In the collective imagination, museum deposits are a closed universe of dusty basements and impenetrable guardians of hidden treasures. They are defined by the choices of people, identify an age and represent a taste, a concept of art and a need for conservation.
Established in the 1950s, the five medium and large deposits of the Museo di Capodimonte preserve works of all kinds: sometimes important, sometimes with uncertain attributions, or in a precarious state of conservation. They include the collection of exotic objects that Captain James Cook donated to the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV and the numerous services of porcelain tableware from Meissen, Berlin and the Richard Ginori Manufactory, which would be impossible to exhibit in just one museum.
Over the years, from the deposits, the precious Farnese collection has been reconstructed and is currently exhibited in the Museum’s Wunderkammer, and so has the collection of Cardinal Stefano Borgia, after lengthy studies of the ancient inventory. The exhibition Depositi di Capodimonte. Storie ancora da scrivere (20 December 2018 – 15 May 2019) is the second chapter in a trilogy that presents the museum as a place of freedom, creativity and expressive potential. The exhibition will display hundreds of works including paintings, statues, tapestries, porcelain, weapons, and objects of the decorative arts from only the five Capodimonte deposits, to recount their role and history.
It follows the exhibition Carta Bianca. Capodimonte Imaginaire (12 December 2017 – 11 November 2018), and precedes C’era una volta. Storia di una grande bellezza (21 June 2019 – 15 April 2020): 150 interpreters of great musical works of the Neapolitan golden age will encounter the museum’s decorative arts collection in the 19 rooms of the royal suite of Capodimonte.