ROME - A wide range of colors used in Imperial Rome, from 'serpentine green' to 'ancient yellow' and alabaster showcase the grandiosity of ancient Rome at the Musei Capitolini with an exhibit opening on Tuesday. Two rooms of Palazzo Clementino host the exhibit "I colori dell'Antico.
Marmi Santarelli ai Musei Capitolini", curated by Vittoria Bonifati, which presents a selection of over 660 colorful marbles from the Imperial age. The marbles come from the museum's collection and from the Fondazione Dino ed Ernesta Santarelli (which has granted its collection for free for a ten-year period). The marbles show an insight into the evolution of Rome from a social, cultural, political and economic standpoint.
The show was organized in cooperation with architectural firm Cookies (Alice Grégoire, Clément Périssé, Federico Martelli) with panels and a documentary by Adriano Aymonino and Silvia Davoli, which explain to the public the close connection between the presence of materials not coming from the city and the political, economic and geographical expansion of the ancient Roman empire. In order to help the visitor, the four walls of the main exhibition room were ordered according to the four cardinal directions to show the exact provenance of marbles (82 polychrome fragments - of different cut, weight and color, set on metallic grids, mainly from the south East, from countries like Greece, Turkey, Algeria and Egypt). As the only example of a statue, curators chose to showcase the head of Dionysus set on an unconnected feminine bust (composed of eight different types of marble); the didactic room includes a selection of tools coming from the Fiorentini marble workshop.
