(July 11, 2016) It is a pleasant ‘K.O’ the one you receive when you are enchanted by art. Such is the case especially for the ‘Boxer Statue’ that the BNP Paribas Group is loaning to the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro for the exhibition ‘The Games in Greece and Rome’ curated by professor Eugenio La Rocca in Rio de Janeiro from July 26 to October 2 running in parallel with the Olympic games. The statue, a copy from the Hadrianic period, was acquiered by BNL in 1939 and is kept at the Palazzo della Direzione Generale in Roma. Through its artistic and physical beauty of the athletes, it evokes sports and its values so much so that the Bank has loaned it on several occasions for important exhibitions and athletic events. In 2006, for the Winter Games in Turin; between 2002 and 2003 for the ‘Games in Ancient Italy’ Exhibition at the Diocletian baths in Rome and at the Coliseum for the exhibition ‘Nike. Game and Victory’ from 2003 to 2004. This year, it is the first time the Statue of a Boxer is exhibited outside of Italy and it will be the centrepiece of the exhibition ‘The Games in Greece and Rome’ promoted in the context of ‘Italy in Rio 2016’ for the Olympic games. ‘BNL, sponser of Coni for Rio 2016, with this initiative confirms their attention to the world of culture and art its own effort for the promotion and diffusion of their company. The Bank supports the safeguarding, conservation and promotion of works of art and artists who represent an unsurmountable richness both nationally and internationally. In this respect, BNL constantly loans to museums works from their artistic heritage for important exhibitions in Italy and in the world’. (Red)
BNL loans the ‘Statue of a Boxer’ to the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
