City of the Soul: Rome and the Romantics at The Morgan Library & Museum, through September 11, 2016

“City of the Soul: Rome and the Romantics explores the broad sweep of artistic responses to this extraordinary period in Rome’s history. Featuring a variety of media—including drawings, prints, books, manuscripts, letters and photographs—the show demonstrates the continuing hold magnificent ruins and scenic vistas had on artists, even as the need for new government buildings and improved transportation would alter some of these sights forever. At the same time, the exhibition looks at work by individuals who found the changing contemporary scene alluring and who captured the evocative interaction between daily street life and the layers of Roman history forever in the backdrop.” — The Morgan Library and Museum

“Today, we are fascinated by how rapidly cities change and how neighborhoods go through a cycle of development and destruction, which seems to occur almost overnight,” said Colin B. Bailey, director of the Morgan Library & Museum. “City of the Soul brings us to such a moment in one of the world’s greatest cities, Rome, seen from the vantage point of artists, writers, and photographers. The Morgan’s diverse collections of art and literature, supplemented with select loans from public and private sources, allow us to tell this story in a particularly engaging manner.”

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Exhibition entrance. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851, Interior of St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome [drawing]. 19th century, Thaw Collection (EVT 181)

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), Interior of St. Peter’s Basilica, Watercolor, over traces of pencil, on board. The Morgan Library & Museum, Thaw Collection. Photography by Steven H. Crossot. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Macpherson. Spanish Steps. 1855, Private Collection, L2016.07.017

Robert Turnbull Macpherson (1814-1872), The Spanish Steps, ca. 1856, Albumen print. Collection W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg. Photography by Graham S. Haber. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

Gustav Wilhelm Palm, Entrance to the Giardino del Lago, Villa Borghese, Rome, 2009.400:91

Gustav Wilhelm Palm (1810-1890), Entrance to the Giardino del Lago, Villa Borghese, Rome, 1844, Oil on paper, mounted to canvas. Thaw Collection, jointly owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Schecter Lee. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796 - 1875) The Arch of Constantine and the Forum, Rome, 1843 oil on paper mounted on canvas 10 5/8 in. x 16 1/2 in. (26.99 cm x 41.91 cm) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw, 1994. Accession number: 1994.1.175

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), The Arch of Constantine and the Forum, 1843, Oil on paper, mounted to canvas (lined). The Frick Collection, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. © The Frick Collection. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique, 1780-1867, Portrait of Guillaume Guillon Lethierre (1760-1832),.1815, 1977.56

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), Portrait of Guillaume Guillon-Lethière, 1815, Graphite on wove paper. The Morgan Library & Museum, bequest of Therese Kuhn Straus in memory of her husband, Herbert N. Straus. Photography by Steven H. Crossot. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Pinelli, Carnival Scene, Non-Moragn Private Collection (L2016.04.005)

Bartolomeo Pinelli (1781-1835), Carnival Scene, 1816, Pen and black ink, and watercolor over graphite. Roberta J. M. Olson and Alexander B.V. Johnson. Photography by Janny Chiu. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Macpherson. Falls of the Anio at Tivoli. ca. 1856, Private Collection, L2016.07.013

Robert Turnbull Macpherson (1814-1872), Panorama of Tivoli and the Falls of the Anio River, before 1858, Albumen print. Collection W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg. Photography by Graham S. Haber. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Cassas, Louis François, 1756-1827, Landscape with Ruined Arch [drawing]. 1778, III, 112b

Louis-François Cassas (1756-1827), Landscape with Arch of Drusus, 1778, Pen and brown ink, and watercolor, over black chalk. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased by Pierpont Morgan. Photography by Steven H. Crossot. Courtesy The Morgan Library.

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Installation view. Photograph by Corrado Serra.

Altobelli. Tiber and Castel S. Angelo. ca. 1865, Private Collection, L2016.07.002

Gioacchino Altobelli (1814 – after 1878), The Tiber with Castel Sant’Angelo and St. Peter’s, 1868, Albumen print from glass negative. Collection W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg. Photography by Graham S. Haber. Courtesy The Morgan Library.