Collection Museo Emilio Greco - Palazzo Soliano

The collection of the Museo Emilio Greco consists of the works donated to the city of Orvieto by the artist. His particular ties with Orvieto spring from his commission in 1964 for the bronze doors of the Cathedral, which serve as introduction to this great architectural masterpiece. The works on exhibit on the ground floor of Palazzo Soliano range from 1947 to 1990 and mark the most significant stages in his career: from the Wrestler, exhibited in London for the Olympic games of 1948, to the famous plaster cast of the Monument to Pope John XXIII created between 1965 and 1967.

Emilio Greco

SCULPTURE – MEDALS AND BAS-RELIEFS

Model for the doors of the Cathedral of Orvieto
1962, bronze, 153 x 75 x 3.4 cm.

Finally this important study, which documents an initial phase in the creation of the Orvieto doors, is back together with the relevant drawings previously donated by the artist. The theme chosen, the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy, of overpowering interpretative and sociological import, is synoptically developed in these monumental doors.
Greco remembers that the first panel he created when he began the doors was the Visit to the Imprisoned, the first actually done to scale and based on his recent memory of John XXIII's visit to Regina Coeli. "I took on the image of the blessing Pope and the great grate... I must admit that the elementary geometry of the grate suggested original stylistic solutions and the work...haunted me unremittingly throughout the day." But then he dwelt on the difficulties encountered in composing the large Burial scene "recalling how the subject so often found in other reliefs in the past had been treated", and in the other panels, To give drink to the thirsty, To feed the hungry, To clothe the naked, To harbor the homeless and To visit the sick, "especially with reference to the uneven number of the episodes" that risked unbalancing the formal structure of the two wings. The maquette represents, in a particularly significant way, the intermediate creative stage between the drawing, initial and immediate, and the final results. It bears witness, in the variations then carried out on the final sculpture, to the complexity of the creative path undertaken by the artist: in particular the artistic process initially inspired by the archaic models of the Italian "primitives" – from the master of Saint Martin on the facade of the cathedral of Lucca, to Simone Martini in Assisi – or the comparison with Caravaggio's iconography, requiring the enfranchisement from the figurative reference models so as to give free reign to that original expressive urgency that characterizes and profoundly substantiates Emilio Greco's poetic idiom.

