PRESS RELEASE – GOVERNORATE OF VATICAN CITY STATE / VATICAN MUSEUMS
Presentation of the copy of the restored lost Campanari Tomb of Vulci
Presentazione della copia della perduta Tomba Campanari di Vulci restaurata
The return of Persephone
Copy of the lost Campanari tomb of Vulci restored
Vatican Museums – Thursday 10 April 2025, 16.00, Conference Hall
Vatican City, 8 April 2025 – After 75 years, one of the most extraordinary examples of Etruscan painting will once again be visible to the public. The Vatican Museums present the restoration of the copy from life of the Campanari Tomb of Vulci, by the nineteenth-century artist and archaeologist Carlo Ruspi (1786-1863), now on permanent display in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum.
On Thursday 10 April 2025, at 16.00, in the Vatican Museums Conference Hall, a press conference will be held with the official presentation of the restored work, in the presence of Barbara Jatta, Director of the Vatican Museums; Maurizio Sannibale, Curator of the Department of Etruscan-Italic Antiquities; Chiara Fornaciari da Passano, Head of the Laboratory for the Restoration of Works on Paper; Flavia Serena di Lapigio, restorer of the Polymaterial Restoration Laboratory, and Marco Innocenzi, restorer of the Paintings and Wood Materials Restoration Laboratory.
At the end of the meeting, the guests will be accompanied on an exclusive visit to the hall in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum where the work is displayed, a symbol of the original documentary vocation of the museum, inaugurated in 1837 by Gregory XVI.
A lost masterpiece returns to light
The Campanari Tomb (late fourth – third century B.C.), discovered by Secondiano Campanari in 1833, was completely destroyed after its discovery due to an unfortunate attempt to detach the wall paintings. There remains only a pictorial copy from life, limited to the scene with Hades and Persephone, realized by Carlo Ruspi between 1835 and 1837. The rest of the pictorial cycle is known only from drawings.
Ruspi’s work is an intrinsic partof the extraordinary nineteenth-century undertaking to document and preserve Etruscan painting. Described as an “artist-archaeologist” himself, Ruspi was a pioneer in the true-to-life reproduction of the painted tombs of Tarquinia and Vulci, working for years in extreme conditions, inside the hypogea, illuminated by torches and candles.
His activity gave rise to the period of Etruscan fac-similes, now considered to be true masterpieces of visual archaeology. Some of his works were acquired by the King of Baveria for the Alte-Pinakothek in Munich (later destroyed during the Second World War), whereas others were the protagonists of the London exhibition organized by Campanari in 1837. The Vatican collection preserves the reproductions of no less than six Tarquin tombs, the François di Vulci Tomb and, indeed, the Campanari Tomb, which can now be seen again.
Restoration as pilot project
The restored panel, damaged over time by mechanical tensions, tears and loss of colour, has been recovered by means of a highly specialized intervention involving several of the Vatican Museum’s laboratories. It is now mounted on a protective support, conceived to guarantee its conservation and at the same time its permanent display.
Barbara Jatta, Director of the Vatican Museums, says: “The return of the copy of the Campanari Tomb to our exhibition itinerary represents a significant moment for the Vatican Museums. This restoration not only restores a masterpiece of Etruscan painting to the public, but also emphasizes our continuing commitment to enhancing and conserving cultural heritage”.
Maurizio Sannibale, Curator of the Department of Etruscan-Italic Antiquities, adds: “The copy by Carlo Ruspi is the only remaining testimony of the Campanari Tomb, whose original pictorial cycle has been lost. This restoration allows us to rediscover and appreciate evidence of Etruscan painting through the eyes and the expertise of a nineteenth-century artist who devoted his life to the careful documentation of these works, rescuing them from oblivion and the ravages of time”.
The return of the work to exhibition marks a first step towards a broader strategy of highlighting the value of Ruspi's historical copies, which for over a century have been a distinctive feature of the Vatican collection and which today, thanks to a new museographic and conservation approach, will be able to take centre stage once again.
ACCREDITATION PROCEDURES
Journalists and media operators who wish to participate must apply, no later than 24 hours before the event, via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.
