Medardo Rosso's Passion for Antiquity Explored in Rome Exhibition

The Museo Nazionale Romano at Palazzo Altemps hosts 'Medardo Rosso,' a major exhibition curated by Francesco Stocchi, Paola Zatti, and Alessandra Capodiferro, focusing on the Italian sculptor's relationship with classical art. Rosso (Turin, 1858 – Milan, 1928), often considered an alter ego of Auguste Rodin in Belle Époque Paris, moved there in 1889. In 1901 he began a personal grand tour of German collections in Leipzig, Berlin, and Dresden to study classical art. Over his career, he produced fifty sculptures in wax and bronze from more than twenty-five models. The exhibition presents twenty-nine works by Rosso alongside his photographic prints, plus five bronzes from ancient models that dialogue with Palazzo Altemps' archaeological collections. Key pieces include 'Bambina ridente' (1889), inspired by a girl in a Paris hospital, shown in three versions; 'Enfant Juif' (1893), possibly a portrait of a Parisian Jewish child, one version given to Margherita Sarfatti at the 1914 Venice Biennale; and 'Ecce Puer' (1906), described by Paola Mola as 'a ghost of form,' executed in one night in London after Rosso glimpsed the child behind a curtain. The exhibition also features 'Antioco III' (1901), 'Nicolò da Uzzano' (1895), 'San Francesco' (1891) after Donatello, and 'Memnone' (1902-04). The catalog, published by Electa, includes a reprint of a 2012 scientific text by Paola Mola on Rosso's copies from antiquity.