The Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Collection is the largest private collection of Roman marble sculptures in Italy, and one of the most important private collections of its type in the world. The Art Institute of Chicago announced 'Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection', which will be on view March 15–June 29, 2025. This exhibition features 58 rarely-seen sculptures from the Torlonia Collection that span nine centuries, including 24 newly-restored works that have not been on display in nearly a century. This will be the first time these works have been seen in North America. Built by Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, the Torlonia Collection became the largest private assembly of ancient Roman sculptures.

Portrait of Hadrian, about 130 CE.

Prince Alessandro opened a museum in Rome in 1876 to showcase the family’s holdings, offering access to small, select groups of visitors.

The museum closed during World War II, leaving the collection largely hidden for decades. 96 Greek and Roman sculptural pieces from the fifth century BCE to the fourth century CE went on display in 2022.

The finest classical statues, busts, sculptures and reliefs from the fifth century BC to the fourth century AD went on display in a palazzo on Rome’s Capitoline Hill.

They constitute a priceless collection of ancient Roman statuary that was amassed by Italy’s aristocratic Torlonia family. Accessible only to a chosen few, the collection became the stuff of legend. Even scholars knew it only from its catalogue, which was compiled in 1884. It is thought to be the largest collection in the world. Part of the Torlonia Collection is revealed to North America for the first time in its history.

One of the highlights of the collection is a stone relief, about 4ft wide and 3ft high, which depicts a busy scene at Portus, ancient Rome’s port on the Tyrrhenian coast.

The Torlonia Marbles embarked on a world tour of museums.