Works
The Foundation’s private collection consists of a rich and original range of works that, extensively crossing through the fifteenth to the twentieth century, cover a long historic and artistic period. As proof of the Foundation’s interest in art and the improvement of the cultural offer for the community, new acquisitions are constantly added to this heritage.This extraordinary collection features paintings, prints, sculptures, engravings, ceramics and tapestries and was formed with the intention of preserving the idea of Rome as perceived by the cultural world over the centuries. Though the masterpieces that form the collection vary in school and style, on the whole it may be distinguished for its originality and consistency. Most of the subjects or the authors of the works are indeed closely related to the city of Rome, the centre of the Foundation’s activities.
The permanent exhibition starts from the fifteenth century - a period of outstanding artistic and cultural productivity - with the Madonna seduta orante (Seated Madonna in Prayer) by Silvestro dall’Aquila. This is a wooden statue that recalls the majestic medieval Madonnas who sat on thrones in a dignified manner though, at the same time, the artist humanises this solemn female figure with the dawning Renaissance old fashioned garments which were softer and more swathing than those used before. The Imago Pietatis by Piermatteo d’Amelia, who worked in Rome around the end of the century and cooperated with Pinturicchio in the decoration of the Borgia apartment is also a work from the fifteenth century.
The sixteenth century paintings are the first example of a new language that allowed Roman painting to express a greater creativity than any of the other great stylistic venues in Italy. Amongst the masterpieces of this century that may be admired are the Pietà by Marcello Venusti, which is inspired by the drawing that Michelangelo dedicated to Vittoria Colonna and the Madonna che legge col Bambino, Santa Elisabetta e San Giovannino, (Madonna reading and Child, Saint Elisabeth and Young Saint John), attributed to Francesco de’ Rossi, known as ‘il Salviati’, also clearly influenced by Michelangelo.
The seventeenth century is well represented by Ciro Ferri’s painting, Mosè libera le figlie di Jetro (Moses frees Jethro’s daughters), which is strongly influenced by his master, Pietro da Cortona; Angelo Caroselli’s painting Madonna col Bambino e gli arcangeli Michele e Raffaele, (Madonna and child with the Archangels Michael and Raphael), which confirms the composite style of the artist; the work by Bernardino Cesari, Achille incontra Teti presso il centauro Chirone; (Achilles meets Thetis with the centaur Chiron) and the Paesaggio con rovine romane (Landscape with Roman ruins) by the Flemish artist, Willem van Nieutlandt II, a tribute to Rome’s light and past in which a large portion of the Imperial Forums are portrayed.
Paesaggio con veduta ideata di Roma (Landscape with an imaginary view of Rome), a masterpiece by another Flemish artist in love with the Eternal City, Jan Franz van Bloemen, opens the eighteenth century and frees landscapes from any academic prejudice that dismisses them as an inferior form of painting: this is an imaginary view of Rome seen from the top of the Esquiline Hill in a Arcadian-archaeological setting capable of bringing nature and history together. Fondazione Roma’s collection also includes other masterpieces from the eighteenth century such as the three views by Giovanni Paolo Panini, Capriccio architettonico con il Colosseo (Architectural capriccio with the Coliseum),Veduta della Piazza e della Basilica di San Pietro (View of St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square) and the Veduta della Piazza e del Palazzo di Monte Cavallo (View of the Piazza and Palazzo of Monte Cavallo) , which commemorate the two residences symbolic of Papal power, the Vatican and the Quirinale. Panini portrays daily life in these two emblematic squares full of poor people, Swiss guards and idle men. Allegoria della Fortuna (Allegory of fortune), by Jacopo Diol, may be dated back to the middle of the eighteenth century, in the years illuminated by the Papacy of Pope Benedict XIV. The sumptuous Ritratto di Giacinta Orsini Boncompagni Ludovisi (Portrait of Giacinta Orsini Boncompagni Ludovisi), by Pompeo Batoni, is another prestigious work of the eighteenth century, a vibrant tribute to the Princess-Poetess to whom the Academy of Arcadians had bestowed great honours.
The Foundation’s artistic heritage also covers the nineteenth century with high quality works of great interest such as La partenza della Corsa dei berberi a Piazza del Popolo (The start of the Barb’s race at Piazza del Popolo , by Thomas Jones Barker which, like a window on the past, shows the Via del Corso in times gone by. Indeed, the road was named after the Barb’s Race which were held during Carnival and caught by Barker in the crucial stage just before the race starts.
The Foundation’s cultural itinerary leads visitors to the landscapes of the Roman Campagna such as Capanne nelle palude pontine (Huts in the Pontine Marshes) by Onorato Carlandi and Il Paradiso delle Ranocchi - Ninfa (The Frogs’ Paradise - Ninfa) by Napoleone Parisani. Other twentieth century masterpieces may be admired in this gallery such as the ‘Roman School’ paintings Pollarole – Lotta di Popolane (Chicken vendors - common women’s fight) by Alberto Ziversi, Esercitazione ai Parioli (Military exercise in the Parioli neighbourhood) by Ferruccio Ferrazzi, Caccia alle Tigre I e Caccia alle Tigre II (Tiger Hunting 1 and Tiger Hunting 2) by Renato Marino Mazzacurati, Lungo Tevere di Ripetta and San Giorgio in Velabro by Francesco Trombadori as well as the sculpture in bronze Novecento by Arnaldo Pomodoro.
Contemporary art is represented by a series of works shown in the Gli irripetibili anni ’60. Un dialogo tra Roma e Milano (The unrepeatable nineteen sixties. A dialogue between Rome and Milan) exhibition, which was promoted by Fondazione Roma, organised by Fondazione Roma Arte-Musei and held in the Palazzo Cipolla galleries during summer 2011. Some of the works such as Tuttestelle by Mario Schifano, La camera afona (The voiceless room) by Emilio Tadini, Specchio (Mirror) by Enrico Baj, Michelangelo by Tano Festa, Of America by Franco Angeli, Uccelli (Birds) by Gianni Dova, Oiseau by Robero Crippa and Bianco (White) by Agostino Bonalumi – that witness the great artistic and cultural turmoil in post war Italy led by Milan and Rome - are now part of the Collection and have enriched even more this journey into art.
