Albrecht Dürer masterpieces from the Magnani Rocca Foundation on display at the Mart in Rovereto

The Mart in Rovereto is hosting from December 7 to March 3 the exhibition Dürer. Mater et Melancholia, which presents some of Albrecht Dürer’s masterpieces: the famous Madonna and Child known as the Madonna of the Patronage, executed in the late 15th century during one of his well-known educational trips to Italy, and a series of engravings including Melencolia I.

Coming from the prestigious collections of the Magnani Rocca Foundation, known as the "Villa of Masterpieces," the works of the Master of Nuremberg are taken as the supreme symbol and at the same time the starting point of the exhibition to investigate two universal themes that have fascinated philosophers, artists, theologians, writers, doctors and thinkers since the dawn of time: motherhood and melancholy.

If the paradigms of eternal and absolute love, the human and spiritual values of the Christian tradition, and a profound knowledge of the stylistic features of Italian art are easily discernible in Dürer’s depiction of motherhood, Melencolia I, undoubtedly the most known among the German master’s engravings, has always been the subject of interpretation because of its numerous symbolic references, such as the hourglass, the scales, the magic square, the compass and the well-known polyhedron with two truncated points.

Also on display are about 70 works executed by great artists from different periods, such as Umberto Boccioni, Felice Casorati, Giorgio de Chirico, Lucio Fontana, Giorgio Morandi, Giovanni Segantini, Gino Severini, Mario Sironi, and Adolfo Wildt.

The exhibition, the brainchild of Vittorio Sgarbi and curated by Daniela Ferrari and Stefano Roffi, is divided into five thematic sections: Maternity, Melancholy, Melancholy of the Room and from the Departure, Melancholy of the Artist, and Works in Black.

Completing the exhibition project is the publication of a scholarly catalog, which reproduces the entirety of the works on display and offers, in addition to texts by the president of the Mart and the exhibition curators, an essay by Massimo Bertozzi and Andrea Pinotti, respectively dedicated to the iconography of Madonnas with Child in ancient art and the theme of melancholy in the history and philosophy of art, enriched by an essay by Alessia Masi dedicated to the figure of Morandi as an engraver. The volume is published by Sagep.

For all information, you can visit the official website of the Mart in Rovereto.

Pictured: Albrecht Dürer, Madonna and Child (1495), oil on panel, 47.8 x 36.5 cm, Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo (PR)

Albrecht Dürer masterpieces from the Magnani Rocca Foundation on display at the Mart in Rovereto

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