About the collection
As a collector and connoisseur, August Kestner was one of the pioneers with a special interest in the genre of Roman architectural terracottas. He collected around 120 examples, some of which were fragments if they served as evidence of a particular type of image or function. He thus joined the ranks of those who had recognised and learned to appreciate the art-historical and cultural-historical significance of this genre at an early stage.
In the middle of the 19th century, interest in archaeology and excavations as well as the scientific study of the legacies of Greco-Roman antiquity reached a peak.
During this period, scholars and also laymen began to assemble specialised archaeological collections. One type of object that increasingly came to light as a result of intensive excavations during this period were clay reliefs, primarily from an architectural context.
They still bear the name of the collector who first showed particular interest in them: Campana slabs. Giampietro Campana (1808-1880) amassed an extensive collection of antiquities in the first half of the 19th century, which included the clay plates. In 1842, he made them accessible to a broad public for the first time through the publication, "Antiche opere in plastica".
Compared to the magnificent relief art in marble, the Campana slabs unfortunately played only a subordinate role in archaeological interest for a long time, as they were regarded in ancient art history as craftsmanship of low quality. However, they also reflect the decorative taste of their time and are therefore an extremely important and productive object genre with regard to the study of ancient craftsmanship and iconography. (AVS)