The Museo di Roma is a museum in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, part of the network of Roman civic museums. The museum was founded in the Fascist era with the aim of documenting the local history and traditions of the "old Rome" that was rapidly disappearing, but following many donations and acquisitions of works of art is now principally an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...

. The collections initially included 120

water-colour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s by the nineteenth-century painter

Ettore Roesler Franz Ettore Roesler Franz (11 May 1845 – 26 March 1907) was an Italian painter and photographer. He was among the most prolific Italian watercolorists and vedutisti of the late nineteenth century. Biography He was born to a family of German ance ...

of ''Roma sparita'', "vanished Rome", later moved to the Museo di Roma in Trastevere.

History

Ripa - palazzo Pantanella e s Maria in cosmedin 00913

The museum was founded by the art historian , who was director of the Antichità e Belle Arti ("antiquities and fine arts department") of the government of Rome. It was the first civic museum of the city. It was housed in the , a large former pasta factory in Piazza Bocca della Verità, overlooking the Circo Massimo in the via dei Cerchi, in the Ripa rione of the city. The factory building also housed the Museo dell'Impero Romano, and was renamed "Palazzo dei Musei". The Museo di Roma opened on 21 April 1930; Muñoz was its first director. When the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

began in 1939, the museum closed. The museum re-opened only in 1952, in a new political climate and in a new location at Palazzo Braschi, a Neoclassical palace near

Piazza Navona Piazza Navona () is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans went there to watch the '' agones' ...

, built in the early years of the nineteenth century by

Luigi Braschi Onesti Luigi Braschi Onesti (1745– 9 February 1816), duca di Nemi, was a nephew of Pope Pius VI, who granted him his dukedom. Life and family Luigi's mother Giulia Braschi was Pius's sister, and his father was count Girolamo Onesti. His younger brot ...

, which since 1949 had already housed the new Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna.

Collections

The collection of the museum was at first intended only to illustrate and document the past. Thanks to numerous

bequest A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term ''bequest'' was used for personal property given by will and ''deviser'' for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the act ...

s, donations and acquisitions – among them a collection of some 5000 drawings,

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

s and old illustrated books belonging to Antonio Muñoz – the holdings of the museum now include many works of art, and it has become primarily an

. Artists represented include

Pompeo Batoni Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787) was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous allegorical and mythological pictures. The high number of foreign visitors tra ...

, Giuseppe Bottani, Ippolito Caffi, Antonio Canova, Giuseppe Ceracchi, Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari,

Lievin Cruyl Lievin Cruyl or Lieven Cruyl (name variations: Levin Cruijl, Lievin Cruijl, Levin Cruyl, Livinus Cruylius, Cruylius Livinus) (5 September 1634 – before 1720) was a Flemish priest and a draughtsman and etcher of landscapes, seascapes, and arch ...

, Felice Giani, Pietro Labruzzi,

Francesco Mochi Francesco Mochi (29 July 1580 – 6 February 1654) was an Italian early-Baroque sculptor active mostly in Rome and Orvieto. He was born in Montevarchi and died in Rome. His early training was with the anti-Mannerist Florentine painter Santi d ...

Giovanni Paolo Panini Giovanni Paolo Panini or Pannini (17 June 1691 – 21 October 1765) was an Italian painter and architect who worked in Rome and is primarily known as one of the ''vedutisti'' ("view painters"). As a painter, Panini is best known for his vistas of ...

, Bartolomeo Pinelli,

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...

, Joshua Reynolds and

Nicola Salvi Nicola Salvi or Niccolò Salvi (6 August 1697 (Rome) – 8 February 1751 (Rome)) was an Italian architect; among his few projects completed is the famous Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy. Biography Admitted to the Roman Academy of Arcadia in 1717 ...

(designer of the

Trevi Fountain The Trevi Fountain ( it, Fontana di Trevi) is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others. Standing high and wide, it is the lar ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Rome