"The Boxer and the Victory" (12.7 - 29.10. 2023)

The Brescia City Council, the Brescia Museums Foundation and the National Roman Museum have come together to design a fascinating exhibition project for the “Bergamo Brescia Italian Culture Capital” year.

From July 12th 2023 onwards, two bronzes from the Hellenistic and Roman age: the Boxer at rest from the National Roman Museum and Brescia’s Winged Victory, will be displayed together for the first time ever at the Capitolium of Brixia. The project is part of the programme of enhancement and requalification that the Brescia Museums Foundation is developing around the archaeological area of Ancient Roman Brixia.

The two works date from different periods, (the Boxer between the 4th and 1st century BC and Winged Victory from the mid-1st century AD) and their origin stories are also very different. The athlete was certainly displayed in a public place, perhaps in Greece, and was the object of much admiration as indicated by the way the caresses of admirers have worn its surfaces. Winged Victory, on the other hand, probably stood in the temple in Brescia as a votive offering donated by the Emperor Vespasian.

Both works were discovered during archaeological excavations conducted in the nineteenth century, and both express an abstraction: the theme of success, of a positive outcome, of victory. The Boxer awaits the verdict of the referee at the end of a fight with no holds barred, as indicated by his wounds and bruises, masterfully rendered in bronze with the highest technical skill. Winged Victory, on the other hand, celebrates the victor on the battlefield, the cessation of conflict and the restoration of peace.
The innovative installation for the two works, designed by the architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg, who had already created the evocative exhibition setup for Winged Victory, triangulates the sculptures using a mirrored surface.

iGuzzini has added Palco projectors to the luminaires already supplied for Winged Victory to emphasize the interaction between the two sculptures and create further scenarios that can be managed using the Master Pro EVo KNX control system.

There are two scenarios that play one after the other, both of which avoid being over theatrical at the specific request of the architect Baldeweg. Scenario 1 creates an intimate atmosphere that focuses on enhancing the statues in relation to the surrounding space. The Palco luminaires have a colour temperature of 3000 K and illuminate the works with a light that emphasizes their details. The exhibition hall is illuminated by the ethereal light of the “moon” - a pendant luminaire created specifically to light Winged Victory - dimmed to a minimum to accentuate the reflection of the sculpture on the glass. The wall lighting in the exhibition hall is switched off apart from the projection of the Winged Victory’s shield on the eastern wall. Scenario 2 is much brighter than the first. The walls are illuminated with different intensities, creating volume and depth in the hall, and allowing the bronzes on display on the west wall and the podium on the north wall to be seen clearly. The accent lighting on the statues is also increased in intensity to emphasize the reflection of Winged Victory on the glass. In both scenarios, the architect requested dedicated lighting for the lectern located at the entrance to the hall.