The exhibition presents a selection of nine portraits of the Countess of Castiglione from the collections of the National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento, revealing to the public the extraordinary modernity of a figure who knew how to make photography a privileged space for experimentation with identity.
The portraits on display bear witness to a conscious and ongoing project of self-representation, developed in dialogue with photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson, but guided by a strong personal direction, which transformed the act of photography into a creative and communicative device.
The Countess did not limit herself to being portrayed, but staged multiple versions of herself - aristocrat, actress, socialite, enigmatic figure - helping to redefine the relationship between the individual, image and public in 19th-century visual culture.