Courtesy of the Kimbell
A young woman stares out from two thousand years ago. Her hair is braided in an intricate halo, her expression is serene, almost defiant — and her face, chiseled from marble in the age of Augustus, has survived wars, papal intrigue, and the passage of empires. This fall, she’ll be standing in Fort Worth.
Courtesy of the Kimbell
On September 14, the Kimbell Art Museum will open “Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection” — a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of fifty-eight marble masterpieces, many of which have never left Italy. On view through January 25, 2026, the exhibition marks the first time works from the renowned Torlonia Collection will be displayed in North America, and the Kimbell is one of only two U.S. museums to be granted this honor.
“This is the first exhibition of ancient Roman sculpture in the Kimbell’s fifty-three-year history,” said Eric Lee, director of the museum. “The opportunity to bring large-scale works of Roman sculpture to the American public is extremely rare.”
Rare is right. The Torlonia Collection is widely considered the greatest private collection of ancient Roman sculpture in the world — assembled piece by piece over generations by the powerful Franco-Italian Torlonia banking family. Many of these sculptures haven’t been publicly displayed since World War II. After decades hidden behind the locked doors of the family’s private museum in Rome, they were only recently conserved and shown in Europe. A 2020 debut in Rome’s Musei Capitolini stunned audiences, and a subsequent showing at the Louvre in Paris drew record-breaking crowds.
Now, a carefully curated selection of fifty-eight masterpieces will make their long-delayed American debut in the Renzo Piano Pavilion, according to a release. The sculptures range from the fifth century B.C. to the early fourth century A.D., with a strong focus on the High Imperial era, when the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to the Middle East and stone busts of emperors were the ancient equivalent of political billboards.
The show opens with three works dubbed “Icons of the Torlonia Collection,” including the “Portrait of a Young Woman” — a striking example of Roman female portraiture from the early Augustan age, often referred to as the “Maiden of Vulci.” From there, the exhibition unfolds across six thematic sections — each one offering a glimpse into the artistic, political, and philosophical heart of the empire.
“Each of these exceptional sculptures has lived many lives over the centuries,” said Jennifer Casler Price, the Kimbell’s curator for the exhibition. “Reaching across space and time — connecting the past with the present — these powerful works still resonate with us today.”
In “Ideal Bodies and Model Behavior,” mythological figures like the goddess Hestia — represented by the majestic Hestia Giustiniani statue — demonstrate the Roman obsession with Greek aesthetics. “Strategies of Succession” shifts the focus to power and propaganda, with exquisitely chiseled busts of emperors such as Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius offering a master class in ancient image control — the kind of curated power pose modern leaders still try to emulate. But the exhibition doesn’t just present sculpture as it was; it also traces how tastes evolved over centuries. “Restoration and Reconstruction” highlights a long tradition of creative meddling, when collectors preferred “complete” statues and sometimes stitched together ancient fragments into wholly new creations. There’s a Medusa head grafted onto a griffin-footed table leg, and a once-humble ram sculpture elevated to grandeur by none other than Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Purists might wince — but these interventions tell their own story of classical reinvention.
Courtesy of the Kimbell
Some of the most moving works in "Myth and Marble" come from the Torlonia family’s own excavations, particularly from estates along the Via Appia Antica and the ancient harbor of Portus. In “Torlonia Excavations,” visitors will find rare votive reliefs and a deeply evocative carved stone showing the very port where the sculpture was unearthed. The exhibition closes with “Death and Remembrance” — where elaborately carved sarcophagi, some depicting the labors of Hercules or resting couples in eternal repose, underscore just how deeply the Romans valued memory, identity, and legacy in stone.
“This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, president of the Fondazione Torlonia, which oversees the collection today. “By sharing these rare masterpieces with the public, Fondazione Torlonia aims to deepen appreciation for and foster a renewed connection with the artistic achievements of the ancient world.”
Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection
- September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026
- Kimbell Art Museum, Renzo Piano Pavilion
- 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107
- kimbellart.org
