces from the Torlonia Collection

Hestia Giustiniani (detail), first half of the 2nd c CE, after a Greek original from 470-460 BCE, Torlonia Collection, Giustiniani, Fondazione Torlonia, Rome.

The largest ever private collection of ancient Roman sculptures, assembled throughout the 19th century by the Torlonia princes in Rome, is being shown to the public at the Louvre for the first time since the mid-20th century. Masterpieces from the Torlonia Collection - including portraits, funerary sculpture, copies of famous Greek originals, works inspired by Classical or Archaic Greek art, figures from the thiasos (procession of satyrs and maenads) and allegories make up a repertoire of images and forms that give Roman art its power - has been installed in the renovated summer apartments of Anne of Austria. This space is 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 is thus designed to shed new light on the origin of museums and the interest in antiquity, a founding element of Western culture.

The exhibition also explores the origins of museums in Europe during the Enlightenment and the 19th century. The Torlonia princes followed the aristocratic traditions of papal Rome, developing a passion for ancient sculpture that resulted in a magnificent collection. The Museo Torlonia, which opened in the 1870s, was designed to emulate great public institutions such as the Vatican and Capitoline museums and the Louvre. Alessandro Torlonia’s museum closed in the mid-20th century after a slow decline, but the Torlonia marbles remained famous in Italy.