From 23 April to 1 September 2024 Accademia Carrara presents Naples in Bergamo, an exhibition that will tell the story of the extraordinary link between Bergamo and seventeenth-century Neapolitan painting
When you think of Bergamo, it is difficult to combine it with Naples, yet there is a special and artistic relationship between these two cities, a relationship dating back to the 17th century. This unusual relationship brought several great southern artists of the 17th century to the north with the mediation of the Serenissima and its merchants, who traded with the Viceroyalty and famously appreciated its art. What I’m telling you about today is an exhibition promoted byCarrara Academy which rediscovers a particular moment in the history of Bergamo, a moment in which there was the presence of great Neapolitan authors called to work in churches in the city and in the area. The idea is to revive a submerged legacy that covers the Caravaggio period up to the end of the 18th century.
This dense cultural exchange allows us to admire works ranging from Luca Giordano to Mattia Preti and Battistello Caracciolo through over 40 works that have undergone major restorations.
Among these the opera certainly stands out “Crowning with Thorns” initially cataloged as a copy, but subsequently attributed to Giordano.
Here is the news I have collected and the information that may be useful to you:
The exhibition Naples to Bergamo. A look at the ‘600 in the De Vito collection and in the city starts from an unusual theme for the Lombard city, namely the relationship with seventeenth-century Neapolitan painting, mediated by Venice through enterprising merchants who traded with the Viceroyalty.
It is along these routes that the great man arrived in Bergamo in 1682 Passage of the Red Sea Of Luca Giordano, to decorate the back wall of the city basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Giordano does not complete the decoration of the central nave as requested: his pupil will do it in his place Nicola Malinconico (1663-1727), who arrived in the city in 1693, and in the space of almost a year also created the main altarpiece for the Cathedral and other paintings in some churches in the surrounding area.
To offer the visitor an overall look at the Neapolitan seventeenth century, Accademia Carrara has entered into a partnership with the Giuseppe and Margaret De Vito Foundation (Vaglia, Florence), created by testamentary disposition of the Neapolitan scholar and collector of origin, but Milanese by adoption. The Foundation, chaired by Giancarlo Lo Schiavo and directed by Nadia Bastogi, is the lender of over twenty paintings from its collection, which illustrate the development of painting in Naples from Battistello Caracciolo (1578-1635) e Joseph de Ribera (1591-1652) a Massimo Stanzione (circa 1585-1656) e Bernardo Cavallino (1616-1656), until Mattia Preti (1613-1699).
Luca Giordano plays the role of hinge between the first and second part of the exhibition: in the latter four paintings stand out (Pedrengo, church of Sant’Evasio) testimony to the painter’s Riberesque phase and an unpublished youth work from the archives of the Carrara Academy. The itinerary ends with a series of paintings by Nicola Malinconico that are little known or never presented to the public.
The exhibition is curated by Elena Fumagalli with Nadia Bastogi
The catalog is published by Skira
Marco
I like:
I like Loading…
