Mexico City. The virtual exhibition Roma æterna or the construction of a myth was inaugurated this Wednesday on the occasion of the National Day of Italy, it brings together more than 250 images of pictorial, sculptural and architectural works that capture the magnificence of that imperial capital, reported the federal Ministry of Culture through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH ).
In collaboration with the Italian Embassy, the Faculty of Architecture of the Roma Tre University and the Italian Institute of Culture in Mexico, they organized and developed the exhibition that explores, from different artistic or particular optical currents, the splendor in the time of the emperors , going through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
“There are few capitals of our era that, like Rome, have managed to reinvent themselves and remain in force through the millennia. With the aim of showing the future of this culture from the history of art, this tribute was made to be visited by anyone from anywhere in the world, ”explained representatives of the Italian embassy in Mexico.
The curator, Margarita Segarra Lagunes explained that the tour is divided into six thematic-chronological sections: the construction of the myth; use, reuse and stratification; the recovery of antiquity; the triumph of the Baroque in public space; the rediscovery of antiquity, and eternal Rome in centennial Mexico.
The last section – he added – is dedicated to the Roman presence in Mexican art, includes pieces that allude to the influence on religious works of the viceregal era, as well as the training process that, after Independence, students from the Academy of San Carlos and they returned to the Italian art of their time as the main cultural reference.
He pointed out that this module is made up of the digital images of 63 pieces, and was curated by the historian Germán Gómez López, attached to the National Coordination of Museums and Exhibitions of the INAH.
In addition, he thanked the enthusiastic participation of private collectors and venues such as the museums of Rome, the Vatican, the Louvre, the Fine Arts in Boston, Städel in Frankfurt and the Walters of Art, in Baltimore, as well as the National Galleries of Scotland, among others. .
“The trigger for the myth of Rome and the stage of the cultural phenomenon, known as the ‘Grand Tour’ – in the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century – was nostalgia for the city’s classical past, on the part of artists like Goethe, Lord Byron and Nikolái Gógol, who recovered the capital as a muse that inspired a whole generation of new artists and intellectuals ”explained Segarra Lagunes.
“A select group of artistic works has been made available to the Mexican public, made by artists such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Giovanni Battista Piranesi, to name a few,” he stressed.
During the opening of the exhibition, the binational collaboration with the Italian government that is 500 years old was evoked, as well as its work in the recovery of historic buildings damaged by the earthquakes of 2017, in the states of Mexico and Morelos.
Roma æterna or the construction of a myth It is freely accessible on the page: www.romaeternadigitale.it and it will remain until December 2, in addition it will be invited to conferences and other academic activities.
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