COLLECTION OF SULFUR CASTS OF ANCIENT GEMS
The Casanatense Library has a collection of red sulfur imprints, of ancient gems acquired between the years 1768-1769. There are 875 physically present footprints stored inside fifteen wooden tops, stacked together to make up a small cabinet.
The manuscript sales catalog, preserved in the Casanatense, contains information about 881 impressions, in rare cases providing information about the presumed provenance of the original gemstone from which the cast was made, with reference to the engravers and the material itself. A subject-based list is outlined for the catalog, divided into six major groups: “Figures, portraits of gods and goddesses,” “History,” “Philosophers, poets and orators,” “Kings of Macedonia and Egypt,” “Roman consuls, emperors and empresses,” and “Miscellany.”
An annotation in the manuscript indicates the place where the collection had been purchased: it was Gerolamo Gioni’s workshop, located on Via del Corso, in the block between Via Frattina and Via della Vite.
The collection of casts of ancient gems is clear evidence of the cultural climate that must have prevailed in 18th-century Rome. Those who went there would have the opportunity to take away with them a small piece of that much sought-after classicism. An uncluttered souvenir, cultured and strongly characterized through iconographies peculiar to the classical world.
Between the mid-18th and 19th centuries, master carvers seemed to go with what were the fashions and needs of the time, turning their eyes to the past, to the great themes of Greco-Roman antiquity, to philosophers and historical figures capable of memorable feats and exempla virtutis.
The world of myth, with its richness and evocative power, will remain for at least another century the strongest and most continuous link with a past to be rediscovered, imitated and evoked, so much so that even portraits of contemporary figures will be executed in the ancient manner.
Read more:
P. Apolito, La collezione degli zolfi di gemme antiche della Biblioteca Casanatense, in Rischiarare il vero, rilevare il bello. Storie e modelli di tutela e valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale, a cura di Serafina Pennestrì, Roma, Ministero della Cultura, 2021 (Notiziario del Portale Numismatico dello Stato. Serie Medaglieri italiani, 15), p. 331-400