Da Roma a Parigi. Nuovi documenti sull’esodo dell’Avorio Barberini
Giulia Calanna
This paper focuses on the nineteenth century collecting history of the renowned Barberini Ivory, one of the most important late-antique artworks of the Louvre Department of Decorative Arts. The ivory relief was brought from Rome, where it was kept in the Barberini collection, to Florence Superintendence Artworks and Antiques Export Office, and eventually sold to the Louvre. Based on partially unpublished archival documentation, this paper investigates the events behind the export of Barberini Ivory from Italy. Pasquale Nerino Ferri, art historian and Florentine Superintendence official, played an important role in this story: in 1899 he signed the export license that paved the ivory’s way to the Louvre.