Gilded Bronzes Of Cartoceto Di Pergola Exhibited At Montreal Museum

This is one of the very rare large sculptural groups to have survived from the Roman era. For grandeur and splendour they are matched only by the Horses of Saint Mark’s in Venice and the statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, both of which are also gilded.

“The Museum is honoured and delighted to have these archaeological treasures under our roof,” said Nathalie Bondil, Director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. “We are also very happy about this collaboration with Montreal’s Italian community, which we hope will find the MMFA an ideal place to rediscover and admire the Italian art from Antiquity to the present day that forms an important part of our permanent collection.”

The Gilded Bronzes of Cartoceto di Pergola can be seen in the Gallery of Mediterranean Archaeology in the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, 1379 Sherbrooke Street West. Admission to this gallery is free of charge at all times.

These bronzes were found by chance in 1946 by two farmers working in their field near Cartoceto di Pergola in the Marches. For no known reason, the fragments had been thrown into a shallow pit, and so escaped being melted down for re-use of the metals, the usual fate of this kind of sculpture. Gian Mario Spacca, President of the region of the Marches, said, “This group of gilded bronzes conveys all the beauty and mystery of Ancient Rome… Their unknown story and accidental discovery are a remarkable demonstration of the miracle of these lands, the Marches, which can reveal superb works of art, testimony to the talent and importance of a culture recognized all over the world.”

The bronzes were taken to the National Archaeological Museum of the Marches in Ancona, where they were first restored between 1948 and 1959, and later, from 1975 to 1986, to the restoration centre of the Soprintendenza Archeologica in Tuscany, where modern scientific criteria were used. This long process of restoration and reconstruction — there were hundreds of fragments to be assembled — has enabled these sculptures to be put on public display.

The group comprises four figures, two men on horseback and two standing women, obviously persons of high rank. Since they were found with no real archaeological context, it is difficult to identify them, although a number of hypotheses have been put forward. The initial study dated the group to the beginning of the Roman Empire (early first century AD) and associated the figures with the Julio-Claudian family. The woman whose features are conserved was thought to be Livia, wife of Augustus, and the two men identified as Nero Caesar, son of Germanicus, and his brother Drusus, both executed on the orders of Sejanus, Prefect of the Emperor Tiberius. But much more plausibly, later research has dated the sculptures to the first century BC, between the reign of Caesar and the empire of Augustus (50-30 BC). A fascinating theory holds that one of the two men, or perhaps both, may have been involved in the assassination of Julius Caesar. After his adopted son Octavius (whom we know as Augustus) acceded to supreme power, the memory of the conspirators was discredited. The sculptures could then have been destroyed or hidden. It has also been suggested that they represent members of a prominent family of senatorial rank, whose origins may have been linked to the region of the Marches.

The opening of this remarkable presentation of the gilded bronzes, made possible thanks to the Regione Marche and the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali d’Italia, under the distinguished patronage of the President of the Republic of Italy, will be the official event launching a series of celebrations in connection with the Giornata delle Marche 2007 (Day of the Marches). For the past three years, the region of the Marches, which boasts a rich heritage of culture and art, has been presenting large-scale events across the globe in cities that are home to natives of this part of Italy. After the celebrations in Buenos Aires in 2005 and Brussels in 2006, the next stop will be Montreal, coinciding with the festivities surrounding the fortieth anniversary of Expo 67. In addition, for this occasion two associations representing the Marches in Montreal, A.L.M.A. Canada Inc. (Associazione Regionale dei Marchigiani) and the Marchigiana Family (Associazione Socio-Culturale), are organizing a programme of activities that will take place in a number of sites in Montreal until December 2, 2007.

The Montreal companies Picchio International and Domodimonti, under the chairmanship of Dr. Francesco Bellini, a native of the Marches, have given considerable support to the activities of the Giornata delle Marche and to the visit of the Gilded Bronzes of Cartoceto di Pergola. Dr. Bellini said in an interview, “The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal’s and Canada’s foremost museum, will highlight the importance of these masterpieces of Roman art which have become distinctive symbols of our region.”

A 72-page catalogue containing 106 illustrations, most in colour, published by Regione Marche under the editorial direction of Giuliano De Marinis, Soprintendente Archeologo per le Marche, is available in English, French and Italian at the Museum’s Boutique and Bookstore.

On November 1, 2007, an all-day round-table discussion entitled The Gilded Bronzes of Cartoceto di Pergola: An Enigma of Roman History will be held in the Museum’s Maxwell Cummings Auditorium. It will enable participants to learn more about these rare and beautiful sculptures and the mystery of their origin. -- www.mmfa.qc.ca