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The new show at the Silver Museum Mythical & Erothic
[Susan Glasspool]
If you are really observant in this show you can forget all about your well-thumbed Karma Sutra... The Mythologica et Erotica. Art and culture from antiquity to the 18th century exhibition at the Silver Museum in the Pitti Palace offers naughty and saucy scenes in miniature - inspired by the ancient myths of the Greeks and Romans and very popular among collectors from the Renaissance onwards.
Naturally this is not really what you should be looking for if you go to view the show! The collections on display are unique and this is a rare chance to view them as normally only a small part is included in the permanent displays.
Museum director Ornella Casazza conceived the exhibition as a way of placing the Medici collection of cameos and intaglios portraying ancient mythological scenes - part of the Museum’s huge collection - in the limelight. Some exhibits are instead on loan from other museums and private collections and therefore will probably never be seen again as a group.
If you count them (!), you can find 213 exhibits on display and all based on Eros, a subject that has fascinated collectors from the very first (in other words from the Renaissance onwards). Erotic fantasy in this period was inspired by the ancient myths that told about the high jinks of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses and here you can find them in all sorts of ambiguous and saucy yet symbolic poses.
These tiny masterpieces and their subject matter are set against other art works - paintings, frescoes, sculpture, prints, ivories, porcelain, jewellery, coins and medallions - based on similar themes and carried out in various periods in history. Gods, goddesses - in particular Venus - and other mythical figures are brought back to life in this exhibition - and thus in our imagination - whilst also offering splendid examples of ancient artistic mastery.
A wonderful chance to rediscover the ancient myths as told by the Greeks and Romans, as well as admire some really wonderful objets d’arte!
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