Serial / Portable Classic. The Greek Canon and Its Mutations

The exhibition 'Serial Classic', open in Milan from 9 May to 24 August 2015 (preview days: 2-8 May), focuses on classical sculpture and explores the ambivalent relationship between originality and imitation in Roman culture and its insistence on the circulation of multiples as an homage to Greek art. We tend to associate the idea of classical to that of uniqueness, but in no other period of western art history the creation of copies from great masterpieces of the past has been as important as in late Republican Rome and throughout the Imperial age. The exhibition comprises more than 70 artworks and opens with an in-depth analysis of lost originals and their multiple copies, represented by two particularly renowned series such as the Discobolus and the Crouching Venus. Two other important sections are devoted to the materials and the colours of classical bronzes and marbles. The Kassel Apollo, for instance, is presented in two recent plaster casts which reproduce the original bronze surface of the lost Greek original and the colours of its Roman marble copies. Another area in the exhibition illustrates the technologies and methods used in the making of the copies, presenting two essential moments such as the creation of the plaster cast and the translation of proportions and measurements on the new block of marble. Two famous series are also featured in the exhibition, the Penelope, and the Caryatides, on the prototype of the Athenian originals from the Erechtheion.

The exhibition 'Portable Classic', presented in Venice from 9 May to 13 September 2015 (preview days: 5-8 May), explores the origins and functions of miniature reproductions of classical sculptures, showcasing more than 90 artworks. Both in ancient Rome and modern Europe a true 'canon' of sculptures was created, considered as an undisputed peak of excellence of a given subject. Their prestige was so high that, since it was almost impossible to acquire the originals, their reproductions, even on a small scale, were eagerly sought for by well-read audiences. An example of this is the Farnese Hercules, exhibited in a series of smaller-scale reproductions-measuring 20 to 150 cm-in marble, bronze and terracotta. Some classical small-scale masterpieces are presented along with Renaissance multiples, through the examples of the Ignudo della Paura and the Bathing Venus. Another section of the exhibition is devoted to important art collectors from the 1500's. In a selection of paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, Tintoretto and Bernardino Licinio, the subjects are portrayed among classical sculptures and plaster casts from their personal collections. Starting from the emblematic cases of the Belvedere Torso and the Laocoön, the exhibition illustrates how Renaissance artists employed small-scale copies to elaborate hypotheses on the missing portions of the classical originals.