For the first time since its dispersion in 1861, the exhibition will provide a comprehensive overview of the 19th century's largest private collection. With over 12,000 archaeological objects, paintings, sculptures, and objets d’art, and comprising both ancient and modern artefacts, it was a rich, diverse collection of the highest quality.
The exhibition will showcase over 500 works, including such masterpieces as the Sarcophagus of the Spouses and Paolo Uccello's Battle of San Romano. It presents the romantic figure of Giampietro Campana, his passion for collecting, and how he brought together this extraordinary collection by way of excavations, the antique and art market, the network of collectors between Rome, Naples and Florence, and his links with scientific institutions. The Marquis Campana aimed to represent Italy's cultural heritage, both ancient and modern ; as such, the collection was a founding moment in the affirmation of Italian culture during the Risorgimento - the emergence of the Italian nation in the 19th century.
After a high-profile trial in which Campana was convicted of embezzlement in 1857, the collection was seized and sold by the Papal States. The sensation sparked by its subsequent dispersal throughout Europe was testament to its importance in the Italian and European cultural consciousness. A significant part of the Campana Collection was purchased in 1861 by Tsar Alexander II, enriching the collections of the State Hermitage Museum. The rest of the collection - over 10,000 works - was purchased by Napoleon III and shared between the Musée du Louvre and various regional museums. Over time the collection has proved to be a source of inspiration for European artists and artisans, particularly in gold and silversmithing.
Jean-Luc Martinez, president and director of the Musée du Louvre, specifies: "the Campana exhibition will go to Saint-Petersburg this summer after a passage in Rome. The Louvre and the Hermitage inaugurate, with this exhibition, a series of major partnerships. I would like to comment the generosity of the Hermitage museum in its loans today, renewed for the future exhibition "Léonard de Vinci" in the Louvre in the autumn of 2019 as well as for the one on Uzbekistan, "Civilizations and Cultures of Silk routes", which will be presented at the Musée du Louvre from October, 2021 to January, 2022, then at the Hermitage".
AT THE LOUVRE AUDITORIUM
LECTURES
Wednesday, November 4 from 12:30–18:30 p.m.
Presentation of the exhibition (in French) A Dream of Italy: The Marquis Campana's Collection by Françoise Gaultier and Laurent Haumesser, Musée du Louvre.
SERIES OF LECTURES : 19th-century European collections
Thursdays from 6:30–8:00 p.m. on
Collecting antiques in 19th century Rome: the case of the Castellani’s collection
November 15,2018 from 18:30 p.m.
By Antonella Magagnini, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, Rome.
Details on the other lectures of the cycle on louvre.fr/en/louvre-auditorium
RELATED WORK
Exhibition catalogue
Un rêve d’Italie : la collection du marquis Campana, edited by de Françoise Gaultier, Laurent Haumesser and Anna Trofimova.
Co-published by: Musée du Louvre Éditions
576 pages, 800 illustrations, 49 €.
Exhibition album
Co-published by: Musée du Louvre Éditions
48 pages, 40 illustrations, 8 €.
TOURS AND WORKSHOPS (in French)
Exhibition tours (guided tours for families, descriptive and touch tours, tours in French Sign Language, or French lip-reading tours), workshops and thematic talks in the Louvre’s galleries.
Information: www.louvre.fr/en/visites-guidees
Adult visits
From November 22nd
Mondays and Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. - Wednesdays and Fridays at 5 p.m. - Saturdays at 4 p.m. - Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Visits families - From 8 years
November 5, 2018 at 11 a.m.
This exhibition is organized by the Musée du Louvre and the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, where it will be presented in summer 2019 (from July to October). The exhibition will also be presented at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, from March to June 2019.
Exhibition curators :
Françoise Gaultier, director of the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities, musée du Louvre ;
Laurent Haumesser, curator of the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities, musée du Louvre Louvre ;
Anna Trofimova, director of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, State Hermitage Museum, St.-Petersburg.
Associated curators :
Françoise Barbe, curator of the Department of Decorative Arts ; Marc Bormand, curator of the, Department of Sculptures ; Dominique Thiébaut, curator, of the Department of Paintings, musée du Louvre
Dominique Vingtain, director of the Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon.
This exhibition enjoys the support of DS Automobiles and the International Council of the Louvre.
