Hertziana Collection of Prints and Drawings

The Bibliotheca Hertziana holds a collection of around 2000 prints and 250 drawings, which, like the library and the photo archive, is part of the Institute’s scholarly resources, but has so far remained largely neglected.

Although the sheets were inventoried years ago, most of them are unknown to the scholarly community and unpublished. Under the direction of Susanne Kubersky-Piredda and with the support of Oliver Lenz, the collection is currently being reassessed in terms of conservation and research. Since 2023, a separate climate-controlled room has been set up, which is equipped with professional storage furniture and boxes. The works are being progressively cleaned, stabilized, and fitted with passe-partouts. To this end, a cooperation agreement has been signed with the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica. Some of the drawing experts among our curatorial fellows also provided valuable advice on proper storage and restoration. Several groups of works from the collection were examined in more detail during the reporting period and presented to the public in the context of our research exhibitions on the ground floor of Palazzo Zuccari (Giulio Romano. A Drawing from the Hertz Collection curated by Susanne Kubersky-Piredda; Memories of Rome. Drawings as Souvenirs from around 1800 curated by Johannes Röll). The Getty Paper Project, which was launched in November 2024 by the Lise Meitner Research Group under the direction of Francesca Borgo, provided a welcome opportunity to conduct research into the origins of the Hertziana collection by analyzing the networks of the Institute’s founder Henriette Hertz. Of particular interest is the role of the art historian Jean Paul Richter, who acted as an advisor and art agent for Henriette Hertz and her friends Frida and Ludwig Mond as early as the 1880s.