Il Campidoglio e i Musei Capitolini nel Diario del conte polacco August Fryderyk Moszyński (1785)

Abstract

Count August F. Moszyński, born and educated in Dresden, was one of the key figures of the Enlightenment in Poland. Soon after
his election in 1764, King Stanisław August invited him to his court in Warsaw to build up an art collection and establish an academy
of fine arts. In 1772, although Moszyński lost his strong position at court, he retained his post as director of the royal collections. Nevertheless,
he dreamt of returning to Italy, which he finally did thanks to the king’s support. Moszyński was tasked with compiling a
report on the state of the arts in Italy which he had visited in his youth. He was only seventeen when he embarked on his Grand Tour
in 1747/1748 – which he later records with nostalgia in the diary of his second visit to Italy in the years 1785–1786. He first visited
the South of France followed by all the big cities of Italy. The present paper discusses Moszyński’s notes and observations about the Capitoline
Hill and its museums, which he produced between May and October of 1785. The main scope of his work was to create an
idea for the perfect museum and therefore he proposed moving the most beautiful sculptures from the Capitoline Museum to the
Vatican. While creating this somewhat strange idea he paid attention to a number of sculptures and made many highly interesting descriptions
and comparisons. His observations which are very personal have a great importance for research concerning neoclassical
taste and museology.