Bernardino and Pietro Nocchi's drawings on display in Lucca, the elegance of the neoclassical stroke

The National Museum of Palazzo Mansi in Lucca is hosting the exhibition L’eleganza del tratto. Drawings by Bernardino and Pietro Nocchi, curated by Luisa Berretti. The exhibition, scheduled, until April 14, 2024, is organized by the Regional Museums Directorate of Tuscany with the contribution of the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca. In conjunction with the exhibition Antonio Canova and Neoclassicism in Lucca, which started on December 8, 2023 until September 29, 2024 and is curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, the museum’s management has decided to exhibit to the public a selection of the fifty-six drawings by Bernardino Nocchi (Lucca, 1741 - 1812) and his son Pietro (Rome, 1783 - Lucca, 1854), painters well-known in the panorama of Neoclassical painting in Lucca and Rome, normally kept in storage at the National Museum of Villa Guinigi. The drawings, already the subject of an exhibition held in 1989 at the museum, entitled “Recensir col tratto” Drawings by Bernardino and Pietro Nocchi, curated by Roberto Paolo Ciardi and Alessandro Tosi, with the scientific coordination of Maria Teresa Filieri, are part of the donation of the painter and sculptor Carlo Dal Poggetto (Lucca, 1828-1915) that took place in 1913.

In this new exhibition, a restricted selection of sheets is presented, favoring those that best represent a variety of techniques and styles, as well as those related to the most significant commissions received by the two artists. The works are presented to the public more than 30 years apart. The drawings on display cover a time span of about forty years and offer a unique opportunity to observe the evolution of the artist’s graphic skills over time. Made mainly on papers prepared in muted tones such as sand, gray and bluish, the drawings are mainly executed in black pencil and enriched with touches of white chalk or squared and only in some cases, they were also touched with watercolor. The common characteristic of Bernardino Nocchi’s drawings is that they are mainly preparatory studies for executed works, with few instances of preparation for unaccomplished paintings. Nocchi’s decorative repertoire, must have been based on antiquity, drawing on the repertoires of antiquities circulating at the time, after the discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the recovery of historical memories that was a constant constant in the Age of Enlightenment.

The itinerary will then display some of Bernardino Nocchi’s studies such as Study of Heads for the Sacrifice of Jephthah , 1769; the Mercury Recalls Ulysses from the Isle of Ogygia (or The Weeping of Ulysses), 1794; the Studies of Sibyls, Evangelists, 1773-1774; and the Fame and Dancing Nymphs, 1787. Also, in front of Pietro Nocchi’s monumental Adaloaldo re dei Longobardi, 1845, will be presented the three preparatory studies for the figures that make up the scene for the Baptism of Adaloaldo, 1841, from the Lateran Museum in Rome. The four preparatory studies for the Portrait of the Orsucci Family by the same artist, the Study of the Head of Elisa Baciocchi and to three other studies for female portraits by the two artists will be exhibited. Speakers at the opening will include Stefano Casciu, director of the Regional Museums Directorate of Tuscany; Andrea Palestini, president of the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca; Mario Pardini, mayor of Lucca; and Luisa Berretti, director of the National Museums of Lucca. A guided tour of the exhibition will follow.

Museum hours: Tuesday, Thursday, first, and third Sunday of the month: 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 12 noon-7:30 p.m. Exhibition hours: Friday and Saturday: 12 noon-7:30 p.m.; first, and third Sunday of the month: 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Ticket: full € 4.00 - reduced € 2.00. Information: www.luccamuseinazionali.it

Bernardino and Pietro Nocchi's drawings on display in Lucca, the elegance of the neoclassical stroke

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