At the Gallerie d'Italia in Naples, two Velázquez masterpieces from London's National Gallery

From April 24 to July 14, 2024 at the Gallerie d’Italia in Naples, an Intesa Sanpaolo museum, it is possible to admire the two masterpieces by Diego Velázquez (Seville, 1599 - Madrid, 1660) Immaculate Conception and St. John the Evangelist on the Island of Patmos on the occasion of the exhibition Velázquez. A Grandiose Sign. The two works from the National Gallery in London are flanked by two other paintings depicting the Immaculate Conception: one by Paolo Finoglio from the Franciscan convent of San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples and the other by Battistello Caracciolo kept in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Roccadaspide, Cilento.

The exhibition represents a new chapter in the L’Ospite illustre exhibition, curated and promoted by Intesa Sanpaolo, which since 2015 has exhibited important works on temporary loan from prestigious Italian and international museums in its museums in the Gallerie d’Italia and at the Skyscraper in Turin. The arrival of the works from London’s National Gallery is part of the exchange and collaboration relationship with the famous British museum. On the occasion of its bicentennial, the National Gallery is dedicating The Last Caravaggio exhibition from April 18 to July 21, 2024, displaying the work The Martyrdom of St. Ursula on loan from Intesa Sanpaolo. The paintings are set up in the room dedicated to the early naturalistic season between Rome and Naples, where The Martyrdom of St. Ursula is usually displayed.

The exceptional loan of the two early paintings by Velázquez offers the cue for a reconsideration of the Sevillian master’s passages to Naples and the figurative exchanges between Spanish and Neapolitan painting in the first half of the 17th century. Velázquez’s presence in Naples is framed within the context of the master’s two Italian sojourns: the first, motivated by reasons of study, between the summer of 1629 and the end of 1630; the second, longer and officially linked to his role as superintendent of works of art in the royal residences, between January 1649 and June 1651. The painter’s first Neapolitan passage is attested by a payment of 154 scudi, which Velázquez collected by going in person to the Banco di San Giacomo, and that is to the same place now housing the Gallerie d’Italia in Naples. The exhibition of these two masterpieces from the master’s early Sevillian production makes it possible to retrace the echoes of Caravaggio’s naturalism, underscoring the importance for the artist’s training of the importation to Seville of works made by Caravaggio and his followers, as well as recalling the Sevillian master’s sojourns in the capital of the Viceroyalty. The exhibition catalog is published by Edizioni Gallerie d’Italia | Skira.

“Two masterpieces by Velázquez from the National Gallery welcomed in Naples, while our Caravaggio celebrates in London the two hundredth anniversary of the prestigious English museum, is an extraordinary circumstance that stems from a long bond of friendship, exchange and sharing. This initiative highlights the recognition of the Bank’s role as a major international cultural player, confirming Gallerie d’Italia as one of the most open and dynamic museums in all of Europe,” said Michele Coppola, General Director Gallerie d’Italia.

For info you can visit the Gallerie d’Italia website.

Hours: Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; closed Monday.

Tickets: full 7€, reduced 4€.

Photo staging by Fabio Sasso.

At the Gallerie d'Italia in Naples, two Velázquez masterpieces from London's National Gallery

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