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“Portrait of Augustus Wearing a Toga,” first quarter of the First Century–first half of the Second Century, marble, 85 by 353/8 by 235/8  inches, Musée du Louvre, Paris. ©AFA/ Musée du Louvre/Daniel Lebée and Carine Deambrosis.

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Globular perfume vase, Fourth Century, glass, 37/8  by 31/8  by 31/8  inches, Musée du Louvre. ©AFA /Musée du Louvre/ Anne Chauvet.

MUST RUN APRIL

‘ROMAN ART FROM THE LOUVRE’ WILL DEBUT AT THIS FALL AT IMA w/2 cuts

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INDIANAPOLIS, IND. — The Indianapolis Museum of Art announces it will premiere “Roman Art from the Louvre,” an exhibition of works from the Musée du Louvre in Paris, on view September 23–January 6.

Featuring 184 works drawn from the Louvre’s collection of Roman art, the exhibition includes mosaics, frescoes, terra cotta statuettes, monumental sculptures, sarcophagi, marble reliefs, glass and metal vessels, and gold jewelry, most of which have never previously traveled to the United States.

Organized thematically, the exhibition examines everyday Roman public and private life through different lenses, including religion, urbanism, war, imperial expansion, funerary practices, intellectual life and family.

The largest traveling exhibition of works every drawn from the Louvre’s collections, “Roman Art from the Louvre” is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Musée du Louvre. Following its presentation in Indianapolis, the exhibition will travel to the Seattle Art Museum and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

“‘Roman Art from the Louvre’ gives us the remarkable opportunity to bring treasured works from the Louvre’s unrivaled Roman art collections to Indianapolis,” said Maxwell L. Anderson, director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA).

“In addition to sharing these extraordinary antiquities with our audiences, we are collaborating on a number of great initiatives that will harness technological innovations, including streaming video and social computing, to create a more interactive, enhanced visitor experience.”

“Roman Art from the Louvre” traces the genealogy of the four main Roman dynasties — the Julio-Claudians, the Antonines, the Severans and the family of Constantine — through an examination of works made between the First Century BC and the early Fourth Century AD.

The exhibition will include a section devoted to noncitizens of Rome — foreigners, freedmen and slaves — and will also examine the role of women during the period. The exhibition will close with ancient statues that have been repeatedly repaired and altered since the Renaissance, reflecting both the ongoing interest in Roman art and the way in which it has been collected, interpreted and restored over the centuries.

Exhibition highlights include:

érelief sculptures from Emperor Hadrian’s village at Tivoli

ébusts of prominent Roman leaders, including Marcus Aurelius and Agrippa

éstatues of the emperors Augustus, Caligula and Trajan

émilitary diplomas and army medallions

éhousehold objects found at Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The IMA began collecting antiquities before World War I, when noted collector-missionary, the Reverend Chauncey Murch, donated various Egyptian objects that he had acquired while attached to the American mission in Luxor in the 1890s.

Between World War I and World War II, a selection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman ceramics and sculptures were purchased for the museum in Europe and Africa by archaeologists, travelers and collectors with Indiana ties.

“Roman Art from the Louvre” will be accompanied by an illustrated exhibition catalog.

The museum is at 4000 Michigan Road. For information, www.ima-art.org or 317-923-1331.