MONTREAL.- The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts hosts The Torlonia Collection: Masterpieces of Roman Sculpture. The final stop on a historic North American tour, this major exhibition brings together 57 lifelike marble sculptures: Roman statues, busts, and sarcophagi; stunning bas-reliefs; mythological creatures; and striking portraits of gods and goddesses, emperors, and their wives. These masterpieces are being shown in Canada for the first time.

THE LARGEST PRIVATE COLLECTION OF ANCIENT ROMAN MARBLE SCULPTURES

The Torlonia Collection is one of the most important ensembles of ancient Roman sculptures still in existence. Assembled in the 19th century by the Torlonia family, most notably by prince and banker Alessandro Torlonia (1800–1884), who founded the Museo Torlonia in 1876, the collection rivals the Vatican and Capitoline museums in both quality and scope.

A true “collection of collections,” it was built thanks to excavations on former imperial estates and through a series of acquisitions of major holdings. It comprises 623 marble works (and a single bronze work) representing Roman sculpture from the Republic through the Empire periods. For much of the past century, access to these works has been limited: they were known primarily through 19th-century publications. After spending decades out of public view, the sculptures have now been restored and are finally being presented in all their splendour.

FROM ROME TO MONTREAL: A HISTORIC JOURNEY

The Torlonia Collection was kept out of public view from the closure of the Museo Torlonia in the mid-20th century until its presentation at the Capitoline Museums in 2020. It is now being rediscovered thanks to two international tours that brought it to the Louvre in 2024, and to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth this year.

After generating considerable enthusiasm in Italy, France, and the United States, a selection of masterpieces from this renowned collection now makes a stop in Montreal. Featuring an original exhibition design by Stéphane Roy in collaboration with Carolina Bassani, this presentation offers a rare opportunity to see, outside Europe, the most prestigious private collection of ancient Roman sculpture ever gathered.

A GALLERY OF LARGER-THAN-LIFE CHARACTERS

The Torlonia Collection: Masterpieces of Roman Sculpture brings together 57 works of exceptional historical and artistic significance. Twenty-four of these pieces have been newly restored and are being shown publicly for the first time in over 75 years. Visitors will have the opportunity to discover sculptures from the Torlonia Collection, many of which were found on the family’s historic estates in and around Rome and carefully preserved over generations. These exquisitely carved Roman characters span a period from the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority dating from the Antonine Period (1st–2nd centuries CE)—widely regarded as the zenith of the Roman Empire.

The collection includes exquisitely carved bas-reliefs, imposing deities and mythological figures, and powerful portraits—including the celebrated Maiden of Vulci. Once embellished with gold leaf, gemstones, and real earrings, the face of this funerary bust continues to move viewers today.

Visitors will also encounter the renowned Hestia Giustiniani, the only complete Roman marble copy of a 500-year-old Greek bronze. With its stiffly pleated peplos and solemn, frontal pose, it evokes the “Severe” style of 470–460 BCE, conveying strength and dignity. The exhibition further features one of the most studied ancient fragments in the world: a 3rd-century relief from Portus, Rome’s imperial harbour, on which traces of the original polychromy still remain.

SCULPTURES THAT BEAR THE MARKS OF TIME

One section of the exhibition also sheds light on the crucial role that restoration treatments have played in the life of these works over time, revealing how conservation can breathe new life into them—at times through the hand of renowned sculptors from the 17th to the 19th century. Among the examples on view is the celebrated Statue of a Resting Goat. While its body is ancient, its head, crowned with luxuriant curls, was added in the 17th century by a young Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the future Baroque master, at the request of the collector and banker Vincenzo Giustiniani.