Recycling Beauty: Fondazione Prada's Catalog on Classical Reuse

The catalog for Fondazione Prada's exhibition 'Recycling Beauty' (curated by Salvatore Settis, Anna Anguissola, and Denise La Monica) is a richly illustrated volume that deepens the show's exploration of how classical art was repurposed from antiquity through the Middle Ages and Modern Era. Unlike the exhibition's free-flowing layout in the Podium space, the catalog is structured around seven thematic antinomies (e.g., Utility vs. Ostentation, Dispersion vs. Concentration), each containing two essays and object entries. Contributors include Anna Anguissola, Giandomenico Spinola, Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer, Chiara Franceschini, Arnold Esch, Giovanna Targia, and others. The volume also features four surveys on non-European reuse (Ancient Egypt, India, pre-Columbian civilizations, Islamic territories) and an essay by Claudio Parisi Presicce on the colossal reconstructed Constantine statue, with a technical note by Adam Lowe of Factum Arte. A photo insert 'Living with Antiquities' by Alessandro Poggio documents sites in Italy where medieval reuse of Roman remains is still visible. The catalog is published in English with Italian translations of the essays in an appendix. The exhibition itself, held at Fondazione Prada in Milan in 2022, displayed emblematic examples of spolia, including a cameo of Constantine's family set in a Gothic gospel binding, a latrine seat turned papal throne, and the reconstructed Colossus of Constantine.