A rediscovered masterpiece by Orazio Gentileschi on display in Pisa

The Museo delle Sinopie in Pisa is hosting, from July 19 to September 19, 2018, the exhibition A Rediscovered Masterpiece by Orazio Lomi Gentileschi, The Madonna in Adoration of the Child. The exhibition, curated by Pierluigi Carofano with a scientific committee composed of Raymond Ward Bissel and Marco Pierini, and organized by the Opera della Primaziale Pisana in collaboration with the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria and with the Libera Accademia di Studi Caravaggeschi, aims to present to the public a little-known work by Orazio Gentileschi (Pisa, 1562 - London, 1639), the Madonna in Adoration of the Child, which is displayed together with Saint Cecilia Playing the Spinet in the National Gallery of Umbria and the Madonna and the Sleeping Child Jesus, which Orazio painted together with his son Francesco.

Orazio Gentileschi’s painting, the curator explains, does not actually respond to a precise iconographic canon, because typically the theme of Adoration, in the figurative production of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, required the Madonna to be depicted with both hands open or joined in prayer: in Orazio’s painting, on the other hand, the Madonna “senses the tragedy that awaits her son,” letting a strong inner emotion shine through. Both protagonists in fact show a tragic attitude, sad but not resigned, and partially redeemed by the gesture of the Child who, with his right hand on his chest, points toward her with the index finger of his left hand symbolically entrusting her with the leadership of the Christian community.

The Madonna is displayed together with St. Cecilia because, in addition to having been executed at the same time (around 1618-1620), in studies of Orazio Gentileschi the two works had a similar path: Indeed, they have struggled to establish themselves in the scholarly community as autographs of the Pisan master, in the case of the Madonna because of the lack of visibility of the work itself, preserved in a historical Italian collection, and in the case of the Saint Cecilia because another version (with variants) exists in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. In recent years, thanks to the studies of Bruno Santi, Raymond Ward Bissell, Claudio Strinati, Pierluigi Carofano, Paola Caretta, and Alberto Cottino, the two canvases have been recognized as autographs of Orazio Gentileschi and exhibited in exhibitions dedicated to the great Pisan artist or to Caravaggesque subjects. The third work, on the other hand, aims to present the quality of Orazio’s collaborators, particularly his son Francesco.

The exhibition can be visited during the opening hours of the Museo delle Sinopie (in Pisa’s Piazza del Duomo): daily from 8 am to 7:30 pm. Admission: 5 euros. More information on the website of the Opera della Primaziale Pisana.

Pictured: Orazio Gentileschi, Madonna in Adoration of the Child (1618-1620; oil on canvas, 139.8 x 98 cm; private collection)

A rediscovered masterpiece by Orazio Gentileschi on display in Pisa

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