Dattilioteca Nissardi: Impronte di gemme nella collezione di Filippo Nissardi

Among Sardinian scholars who lived between the 19th and 20th centuries, Filippo Nissardi (Cagliari, 1852-1922) emerges as a significant figure, whose work is finely reconstructed in this thesis, thanks to the written testimonies preserved in the Central Archives of the State. While working for the Royal Museum of Antiquities of Cagliari, he became an expert connoisseur of antiquities, compiling catalogues and evaluations of important collections at the service of the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari. The dactyliotheca in itself was a very important methodological and didactic tool for the amateur, the scholar and, in our case, the archaeologist. Unlike prints or drawings, the three-dimensional support given by impressions - taken from the glyptic masterpieces of the ancient and modern world - provides direct observation of pieces that could be appreciated as invaluable media for direct knowledge of ancient art. This PhD thesis, titled “Nissardi’s dactyliotheca: Gem impression in the collection of Filippo Nissardi” presents the study of 1409 red sulphur impressions of gems and cameos, which are considered remarkable for their quality and state of preservation. Impressions of intaglios and cameos include Egyptian, Etruscan, Graeco-Roman, Renaissance and 18th century gems, organized in series based on thematic criteria: the most important gods of the Egyptian and Graeco-Roman Pantheon, mythological subjects, philosophers, poets and orators of classical antiquity, portraits and busts of the main figures in Greek and Roman history, masks, genre scenes, vases and animals. Almost all of the chosen subjects revolve around classical art and provide meticulous knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The casts were probably made in Rome between the middle of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, a time of particular interest and of spread of the commercial production of impressions.