Power and pathos. The new exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi
A unique overview of Greek bronze sculpture rom March 14 to June 21, 2015
Some of the greatest masterpieces of the ancient world, from the most important Italian and international archaeological museums, will be reunited for the first time in Florence for the exhibition Power and pathos. Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, on exhibit at Palazzo Strozzi from March 14 to June 21, 2015. With 50 bronze masterpieces, the exhibition recounts the extraordinary artistic developments of the Hellenistic age (IV-I century BC), a period when, across the Mediterranean and beyond, new forms of expression were consolidated, along with great developments in techniques, representing the first form of globalization of artistic languages of the known world of the time.
The immense Hellenistic empire founded by Alexander the Great, known as Great for his great enterprises, stretched from Greece and the borders of Ethiopia to the Indus and included Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt: the extraordinary art, literature and philosophy thus had a vast basin of circulation. A unique and unrepeatable exhibit, which offers the chance to see the Viennese Apoxyomenos bronze and the marble version from the Uffizi, used for its restoration, side by side; there are two Hermes of Dionysus, one from Tunis (signed by the sculptor of second century BC, Boeto of Chalcedon), the other by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu; and two Apollo-Kouroi, archaistic pieces preserved in the Louvre and in Pompeii. Curated by Jens Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the exhibition will provide an overview of the Hellenistic world through the historical, geographical and political contexts.
Monumental statues of gods, heroes and athletes will be flanked by portraits of historical figures and sculptures in marble and stone, in an exhibit that will let the visitor discover the fascinating stories behind finding these masterpieces, most of which occurred in the sea (Mediterranean, Black Sea), or through archaeological excavations, which place the findings in relation to their ancient contexts.
After the stop in Florence, the exhibition will move to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles from July 28 to November 1, 2015 and finish at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, from December 6, 2015 to March 13 in 2016.