Event in the salons of Anne of Austria: the most beautiful works from the Torlonia collection, the largest private collection of ancient sculptures, enter into dialogue with their counterparts installed here since the 18th century.e and the creation of the largest museum in the world. A Franco-Italian meeting which explores the sources of Western art, and its constantly renewed fascination with Antiquity.
Wanted by the Torlonia princes, the collection, started in the 19th centuryehad a vocation from the beginning: to rival those of the Vatican museums and the Louvre itself. Goat restored by Bernini himself at the Girl from Vulci, a child’s bust from Iis century BC of astonishing beauty, these treasures reveal the exquisite and obsessive taste of the last great Roman princely collection. Which was for a long time at the heart of a saga full of twists and turns since it had not been shown to the public for decades, after the closure of the palace in Rome that housed it in 77 rooms transformed into a private apartment.
Attempts at secret sales, aborted takeover by the State, dubious intermediaries: the Torlonia collection could have disappeared, which gives even more relief to this exhibition made possible by the Bulgari house. The latter, already committed to the restoration of Roman historical heritage, recently announced the creation of its foundation dedicated to the arts, education and the transmission of know-how. Moral of the story: There are more than just rubies, diamonds and emeralds when it comes to precious stones. There is also the marble of these faces of goddesses, caryatids, athletes, children and animals, which have been looking at us, motionless, for two millennia.
“Masterpieces from the Torlonia Collection”, from June 26 to November 11 at the Louvre Museum. louvre.fr
