Rare Exhibition of Roman Marbles Heads to North America

One of the world’s largest and most important private collections of ancient Roman sculpture is making its North American debut. Next spring, a traveling exhibition of the rarely-seen Torlonia Marbles will head to Chicago, Fort Worth, and Montreal. Many of these centuries-old sculptures will leave Rome for the very first time.

Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture From the Torlonia Collection is curated by Lisa Ayla Çakmak, Chair and Curator of Arts Greece, Rome, and Byzantium at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Katharine A. Raff, Curator of Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium at the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition showcases 58 of the 620 sculptures that make up the Torlonia Marbles collection. It spans nine centuries across six curated sections, starting with the collection’s most famous objects. “The primary thesis of the exhibition is about how, both in antiquity and today, we live in a world surrounded by images,” Çakmak told Artnet. “Those images communicate messages about identity, status, power, etc.”

The North American tour of the Torlonia Marbles begins at the Art Institute of Chicago from March 15 to June 29, 2025. Then, Myth and Marble will travel to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (September 14, 2025—January 25, 2026) and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Québec (March 10–July 19, 2026).

What Are the Torlonia Marbles?

Comprising 620 ancient Roman and Greek relics, the Torlonia Marbles collection is among the world’s most significant private holdings of ancient sculpture. The collection was amassed by the Torlonia family, a noble family from Rome who handled the Vatican’s finances during the 18th and 19th centuries. Known as a “collection of collections,” the Torlonia Marbles include older collections that were acquired in whole or in part by Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Prince Alessandro Torlonia. The family also purchased individual works on the art market and excavated ancient sites in and around Rome.

In 1875, Prince Alessandro opened a museum that displayed the Torlonia Marbles until the start of World War II, when the collection went into storage. Following decades of negotiations between the Torlonia family and the Italian government, a selection of the Torlonia Marbles went back on public display in 2020 at the Capitoline Museums in Rome. Shortly after, part of the collection was exhibited at the Louvre Museum in Paris. 2025’s Myth and Marble marks the first cross-continental journey for many of the Tarlonia Marbles.

Nearly half of the 58 sculptures featured in Myth and Marble were recently restored through a partnership between the Torlonia Foundation and Italian luxury brand Bvlgari. Among these is the collection’s oldest piece, a white marble votive relief dating back to the 5th century BCE. Of the collection’s 620 relics, about 180 are busts—making it one of the world’s largest collections of Roman portraiture.

According to Çakmak, the exhibition focuses on “the areas of portraiture and gods and goddesses.” In conversation with Artnet, she explained, “We wanted to highlight the emperors of the 2nd century CE because there is significant name recognition here, such as Marcus Aurelius.” Çakmak also noted that the Torlonia Marbles include “a good number of female portraits.”