Vittoriano
The collection of terracotta sculptures at the Museo di Palazzo Venezia is among the most important in the world for its scope and quality, including works dating from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
Its origins date back to 1920, when—under the direction of Federico Hermanin (1868–1953)—some works from Castel Sant’Angelo became part of the new museum.
A major expansion occurred in 1949 with the acquisition of 120 models and sketches that had belonged to the tenor Evangelista Gorga.
A celebrated Puccini performer, Gorga devoted himself to collecting after his opera career, filling ten apartments on Via Cola di Rienzo with objects from every era: musical instruments, weapons, fossils, bronzes, wooden sculptures, and especially terracottas. Many came from the Torlonia collection, which included the holdings of the sculptor and restorer Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1717–1799).
In later years, the collection grew through purchases and donations, such as that of Margaret Nicod Sussmann in 1947, in memory of her brother-in-law Ludwig Pollak, archaeologist and key figure of Rome’s cultural life.
Today the collection is housed in the Palazzetto spaces and includes autograph works by Bernini, recently catalogued, among which:
- Angel with the Title of the Cross
- Head of a Moor
- Face of Saint Teresa of Ávila
