Ancient Greek art wows Mantua

Event Dates

Start Date: 1 April, 2008 - End Date: 6 July 2008

An astonishing collection of ancient Greek art brought together under the same roof for the first time opened this weekend in the northern town of Mantua.

Around 120 precious artefacts on display at Palazzo Te explore the Italian peninsula's long fascination with Greek art, starting some 2,700 years ago when the southern part of Italy was colonized by Greek settlers.

Museums across the world have loaned items for the show, which includes a number of works that are rarely, if ever, moved from their permanent homes.

At the show's inauguration, curator Salvatore Settis described it as ''the impossible exhibition''.

''Many museums initially refused to loan their artefacts, but they changed their minds when they understood the aim of our exhibition - we wanted to explain how Greek art became a fundamental component of European culture, with Italy in the role of mediator,'' he said.

The Louvre in Paris agreed to loan out a bronze sculpture of Apollo for the first time, while an athlete's head held in Fort Worth, Texas, made its first trip back to Europe since being acquired by the Kimbell Museum.

However, the curators of the show are still in discussions with the island of Mozia off the western coast of Sicily over the loan of one masterpiece - the Charioteer of Motya, a stunning statue of a Greek youth.

The muscled marble figure is larger than life at 1.81 metres tall and is thought to date back to the 5th century BC.

Settis said he hoped to wrap up negotiations on the loan later this week.

The first section of the three-part exhibition covers the 7th to the 2nd centuries BC and features pieces produced in the southern Italian and Sicilian colonies, as well as items imported to the area from Greece and other parts of the Italian peninsula.

Among the crowd-pullers from this era is the Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo, probably created in the 3rd century BC.

Fishermen discovered the bronze statue off the southwest coast of Sicily ten years ago, raising it from its resting place 500 metres below the sea's surface after it got entangled in their net.

Although missing its arms and one leg, the movement and wild energy of the figure, depicted mid-leap, have fascinated visitors every time it has gone on show.

The second part of the exhibition spans the period between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD, as the Roman Empire rose and fell.

Greek art held a particular allure for the upstart Romans, who aspired to the elegance and tradition represented by the ancient culture.

The Romans were devoted collectors, looting items during invasions of Greece and its colonies, as well as bringing well-regarded Greek artists to work in the heart of the empire.

The pieces on show here include a marble statue of the tragic mythological figure of Niobe, whose children were killed by Greek divinities, and the Apollo of Piombino.

The latter is a famous bronze statuette discovered in the harbour of the Tuscan port Piombino in 1832 and purchased by the Louvre two years later.

The third part of the show looks at the centuries following the fall of Rome, with a particular emphasis on the Medieval and Renaissance period, when classical Greek art enjoyed a massive revival.

The exhibition also features a small ''bonus'' section at the end, showcasing three masterpieces that US museums have recently returned to Italy after lengthy negotiations.

These include a marble ceremonial basin decorated with Nereids and a striking painted marble sculpture of griffons attacking a doe, both returned from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

The third piece - returned from New York's Metropolitan Museum this January after decades of discussions - is a terracotta drinking cup painted by the 5th-century BC Greek master Euphronios.

The red and black Euphronios krater (a chalice used to mix wine with water) was acquired by the Met for $1 million in 1972 and is considered one of the finest Greek artefacts in existence.

The exhibition, entitled La Forza del Bello (The Power of Beauty) runs at Palazzo Te until July 6.