Glarge party in the Parish of Jesus and Mary of Foggia in Piazza Umberto Giordano for the return of the great canvas of Benedetto Brunetti, “The Holy Family” depicting the Madonna and Child visiting Sant’Anna. S. Giuseppe and S. Giacomo surround it on a background of classical architecture and a landscape with trees which, according to art scholars, refer to sixteenth-century painting, corrected by influences of Neapolitan painting with baroque tendencies of the period in which the large canvas was painted by the artist already present, with his works, in the Daunian capital.
The “Banca Popolare Pugliese – Giorgio Primiceri” Foundation fully financed the restoration of the oil on canvas painting and had the president present for the occasion Vito Primiceri and the general manager, Mauro Buscicchio. With the help of the FAI in selecting a work worthy of the intervention of the banking foundation, the return of the canvas was also the way to inaugurate the new Foggia branch of the Banca Popolare Pugliese in Piazza Cavour, which had the merit of removing from the deterioration of part of the porticoes of the Fontana del Sele square, which for many years had become almost a urinal. The premises were purchased by the Bank which intends to “bank with people to provide a community branch”, full of services.
Well, the return of the canvas was a devotional event appreciated by the Foggia community, which has always been linked to the Church of the Convent of the Friars Minor. In fact, the Banca Popolare Pugliese Foundation responded with conviction to the request to finance the restoration of the canvas made by his father Roberto Nestaguardian and parish priest of the Church of Jesus and Mary, and by professor Saverio Russo, president of the FAI regional delegation of Puglia.
The particularity of the 1674 painting, restored by the craftsman from Biccari Leonardo Maddalenalies in the gesture of little Jesus, who has his arms stretched out towards the two female figures.
Doctor Rocco Di Stasio, head of the South of the Banca Popolare Pugliese, who admitted that he “always falls in love with beautiful ideas”, had the task of unveiling the canvas, restored to its ancient beauty and its original chromaticism.
The canvas, as the parish priest recalled, was tarnished by time. “Jesus and Mary is one of the most important churches in the city – said the historian Saverio Russo – when I was president of the Monti Uniti Foundation we dedicated an important intervention on the captions, there are valuable canvases, behind the altar there is a canvas which should be made more visible. We all work for the good of the community. Benedetto Brunetti is a painter from Molise, from Oratino, a small community of quality artists, sculptors and artisans. He worked a lot in the area, many works are signed and attributed to him, such as the paintings of the Misericordia, a fundamental cycle, and another canvas by him is in Deliceto. He worked a lot for the convents of the great Franciscan family.” It was a conservative restoration, as explained by the artist restorer, during which the painter’s work was brought to light, since the work was obscured due to the loss of the original pictorial film. The canvas had absorbed humidity, but the company did not remove the historicized parts, it corrected some defects of the time after a careful visual inspection and an overall cleaning.
President Primiceri of the BPP Foundation is enthusiastic about the result and the work. “There is the child embracing two mothers, it is an image that attracts a lot of attention. I am happy not only for having contributed to bringing this splendid canvas back to the church, but because you give us the opportunity to feel part of the community with the recovery of the works of art. The Foundation created by the bank gives us the opportunity to intervene on significant works, a credit company is the recipient of interventions of a very varied nature, but for a few years we have decided to concentrate our efforts on significant interventions. The connection with the Capuchins takes me back to the restoration of the Alexandria Altarpiece. The interventions also range in other sectors, we finance scholarships for Ukrainian students at the University of Sannio. Interventions of this kind serve to strengthen relationships with the communities in which we operate, by participating in community requests we are more present”.
Appreciations also from the mayor Maria Aida Episcopo. “This church is the beating heart of the city because it indicates a mix of historical beauties. I am entranced by the beauty of the restored painting. It’s a church that I attend and I’m very happy. May it be a safeguard of our spirituality and of our social, human, administrative and political destiny”.
The regional vice-president of the Puglia Region joined Episcopo’s words Raffaele Piedmontese. “I’m happy because even the management and management of the branch always keep an eye on the needs of the area. They have a relationship with the territory that is always useful, ours is a beautiful, complex and difficult land.”
Many experts and enthusiasts were able to immediately admire the restoration. Among these the two art critics and architects Gianfranco Piemontese and Andrea de Meo Arbore.
The first will hold a lesson in the coming weeks in Oratino in Molise during a conference dedicated to Brunetti, the painters’ workshop between the 17th and 18th centuries entitled “Itinerant painters in the Capitanata”. The second instead asserted that the colors brought to light by the restoration on the canvas are actually those used in the classical canon between the Renaissance and Baroque. The blue of the Madonna’s cloak, the Titian red, the pairing of blue and mustard yellow, so present in the eighteenth-century chromaticism of the Neapolitan School of the great Francesco Solimena and then later by his student Francesco De Mura.
There is a greatness in Brunetti, who paints with a still Renaissance approach, but who already puts into his canvases those chiaroscuros, those shadows typical of the subsequent Baroque period. The skies are no longer clear, but are filled with dark clouds and green shadows.
