A widespread exhibition in Bologna to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Romantic painter Alessandro Guardassoni

On the occasion of the bicentennial of the birth of the Bolognese painter Alessandro Guardassoni (Bologna, 1819 - 1888), an important exponent of Romanticism, theInstitute for Artistic, Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Emilia-Romagna Region, theIstituzione Bologna Musei | Musei Civici d’Arte Antica, the Fondazione Gualandi in favor of the deaf and the Diocese of Bologna have created a widespread itinerary in the metropolitan city to highlight the artist’s work: from historical-romantic naturalism to the purist turn to the development of a devotional language, which made him the most important ecclesiastical painter in Bologna in the 19th century.

After an initial training in the city, Guardassoni gained experience studying and traveling abroad, and from 1856 he began to participate successfully not only in academic exhibitions, but also in those of international importance, proposing paintings of historical-romantic, biblical-sacred and literature-inspired subjects, becoming particularly famous for the episode of The Conversion of the Unnamed taken from Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi (The Betrothed).

At the same time, from 1859 he began studying optics and making use of stereoscopy to fix in a photographic image the effect of the real to be rendered in painting, becoming an important experimenter in the rendering of light effects and three-dimensionality.

The exhibition at the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte, entitled Alessandro Guardassoni (1819-1888). A Bolognese Painter between Romanticism and Devotion, features works by Guardassoni presented in official exhibitions and created for important commissions, narrating the evolution of his style, making it possible to compare him with the other painters active in Bologna in those years and re-proposing the cultural atmosphere through 40 paintings.

At the same time, 60 preparatory drawings and sketches for paintings made in Bologna’s churches are exhibited at the Gualandi Foundation. A video - made by students of the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna-Degree Course in Industrial Product Design - shows visitors the relationship between the preparatory stages and the finished works, in a virtual tour inside some of the churches where Guardassoni worked.

A map, distributed in the exhibition venues, makes it easy to reach the churches in and around the city, in which specific guided tours are organized by the Arte e Fede association.

The exhibitions and the widespread route are curated by Silvia Battistini and Claudia Collina with the collaboration of Chiara Sanfelici, Patrizia Tamassia and Valentina Volta.

For all information you can visit www.museibologna.it/arteantica and www.fondazionegualandi.it.

Source: press release

A widespread exhibition in Bologna to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Romantic painter Alessandro Guardassoni

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