The Villa Medici Album
180 YEARS OF VISUAL MEMORY!
The French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici launches the Villa Medici Album, a participative album to collect your photos and those of your loved ones.
An initiative by Sam Stourdzé
Supported by Marie Robert, chief curator of photography and cinema at the Musée d’Orsay, in residence at Villa Medici in 2023
In partnership with the Établissement public des musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie
Villa Medici, a building that has stood on the heights of Rome since the Renaissance, is known for its countless pictorial and photographic representations, particularly since the French Academy in Rome moved there in 1803 to accommodate artists and researchers.
A visual and vernacular memory, the Album invites us to go behind the scenes of Villa Medici from the point of view of those who have lived there and brought it to life over the past two centuries: fellows, residents, guests, staff, passengers for a night or a lifetime.
Throughout the Album, we come across residents at work or celebrating Carnival, views of memorable exhibitions, intimate testimonials and never-before-seen images of major worksites and maintenance work at Villa Medici.
The Album also sheds light on other presences that are less visible in the great creation story, but which nevertheless helped shape this exceptional community and forge its history: animals, pine and orange trees, statues and even ghosts!
Michel Marot, architecte pensionnaire, dans le bassin du Mercure, Villa Médicis. Circa 1955 © Véronique Marot – Anne Fourès
Lendemain de carnaval dans le Grand Salon. 1998 © Bruno Racine – Anne Fourès
Déjeuner de pensionnaires dans la Loggia, Villa Médicis. Circa 1956-1957 © Véronique Marot – Anne Fourès
Have you lived, worked or created here? Take part in the Villa Album by uploading your photos and those of your loved ones!
Villa Medici sincerely thanks all those who submit their images to share them with the general public of today and tomorrow.
Gabrielle Hébert, Sur la terrasse du Bosco. Circa 1885-1896 © Musée national Ernest Hébert, Paris / Jean-Gabriel Lopez
Carnaval à la Villa Médicis. Circa 1982. Photographed by André Pelle © AFR
Thibaut , fils de Jacques et Anne-Marie de la Presle, Villa Médicis. 1924 © Alix de la Presle-Evesque – Anne Fourès
In partnership with
Cover image credit
Exposition “La Ville, le Jardin, la Mémoire”. Performance de Xavier Veilhan et installation de Stalker.
Curators: Laurence Bossé, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Hans Ulrich Obrist. 1998. Photographed by Béatrice Racine © Bruno et Béatrice Racine – AFR – Anne Fourès