1. Ox; 1948 bronze, 80 x 90 x 70 cm.

2. Large skater n. 2; 1971, resin, 200 x 152 x 52 cm.

3. Wrestler; 1947, bronze, 40 x 36 x 26 cm.

4. Head of a man; 1947, bronze, 21 x 15 x 13 cm.

5. Singer; 1947, bronze, 60 x 20 18 cm.

6. Estrellita; 1973, bronze, 193 x 60 x 52 cm.

7. Eiko; 1968, bronze, 39 x 42 x 33 cm.

8. Micaela; 1967, bronze, 58,5 x 46 x 40 cm.

9. Estrellita; 1972, terracotta, 34 x 24 x 15 cm.

10. Large bather n. 1; 1956, bronze, 216 x 63 x 45 cm.

11. Bust of a girl; 1948, terracotta, 55 x 39 x 22 cm.

12. Zenobia; 1954, terracotta, 35 x 23 x 18 cm.

13. Large seated figure n. 2; 1969, bronze, 133 x 92 x 70 cm.

14. Head of a woman; 1951, bronze, 56 x 26 x 25 cm.

15. Olimpia; 1960, bronze, 74 x 60 x 50 cm.

16. Large crouching figure n. 4; 1973, bronze, 125 x 81 x 63 cm.

17. Ifigenia; 1961, bronze, 60 x 46 x 32 cm.

18. Large crouching figure n. 6; 1983, original plaster, 62 x 46 x 22 cm.

19. Maria Baldassarre; 1967, bronze, 63 x 41 x 23 cm.

20. Anna; 1962, bronze, 89 x 56 x 39 cm .

21. Memories of summer; 1979, bronze, 230 x 93 x 55 cm.

22. Large seated figure 1951, original terracotta, 150 x 60 x 40 cm.

23. Dormitio virginia; 1983, bas-relief bronze, 51 x 105 cm.

24. Large crouching figure n. 2; 1968, bronze, 140 x 99 x 72 cm.

25. Anna; 1954, bronze, 64 x 27 x 24 cm.

26. Head of a man; 1948, bronze, 25 x 16 x 17 cm.

27. Monument to Pope John XXIII in St Peter's; 1965-67, original plaster model, 628 x 275 cm.

28. Summer; 1979, bas- relief, bronze, 40 x 39.5 cm.

29. Model of the commemorative medal of the Museo Emilio Greco (Orvieto) 1991, original plaster model, 30 x 28 cm.

30. Model of the commemorative medal of the XVII Olympics of Rome 1960, bronze Ø 24 cm.

31. Memory of love 1976, bas-relief, bronze, 40 x 44 cm.

DRAWINGS AND PRINTS –MEZZANINE RIGHT WING

I. Portrait of a lady, 1946, ink drawing, 30.3 x 22.8 cm.

II. Seated figure, 1947, ink drawing, 45.5 x 30.5 cm.

III. Figure, 1947, ink drawing, 45.4 x 30.5 cm.

IV. Study for the wrestler, 1947, ink drawing, 37.2 x 27.6 cm.

V. Lovers, 1965, 1965, ink drawing, 70 x 50 cm.

VI. Anna, 1961, ink drawing, 70 x 50 cm.

VII. Diagonal nude, 1965, ink drawing, 62.5 x 48.5 cm.

VIII. Inizio d'amplesso n. 1, 1968, ink drawing, 68.5 x 103 cm.

IX. Lovers 1968, 1968, ink drawing, 98.5 x 104.4 cm.

X. Homage to Petrarch, 1974, ink drawing, 37 x 49.6 cm.

XI. Inizio d'amplesso n. 2, 1969, ink drawing, 69 x 104 cm.

XII. Malgari, 1976, ink drawing, 70 x 51.9 cm.

XIII. Sentimento d'amore n. 2, 1968, ink drawing, 69.3 x 103.4 cm.

XIV. Face, 1967, lithograph, 64.5 x 45.8 cm. (print XVI/XX)

XV. Back, 1967, lithograph, 65.2 x 46.5 cm. (edition number 21/90)

XVI. Commiato n. 3, 1969, lithograph, 49.5 x 70 cm. (artist's proof) trial proof, working proof limited edition, impression

XVII. Commiato n. 4, 1969, lithograph, 72 x 50.5 cm. (artist's proof 2/10)

XVIII. Rhythmical figure 1974, 1974, ink drawing, 70.3 x 104 cm.

XIX. Love; 1972, diamond point engraving on lithographic stone, 80.5 x 57.5 cm., sheet size 99.8 x 69.5 cm. (edition number 43/90)

PRINTS AND DRAWINGS – RIGHT WING BELOW

XX. Study for a seated figure; 1967, ink drawing, 99.8 x 67.7 cm.

XXI. Image of liberty; 1968, ink drawing, 104.5 x 68 cm.

XXII. Study for Ovid; 1968, ink drawing, 100 x 70.3 cm.

XXIII. Ellipse; 1968, ink drawing, 100 x 70.3 cm.

XXIV. Back 1974; 1974, ink drawing, 104 x 70.3 cm.

XXV. Dancer 1977; 1977, ink drawing, 70 x 52 cm.

XXVI. Commiato n. 23; 1983, copper etching, 39.1 x 31.6 cm., size of sheet i 70.4 x 49.5 cm. (edition number XIII/XX)

XXVII. Lù; 1973, copper etching, 62.3 x 46.4 cm., size of sheet 78.4 x 66 cm. (edition number 73/90)

PRINTS AND DRAWINGS – LEFT WING BELOW

XXVIII. Image 1976; 1976, ink drawing, 70 x 51.7 cm.

XXIX. Clizia; 1980, ink drawing, 70.2 x 50.5 cm.

XXX. Farewell n. 10; 1970, copper etching, 59 x 78.9 cm., on 70 x 99.4 cm. sheet (edition number 44/90)

XXXI. Sentimento d'amore n. 3; 1969, ink drawing, 102.9 x 70 cm.

XXXII. Horseman (Rider) Cavaliered; 1989, ink drawing, 70.6 x 52 cm.

XXXIII. Tension; 1989, ink drawing, 70 x 52 cm.

PRINTS AND DRAWINGS – LEFT MEZZANINE

XXXIV. Composition, love 1989; 1989, copper etching, image size 59.1 x 77.7 cm., sheet size 79.7 x 104.3 cm. (edition number I/XX)

