The Central Institute for Graphics is an internationally significant museum organization created to preserve, protect, and promote a legacy of works documenting graphic art in its various types: from the seriality of printed multiples to the uniqueness of drawings and dies, to photographs.
The Institute was given its current name on 10 December 2014.
It was previously the National Institute for Graphics, founded in 1975 from the union of the National Chalcography, of papal heritage, and the National Prints Cabinet. In 2008, this scholarly unification involved coming together in a single location: the adjoining buildings of Palazzo Poli and the Chalcography came into communication and, at the same time, the distinct collections of the Chalcography and the Prints Cabinet were combined.
The foundation of the National Chalcography in 1738 was the outcome of a long negotiation involving Pope Clement XII (1730-1740) and his nephew Neri Maria Corsini (1685-1770), a key figure in Roman cultural life for much of the 18th century, in the purchase of the historical Stamperia De Rossi. Since its foundation, the Institute has collected an increasing number of intaglio dies, to which, starting in the mid 1900s, a consistent collection of woodcut plates, photographs, and artis videos have been added.
The National Print Cabinet was established in 1895 at Palazzo Corsini, in via della Lungara and then, in 1950, transferred to the Villa della Farnesina site. The collection of prints, drawings, and engravings from the library of the Corsini prince is the oldest and most important group of materials now held by the Central Institute for Graphics.
Director
Dott.ssa Maura Picciau
Contacts
headquarters: via della Stamperia 6, 00187 Rome
phone: +39 06 699801
certified email: mbac-ic-gr@mailcert.beniculturali.it
website: http://www.grafica.beniculturali.it