XXXV. Daniela, memory of the sea; 1978, ink drawing, 70 x 52 cm.

XXXVI. Lovers 1985; 1985, copper etching, 21.6 x 15.8 cm., sheet size 50.5 x 34.8 cm. (edition number I/XX)

XXXVII. Back 1987; 1987, copper etching, 31.7 x 24.6 cm, sheet size 53.5 x 39.8 cm. (artist's proof)

XXXVIII. Lovers 1989; 1989, ink drawing, 52 x 70 cm.

XXXIX. Composition n. 1; 1970, copper etched drawing 47.3 x 58.5 cm, sheet size 59 x 70 cm. (edition number 15/90) engraving, con burino o con acido?

XL. Memory n. 3; 1971, copper etching, 48.7 x 35.5 cm., sheet size 49.7 x 70 cm. (edition number 85/90)

XLI. Brigitte, 1970; copper etching, 31.5 x 48.7 cm., sheet size 50.4 x 70.5 cm. (edition number 31/90)

XLII. Lovers 1984; 1984, ink drawing, 52 x 70 cm.

XLIII. Milena, 1970; copper etching, 31.8 x 49.4 cm., sheet size 50.5 x 70.5 cm. (artist's proof)

XLIV. Lovers 1990; 1990, ink drawing, 52 x 70 cm.

PRINTS AND DRAWINGS – LEFT SIDE WALL

XLV. Rhythmic figure 1985; 1985, ink drawing, 68.8 x 102.9 cm.

XLVI. Reflection 1977; 1977, ink drawing, 70 x 52 cm.

XLVII. Meditation n. 2; 1987, ink drawing, 70 x 51.8 cm.

XLVIII. Amorous meditation; 1979, ink drawing, 52 x 70 cm.

XLIX. Sleeper 1979; 1979, ink drawing, 50 x 70 cm.

L. View; 1979, ink drawing, 52 x 70 cm.

LI. Meditation n. 1; 1985, ink drawing, 52 x 70 cm.

PRINTS AND DRAWINGS – BACK WALL

LII. Harbor the homeless; study for a panel in the central door of the Cathedral of Orvieto, 1963, ink drawing, 70 x 50 cm.

LIII. Panel with 4 studies for the central door of the Cathedral of Orvieto, 1961
n. 1, ink drawing, 20 x 11.1 cm.
n. 2, ink drawing, 26 x 20.2 cm.
n. 3, drawing, felt-tip pen, 9.6 x 14.5 cm.
n. 4, ink drawing, 11.2 x 12.7 cm. size of panel 70 x 49.9 cm.

LIV. Panel with 2 felt-tip sketches for the monument to Pope John XXIII, 1965
n. 1, drawing, felt-tip pen, 25.2 x 23.7 cm.
n. 4, drawing, felt-tip pen, 16.5 x 11.1 cm.
size of panel 70.4 x 49.8 cm

LV. Prisoner; study for the monument to Pope John XXIII, 1965, drawing, felt-tip pen, 47.4 x 35 cm.

LVI. Falling angel;study for the main door of the Cathedral of Orvieto, 1962, drawing, felt-tip pens, 70 x 50 cm.

LVII. Panel with two studies for the monument to Pope John, done in St. Peter's, 1965, drawing, felt-tip pen, 31 x 21 cm. each, on panel measuring 50 x 74 cm.

LVIII. Two studies for the central door of the Cathedral of Orvieto, 1961, drawing, felt-tip pen and ink, 39.8 x 44.6 cm.

LIX. 2° study for the monument to Pope John XXIII, 1965, drawing, felt-tip pen, 62.5 x 43 cm.

LX. Study for the dog in the monument to Pope John XXIII in St. Peter's, 1965, ink drawing, 50.1 x 70 cm.